The APT-Birmingham Public Lecture

Saturday 12 June 2021

THE UNANALYSED RACE COMPLEX AND IT’S IMPLICATION FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC TRAINING ORGANISATIONS, PSYCHOTHERAPISTS AND THEIR PATIENTS

Frank Lowe

Times: 10:15 – 12:45

Racism has played a major role in the development of western societies, and although there has been progress towards racial equality, it remains a repressed organising principle in our culture and forms an unconscious part of our psyches, identities and relationships. This paper contends that as a result of this history there exists within the psyche a complex about race that is usually hidden, rarely explored and largely unanalysed. The race complex consists of feelings, images and beliefs, consciously and unconsciously held, which seems to autonomously influence our attitudes and behaviour and can obstruct or disturb our relations to reality.

Although psychoanalysis has concepts and tools that can develop our understanding of this complex, psychoanalytic training organisations have historically failed to think about race and racism in the training of psychotherapists. Consequently, a psychotherapy culture has been inherited, which mirrors the wider culture, one in which race within the psyche is a largely unthinkable subject and is an unanalysed part of most therapists’ minds.

In this paper, I will draw on clinical and other material to illustrate the race complex, and propose that the profession needs to create a non-judgemental environment where resistance towards thinking about race and racism in oneself is better worked with in order that greater personal and professional understanding of race in the psyche and in our relationships can be achieved in our profession.

Frank Lowe: ie is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and Head of Social Work Adult Services and the Adolescent & Young Adult Service at the Tavistock Clinic. He has published several papers on race and psychotherapy and edited Thinking Space: Promoting Thinking about Race, Culture and Diversity in Psychotherapy and Beyond (Karnac 2013). He was given an award for psychoanalysis and diversity by the British Psychoanalytic Council in 2015 for establishing ‘Tottenham Thinking Space’, an open therapeutic group for Tottenham residents following the 2011 riots.

APPLICATION DETAILS

If face to face isn’t possible, the lecture will take place via Zoom video. If held face to face, it will take place at The Birmingham & Midland Institute, 9 Margaret Street, Birmingham, B3 3BS (www.bmi.org.uk).

The cost for each lecture is £50.00 for WMIP members and £60.00 for non-WMIP members (£45.00 and £55.00 if via Zoom).

Please note that we are now offering a discount of 50% to trainee psychotherapists and other full-time trainees (proof of student/trainee membership is required). Please refer to the attached application form for further information on fees.

Bookings should ideally be made at least a fortnight before the lecture to be attended.

PAYMENT DETAILS

Please make BACS payments as follows:

Bank: Barclays, Sort Code: 20-08-44, Account No: 03737950
Account Name: The Training in Jungian Analytical Psychotherapy
(Please use your name as a reference)

Payment by Cheque:

All cheques should be made payable to “The Training in Jungian Analytical Psychotherapy” and sent to:
Sue Harford, Administrator to the Training Committee, Unit 1A, Stockwith Park, Stockwith Road, Misterton, Nottinghamshire. DN10 4ES.

For further details and queries contact:

Sue Harford, Administrator to the Training Committee,
telephone: 07789 545908, email: aptc@wmip.org

Download APTC Public Lecture A5 Booklet (pdf) >>