Public Programs at Pacifica – Structure and Spontaneity in Clinical Prose: A Clinical Writing Workshop

$140 includes lunch

Structure and Spontaneity in Clinical Prose: A Clinical Writing Workshop

with Suzi Naiburg

Jung recognized that the patient/therapist relationship is ³often of such intensity that we could almost speak of a ‘combination¹ . . . in which both are altered.² Yet our clinical writing rarely evokes what it¹s like to be in the temenos with our patients, relying on narrative summary and the amplification of symbolic material instead. Evocative language works by invitation and suggestion. In the enactive mode, meaning is experienced in the act of reading; it is lived as well as thought. The lyric narrative mode compels readers¹ participation in and explorations of the uncertainties and unfinished business of the lyric present. Its aesthetic reflects a commitment to the priority of experiencing. In this workshop, you¹ll be introduced to the evocative, enactive, and lyric narrative modes of clinical prose (in contrast to the narrative and paradigmatic modes) and will be invited to experiment with writing in new ways. The workshop¹s close readings, guided-writing exercises, didactic material, and discussions will be useful for both unpublished and published writers and for therapists of all strips.

Suzi Naiburg, Ph.D., LICSW, is on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis (MIP) and has taught more than 40 clinical writing workshops over the past 15 years, including those for The Journal of Analytical Psychology, The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, MIP, Division 39, and NASW. She was the Executive Director of the Jung Society of New Mexico when she lived in Santa Fe. Suzi has a private practice in Belmont, MA, in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and is an editor and writing coach. She is the author of Structure and Spontaneity in Clinical Prose: A Writer¹s Guide for Psychoanalysts and Psychotherapists (forthcoming from Routledge in 2013).