
Title: Into the Wild’s of Melancholia By Derek Hook (The lost diagnosis of Melancholia)
Presenter: Derek Hook
Date/Time: Saturday, May 31, 2025 from 9:00 am - Noon CENTRAL TIME
Location: UTSW, NC8.212, 2201 Inwood Rd., Dallas, TX 75390
and via Zoom
Credit Hours: 3 credit hours
Register Now!
Description:
The diagnostic category of melancholia, described by Freud, still has much to teach us in respect of effective clinical psychoanalytic treatments, even if reference to the term is largely absent in diagnostic debates. Melancholia, as understood by Freud, involves identification with a loved then lost and subsequently hated object, resulting in aggression being directed against the subject’s own ego. A Lacanian psychoanalytic approach to melancholia adds to this clinical picture: a ‘terror of closeness’ (avoidance of intimacy), difficulties in situating oneself in long-term symbolic roles, and reveries of an end (images of something beyond one’s current life).
Learning Objectives:
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Describe both Freud’s account of melancholia and how Lacanian psychoanalysis adds to this diagnostic conceptualization via the ideas of a ‘terror of closeness’, difficulties of being situated in fixed symbolic roles, and reveries of an end to life.
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Examine the Role of Object a in Melancholia to understand the concept of object a in Lacanian theory and its significance in melancholia. Discuss how the over-presence of an object, rather than its absence, is crucial in understanding melancholia.
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Discuss, via reference to the case study and the biographical account of Christopher McCandless’s life (‘Into the Wild’), how melancholic phenomena – such as a drive to anonymity, an interest in positioning oneself at symbolic thresholds, indications of a ‘death drive’ – might take highly individualized forms.
References:
Cauwe, J. & Vanheule, S. (2023). Maneuvers of transference in Psychosis. In D. Hook and S. Vanheule (Eds.), Lacan on Depression and Melancholia (pp. 87-103). London & New York: Routledge.
Grigg, R. (2015). Melancholia and the unabandoned object. In P. Gherovici & M. Steinkoler (Eds.), Lacan on Madness: Madness, yes you can’t (pp. 139–158). London & New York: Routledge.
Hook, D. (2018). Melancholic psychosis: A Lacanian approach. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 28, 4, 466-480
Early bird Registration Fee through May 14::
DPC Candidate $0
DPC Adv. Candidate $50
DPC Member $75
Non DPC Member $100
Early Career Clinicians/Residents* $75
* early career clinicians in their first year of practice and residents
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Registration Fee May 15-30:
DPC Candidate $50
DPC Adv. Candidate $75
DPC Member $100
Non DPC Member $125
Early Career Clinicians/Residents* $100
* early career clinicians in their first year of practice and residents
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* Residents/Early Career Clinicians: Contact DPC Admin. to register for this event: monique@dalpsa.org
Payment in advance is required at the time of Registration.
Registration is REQUIRED and CLOSES at 4:30 PM Central Time on MAY 30, 2025.
For Zoom participants:
Register in advance for this meeting: after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
This presentation will be recorded for the use of registered participants. Please be advised that by participating in this event, your image and voice may be captured by the recording. By your participation, you consent to all the inclusion of your image and voice in the recording.
The recording will be available 1 week after conclusion of the meeting. Viewing of the recording will NOT qualify for Continuing Education credits.
Continuing Medical Education
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and the Dallas Psychoanalytic Center. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
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