On Consciousness

June 2, 2020

On Consciousness

Presenter: Andrew Lotterman, MD

Discussant: Paolo Mieli, MD

Dr. Lotterman will present a short version of his paper “What is the active ingredient in interpretation: consciousness or concept?”

This presentation will describe the roles played by consciousness and conceptual thought in the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis.  It will examine the structure of the system Unconscious and system Conscious and the evolution of thinking from the subsymbolic to the verbal-concept system.  The most important effect of interpretation comes from the translation of affects and meanings buried in private and subsymbolic forms of thought into the concept categories of public language. The therapeutic effect of translation from the subsymbolic to the verbal code brought about by conceptual thought is what is decisive, but this cannot occur without the presence of consciousness.  Paola Mieli will discuss this topic from a Freudian/Lacanian perspective

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.