Lessons from Loewald

An Online Reading and Discussion Group facilitated by

Donald R. Ross, MD & Asli Baykal, PhD, LCSW

Instructional Level: Intermediate to Advanced

A Note from the Program Chair: Many clinicians have heard of psychoanalytic treatment as a process of transforming ghosts into ancestors. However, there is much more than the ancestor concept to be learned from the writings of Hans Loewald. This study group will offer an introduction to his ideas about development and treatment. The group will be co-facilitated by Don Ross, who has previously taught about Loewald’s theories, and Asli Baykal, who found a bridge between her two fields of study-- cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis-- in Loewald's work. ********** JoAnn Ponder, PhD

Hans Loewald (1906-1993) was a German-American psychiatrist-psychoanalyst, a comprehensive and original theorist, an innovator in integrating psychoanalytic schools of thought. He combined drive theory, object relations, self-psychology, interpersonal theory, and sociocultural factors in his theories, paving the way for an increased interest in intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis. He viewed the psyche as embedded in the infant-parent interaction and emphasized the role of internalization in development and treatment. According to his view of therapeutic action, the psychoanalyst’s interpretations promote insight and also provide a new object relational experience. In this manner, the ghosts from the patient’s past that haunt their current life are gradually transformed into ancestors. While Loewald was not as well-known as other psychoanalytic scholars in his lifetime, there recently has been a resurgence of interest in his thinking. This renewed interest led to the founding of the Hans W. Loewald Center in New York in 2022, dedicated to promulgating his legacy and vision of psychoanalysis.   

This study group will explore Loewald’s ideas and consider their application to clinical practice. The group will be limited to 15 members. Registrants should have a solid grounding in psychoanalytic theory and be willing to read the assigned articles. The readings will be supplied to group members. 

Don Ross, MD currently is in private practice in Austin, Texas following a distinguished career at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. For many years, he was the Medical Director and Senior Psychiatrist at The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt, a residential program designed on psychodynamic principles for patients struggling with complex problems. He also taught seminars and supervised psychotherapy for psychiatry residents in the University of Maryland-Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He is a Supervising and Training Analyst on the faculty of the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute, where he continues to teach seminars and supervise candidates via Zoom. In recent years, he has taught seminars that bridge theory and practice from a variety of perspectives, including modern conflict theory, Kohut’s self-psychology, and the works of Hans Loewald and Leo Rangell. Dr. Ross has a longstanding interest in the interface of psychoanalysis with literature and film, and facilitates an ongoing discussion group on this topic at the annual mid-winter meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He most recently co-authored a paper entitled, “The Environmental Crisis and the Film First Reformed: Paths to Paralysis and Change,” published in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis (2022).

Asli Baykal, PhD, LCSW is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Austin, Texas. Prior to clinical training, she was a professor of cultural anthropology. After completing a post-graduate fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy through Harvard Medical School, she worked as a therapist at a number of non-profit organizations. She completed her psychoanalytic training at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies in Houston, where she currently serves on the faculty. In addition, she has been studying Loewald’s concepts since the inception of the Loewald Center.

Session 1 - Feb 18: An Introduction to Loewald

Balsam, R. H. (2008). The essence of Hans Loewald. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 56: 1117-1128.

Ehrlich, R. (2005). Loewald's approach to psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 74: 801-834.

(optional) Mitchell, S. A. (1998). From ghosts to ancestors: The psychoanalytic vision of Hans Loewald. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8: 825-855.

Objectives

1. Identify at least 4 schools of psychoanalytic thought integrated in Loewald’s conceptualizations.
2. Explain how Loewald paved the way for the increased interest in intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis.

Session 2 - Feb 25: Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis

Loewald, H. W. (1960). On the therapeutic action of psycho-analysis. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41: 16-33.

Chodorow, N. J. (2009). A different universe: Reading Loewald through “On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis”. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 78: 983-1011. 

(optional) Moscovitz, S. (2014). Hans Loewald's “On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis”: Initial reception and later influence. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 31: 575-587.

Objectives

1. State several major features of therapeutic action as conceptualized by Loewald.
2. Describe the developmental aspect of psychoanalytic treatment as conceptualized by Loewald.

Session 3 - Mar 4: Psychoanalytic Process 

Loewald, H.W. (1970). Psychoanalytic theory and the psychoanalytic process. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 25: 45-68. 

Loewald, H.W. (1975). Psychoanalysis as an art and the fantasy character of the psychoanalytic situation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 23: 277-299.

Objectives

1. Briefly summarize the processes of internalization and externalization that Loewald believed to be involved in individuation.
2. Identify the clinician’s 3 therapeutic activities that comprise the art of psychoanalysis, according to Loewald.

Session 4 - Mar 11: Reimagining the Superego 

Loewald, H. W. (1962). Internalization, separation, mourning, and the superego. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 31: 483-504.

Jurist, E. L. (2014). Whatever happened to the superego?: Loewald and the future of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 31: 489-501.

(optional) Chodorow, N. J. (2007). Reflections on Loewald's “Internalization, Separation, Mourning, and the Superego”. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 76: 1135-1151.

Objectives

1. Explain why Loewald viewed internalization as part of a structural theory rather than just a defense mechanism.
2. Describe Loewald’s reformulation of the classical superego.

Session 5 - Mar 25: Time and Internalization

Loewald, H. W. (1972). The experience of time. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 27: 401-410.

Loewald, H. W. (1973). On internalization. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 54: 9-17.

(optional) Balsam, R. H. (2018). Internalization, after Loewald: A powerful and clinically useful concept for psychodynamics. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 71: 208-216.  

(optional) Bonovitz, C. (2021). Vitality and Loewald’s concept of time. In A. S. Cooney & Sopher, R. (Eds.), Vitalization in psychoanalysis: Being and becoming. Routledge, pp

Objectives

1. Give 2 examples of temporal experiences that might arise in a psychoanalytic treatment.
2. Give a clinical example to show how Loewald views internalization in psychoanalytic treatment.  

IMAGE of old family photos from Can Stock

APA Accreditation Statement

Houston Psychoanalytic Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Houston Psychoanalytic Society maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

HPS, through co-sponsorship with the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, also offers approved CEUs for Texas state-approved social workers, licensed professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists.