Symposium: 4th June 7pm-9pm

The symposium will begin with a survey of the history of daseinsanalysis, its basic theoretical principles, and
all elements of daseinsanalytic practice, including the goal of daseinsanalysis by contrast with that of other existential and medical psychotherapies. The bulk of the time will be devoted to discussion and Q&A by members of symposium.

Little was heard about daseinsanalysis in English after the publication of Gion Condrau’s Heidegger’s Impact on Psychotherapy (1998) and Martin Heidegger’s Zollikon Seminars (2001), edited by Medard Boss, until the
appearance of Alice Holzhey-Kunz’s Daseinsanalysis five years ago. The volume by Holzhey-Kunz, an analysand and colleague of Medard Boss, was a signal of heightened interest in a field that has been quietly growing for the gaining momentum for the past twenty years. Since 1984, the journal Daseinsanalyse has published a yearbook but since the articles in it are mostly in German, its rich contributions are relatively unknown. During that same period a half-dozen small daseinsanalytic institutes have been active in Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland and Brazil. An American Daseinsanalytic Institute will be constituted later this year, an event that signals the increasing strength of the movement. In anticipation of that event and the publication by SEA of dialogues between Miles Groth and Tamás Fazekis, The Renaissance of Daseinsanalysis: What Does Existential Really Mean? Later this year, it seems appropriate to take a few minutes to look back to the origins of the modification of psychoanalysis by Medard Boss known as psychotherapeutic daseinsanalysis.

Readings: Miles Groth, (2020) and After Psychotherapy (2017),Medard Boss and the Promise of Psychotherapy: The Beginnings of Daseinsanalysis (2020), Gion Cndrau, Heidegger’s Impact on Psychotherapy (2 nd rev. ed. forthcoming 2022).

About Miles Groth:

Miles Groth, PhD, is a long-time member of SEA and a contributor to its journal. Mentored by Jan van den berg and William J. Richardson, SJ, his interest in Daseinsanalysis increased after meeting Medard Boss in 1976 in Zurich. Like Boss, originally trained as a psychoanalyst, Professor Groth was strongly influenced by the analytics of existence of Martin Heidegger, which spawned the psychiatric daseinsanalysis of Ludwig Binswanger, Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, and Boss’s  psychotherapeutic daseinsanalysis. He is the author of many articles on existential analysis and Continental philosophy, and a number of books including The Voice that Thinks, Translating Heidegger, Preparatory Thinking in Heidegger’s Teaching, and most recently, Medard Boss and the Promise of Psychotherapy and After Psychotherapy. His dialogues with Todd DuBose, The Soul of Psychotherapy, appeared in the SEA monograph series, which will also offer his dialogues with the daseinsanalyst Tamás Fazekis later this year. He has been in private practice since 1985. His revised second edition of Gion Condrau’s Heidegger’s Impact on Psychotherapy will be published by Free Associations Books in 2022, as will a volume of interviews with R.D. Laing and Vicenzo Caretti from 1979, translated from the Italian. He lives in New York.

Join our Zoom Symposium for a get together to discuss different ideas on topics that are of equal interest and liking. Get yourself a drink, a meal or your favourite snack, sit comfortably and simply show up.

Our Zoom Symposiums take place every month from 7 pm to 9 pm. A host will introduce the topic and present a question for the first 10 to 15 minutes to start the symposium but the discussion belongs to all attendees.

Please register your attendance.