BETH J. SEELIG, M.D.
ZOOM CONFERENCE (LINK SENT AFTER REGISTRATION)
When: Saturday, May 17th, 2025 from 12:00 PM—2:00 PM
FREE FOR LPSG MEMBERS
$15 for Students/Residents
$25 for Professionals/ClinicIans
TO REGISTER & PAY ONLINE (LPSG MEMBERS & NONMEMBERS): http://www.lexpsychoanalytic.org/register-for-event
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ABOUT THIS EVENT
One motivation for becoming a therapist is wanting to help others, i.e., being altruistic. Feeling that one has helped enhances the therapist’s self-esteem. However, an excessive narcissistic need for recognition and appreciation for being helpful can burden and distort a psychotherapy or analysis. Additionally, masochism on the part of a therapist can result in having difficulty in setting limits. A therapist’s vulnerability to over-identification with a particular patient is increased when the patient’s whose history and dynamics have a specific congruence with those of the treating therapist. These countertransference predispositions, especially in the presence of current stresses in the therapist’s life can lead to the therapist having an intense need to rescue a particular patient.
Although enactments and boundary crossings are a common part of psychotherapeutic work, the progression to boundary violation by a generally ethical therapist is much rarer. As illustration of how under certain circumstances an ethical altruistic therapist can become vulnerable to engaging in a boundary violation, I will present the analysis of Mrs. A and her patient M. The complex clinical, professional, ethical, and legal issues faced by the analyst (the author) who is asked to consult on such a case are discussed.
Reference (provided on registration):
Seelig, B.J., Rosof, L.S. (2001). Normal and Pathological Altruism, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 49: 933-959
.ABOUT BETH J. SEELIG, M.D.
Education: 1968 BS, Columbia University School of Engineering & Applied Science, 1972 MD, New York Medical Residency in Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center/New York State Psychiatric Institute, completed in 1977. 1985, Certificate in psychoanalysis, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training & Research in1985. Present academic appointments: Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University Dept. Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Professor Emerita, Dept. Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Emory University.
Field of work: psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis, including teaching, writing, supervision, and mentoring. My work with the people I see in my clinical practice has been central for my entire career. I decided to go to medical school because of my interest in what makes people healthy, what makes them sick, and how to help them to heal. I chose psychiatry, because I found that my most compelling interest was in the stories people told about themselves and their emotional feelings. It’s wonderful to be able to work with someone over time and see that person grow and mature until they don’t need my assistance any longer and can “fly solo.”