Fridays @ CCP Lecture Series
NO RECORDING
Gudrun Opitz, PhD
(New York, NY)
The Royal Unknown: Reclaiming the Extraordinary Position of Dreams
Friday September 19, 2025
7-9pm (CST)
After-Words Bookstore, 23 E. Illinois Street, Chicago
&
Zoom
About the presentation: Although Freud regarded dreams as the royal road to the unconscious, psychoanalysis has gradually shifted its focus away from them. Historically, this change stemmed from theoretical moves towardsego psychology. Despite significant advancements in diversifying theory and technique, dreams are still not universally considered essential to psychoanalytic progress. There is a lack of understanding about the benefits that patients can derive from understanding their dream experiences, as well as a lack of appreciation for the inherent challenges that dream work presents for clinicians. Dreamwork demands that clinicians possess a high tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, engage openly in discussions about any topic with serious consideration, regardless of its difficulty, and hold a firm conviction that the content ofpatients’ dream lives are worthy of attention. Confusion regarding psychoanalytic neutrality may also contribute to the neglect of dreams. Some clinicians believe neutrality implies not showing too much interest in dreams for fear of triggering a dynamic process. Others confuse the concept of neutrality with a lack of strong conviction about what constitutes a fulfilling life and fail to recognize how dreamwork can foster the character traits that enable one to experience “the good life,
Dr. Gudrun Opitz is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst in New York City. She provides individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy and runs Dream Groups for clinicians and non-clinicians. She is on the Faculty and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the William Alanson White Institute. Her teaching, presenting, and groups currently focus on dreamwork.
Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will understand the inherent difficulties for clinicians in working with dreams.
2. Participants will explore the relationship between intense curiosity about and openness to dreams and psychoanalytic neutrality.
This is an Intermediate Level Presentation
Fees
CCP members: free with annual $195 membership, payable at registration.
Students:free with annual $175 membership, payable at registration.
New Fellows / Ongoing: free with annual $250/$300 membership, payable at registration.
Non-CCP members, single admission: $50
Continuing Education
This program is sponsored for Continuing Education Credits by the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. There is no commercial support for this program, nor are there any relationships between the continuing education sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants or other funding that could be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If the program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content. CCP is licensed by the state of Illinois to sponsor continuing education credits for Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Licensed Social Workers, Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors and Licensed Clinical Psychologists (license no. 159.000941 and 268.000020 and 168.000238 Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation).
Professionals holding the aforementioned credentials will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits a completed evaluation form must be turned in at the end of the presentation and licensed psychologists must first complete a brief exam on the subject matter. No continuing education credit will be given for attending part of the presentation. Refunds for CE credit after the program begins will not be honored. If a participant has special needs or concerns about the program, s/he/they should contact Toula Kourliouros Kalven by September 18, 2025 at: tkalven@ccpsa.org
References/Suggested Readings
Bion, W.R. (1962). Learning from Experience. New York: Basic Books.
Blechner, M. (2001). The Dream Frontier. New York: Routledge.
Blechner, M. J. (2018). Psychological Defenses and Dreams. In: The Mindbrain and Dreams. New York: Routledge, p. 146-181.
Lippmann, P. (2000). Nocturnes: On Listening to Dreams. Analytic Press.
Civitarese, G. (2021). Get in the Picture: Are Dreams Still Central to Psychoanalysis? Modern Psychoanalysis. 45(1): 8-32.
Presented by
The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis/CCP Program Committee: Zak Mucha, LCSW, Alan Levy, PhD, Toula Kourliouros Kalven.
The Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis is an IRS 501(C)(3) charitable organization, and expenses may be tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and your personal tax situation.
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