The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic

This clinical seminar focuses on a discussion of Noreen Giffney’s new book, ‘The Culture-Breast in Psychoanalysis: Cultural Experiences and the Clinic’ (Routledge 2021). The book introduces ‘the culture-breast’, a new clinical concept, to explore the central importance played by cultural objects (film, art, literature, music) in the psychical lives of patients and psychoanalytic clinical practitioners inside and outside the consulting room.

The seminar begins with a conversation between Noreen and Ann Murphy about Noreen’s book. The second half of the seminar will include an open discussion with attendees about the implications of ‘the culture-breast’ for psychoanalytic clinical training and practice. Further details about Noreen’s book can be found at

https://www.routledge.com/The-Culture-Breast-in-Psychoanalysis-Cultural-Experiences-and-the-Clinic/Giffney/p/book/9781138312517

Noreen Giffney is a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and a psychosocial theorist. She is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC), and a fully-accredited clinical member of the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP), the Northern Ireland Institute of Human Relations (NIIHR), the College for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis (CPJA), the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). She is the author and/or editor of a number of articles and books on psychoanalysis, psychosocial studies, and critical theory. She is particularly interested in the emotional and psychical use we make of cultural objects and experiences (film, art, literature, music); the writings of Wilfred Bion; and the clinical impact of psychosocial factors on the transference-countertransference dynamic. She is the Director of 'Psychoanalysis +', an international, interdisciplinary initiative that brings together clinical, academic and artistic approaches to, and applications of, psychoanalysis. She lives in County Donegal, and works as a Lecturer in Counselling at Ulster University in Belfast.

Ann Murphy, M.Sc., MIFPP, MICP, MECP is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and visual artist. She was a founder and Director of the MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and a member and Chairperson of the Irish Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She lectures on psychoanalysis on post-graduate courses at Trinity College Dublin, with particular focus on Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, and Object Relations Theory. She is a training analyst and clinical supervisor, and has a private practice in Dublin. She has served on the Boards of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP), the Psychoanalytic Section of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP), and as Chairperson of the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP).

She holds an MA in Visual Arts Practices from Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and has exhibited in a number of venues, including The Lab, Dublin, Dublin Castle, PS2 Belfast, and the Mermaid Arts Centre, County Wicklow. Her multidisciplinary art practice incorporates painting, sculpture and installation, and is informed by her engagement with psychoanalysis and literature.

Web: www.annmurphyartist.com

Suggested reading:

https://www.routledge.com/The-Culture-Breast-in-Psychoanalysis-Cultural-Experiences-and-the-Clinic/Giffney/p/book/9781138312517

Suggested podcast:

https://moli.ie/radio/series/dublingothic/the-psychology-of-horror/