Maudsley Lectures in Psychoanalysis | Trauma and Dreams - Dr Jo Stubley

Maudsley Lectures in Psychoanalysis | Dreams in the 21st Century: Royal Road or Road to Nowhere?

Trauma and Dreams

Dr Jo Stubley

13th November 2023
7:45pm - 9:15pm

Hybrid

In-person at 10 Windsor Walk and online via Zoom.

Recording available for 1 week

Chaired by Dr Rupert Nieboer, Dr Liz Allison and Dr Emma Staples Hotopf

From the important moment of recognition that traumatised World War One veterans' dreams did not follow his theory of dreams as wish fulfillments, Freud used this understanding to develop his concept of the Repetition Compulsion. For many traumatised people, dreaming is rarely symbolic but rather is part of the re-experiencing phenomena described in the diagnostic criteria for PTSD - nightmares, intrusive images, flashbacks and bodily sensations. Using amalgamated and disguised clinical material, I will illustrate the experience of dreaming for complex trauma and dissociative patients, describing the changes one might see in the process of therapy and consider how other modalities work with this.

Dr Joanne Stubley is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. She is the lead clinician of the Tavistock Trauma Service, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a psychoanalyst who has also been trained in trauma-specific modalities of care. Dr Stubley is Co-Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Expert Reference Group on non-recent child sexual abuse. She is a Clinical Trustee at the human rights charity Freedom from Torture and an honorary lecturer at University College London. She has written widely on trauma and teaches nationally and internationally. She is co-editor of “Complex Trauma: the Tavistock Model” with Linda Young, published in 2022, which was nominated for a Gravida Award.

“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to the unconscious activities of the mind.” (Freud, 1900).

Psychoanalysis would not exist if Freud had not paid attention to both his patients’ dreams and his own. It was this investigation that enabled him to construct his radically new model of the mind. Should we still take dreams seriously, or are they a distraction? Are nightmares and traumatic dreams different from those that help us think? How do psychoanalysts today listen to dreams, and how are they used in modern clinical practice?

REFUND POLICY: Tickets are fully refundable until 14 days before the lecture, after which time no refunds will be issued.

Concession tickets are available, for students, BPAS candidates and NHS trainees and nurses. Please email outreach@iopa.org.uk if you are unsure if you qualify for a concession ticket.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers. We expect delegates to respect the confidentiality of clinical material discussed in our events. The content must not be recorded, conveyed or disseminated in any format and participants must not share access to the event with non-registered participants.