Course Title:  Speaking Desire: An Introduction to the Concepts and Language of Jacques Lacan (12 CE credits)

Instructor:  Jeremy Bloomfield, PsyD
Meeting dates (2019):  Jan. 19, Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Feb. 16, Feb. 23, March 2

Meeting time: Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location:  (SE) Evanston

Course Description:

This introductory course will explore the ideas and language of the most famous, and perhaps infamous, French psychoanalyst and philosopher, Jacques Lacan.  Lacan proposed a return to Freud; yet he explicated, enlivened, and frequently extended Freud’s fundamentals in keenly nuanced and highly clinically applicable ways.  Participants will be introduced to Lacan, the man and the psychoanalyst; and to key concepts and terminology.  We will read and discuss select (translations of) primary sources and make good use of secondary sources, such as the writings of Bruce Fink.  We will consider the clinical utility of Lacan’s ideas, exploring how they may extend our understandings of our patients and of the psychoanalytic process.

Beginning students of Lacan’s work typically find it daunting, and difficult to grasp.  I will offer my personal understandings of the fundamentals of Lacanian theory and technique, without focusing on the history or the evolution of his ideas and their multiple iterations. My goal will be to help participants find entry points that are directly useful in their clinical work, and which may well lead them to further exploration of Lacan’s ideas.

Biographical Information:

Jeremy Bloomfield, PsyD is Visiting Faculty at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis (CCP) and an Affiliate of The Family Institute at Northwestern University.  Dr. Bloomfield was Training Director at Trilogy Inc., and a supervisor in Northwestern University’s psychoanalytically-oriented counseling graduate program. He currently leads several consultation groups, as well as providing individual consultation.  Dr. Bloomfield spent the early part of his career at Northwestern University, as a pre-doctoral fellow, researching psychotherapy:  its efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency, and presenting internationally at the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). This experience led Dr. Bloomfield to an understanding of the gaps between research and clinical practice; it was one of several sparks that led to him to study psychoanalysis.  Dr. Bloomfield is an advanced psychoanalytic candidate at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and maintains a private practice working with individual adults in Evanston.