REGISTER | Live Online Presentation with Sebastian Leikert, 4/3

Houston Psychoanalytic Society

Online Evening Lecture

Encapsulated Body Engrams and Somatic Narration: Integrating Body Memory into Psychoanalytic Technique

Sebastian Leikert, PhD

Thursday, April 3, 2025

7:30PM – 9:00PM Central Time

Live via Zoom

*Pre-Registration required for Zoom invitation

This event will not be recorded

Registration Fees

HPS Active Member: Free

HPS Student Member: Free

Non-Member: $30

1.5 CME/CEU/CE Credits

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Severely disturbed patients often show bodily symptoms relating to unrepresented states. These states result from traumatic breakdown of the patient’s ability to symbolize, but also from a traumatic disorganization of the patient’s body-self. The psychoanalytic technique of interpreting the chain of free associations is in danger of overlooking these encapsulated body engrams. Somatic narration describes a focused attention on the patient’s proprioception. This way of perceiving the disorganized body-self accesses the memory of traumatic interaction, mostly from early childhood, and places it in the focus of a shared attention within the therapeutic dyad.

In my presentation, I describe the therapeutic path with a young male adolescent patient suffering from emotional instability, suicidality, and self-injury. Establishing therapeutic contact with his perception of disorganized bodily states led to relief from suicidal urges. Working through these bodily sensations within a resonant presence of the therapist who privileges perception over interpretation in these episodes, played an important role in alleviating the intense fear of annihilation and helped the patient overcome states of self-focused aggression leading to self-injury in the past. I will describe the inner dynamics and structure of the bodily unconscious and the ways in which somatic narration and verbal interpretation can be brought into a fruitful relationship.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After attending the program in its entirety, attendees will be able to:

Explain the inner organization of bodily-organized defense structures (encapsulated body engrams).
Describe a method for dealing therapeutically with encapsulated body engrams (the traces of traumatization in the body-self).
Identify when this kind of work is indicated and how it becomes accessible.

Presenter

Sebastian Leikert is a psychoanalyst practicing in Saarbrücken, Germany. He is a training analyst at the German Society for Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Depth Psychology (DGPT), chairman of the German Society for Psychoanalysis and Music, and a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. His articles have been published in these journals. In addition, he is author of the recent book. The Bodily Unconscious in Psychoanalytic Technique (Routledge, 2024).

REFERENCES

Leikert, S. (2021). Encapsulated body engrams and somatic narration - Integrating body memory into psychoanalytic technique. International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 102(4): 671 – 688. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207578.2021.1927044

Leikert, S. (2023a). Unrepresented states and the bodily encoded unconscious. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 92(1): 59-81, https://doi.org/10.1080/00332828.2023.2178167

Leikert, S. (2023b). Petrification and revitalization – The role of somatic narration in working through a war trauma. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 92(2): 159-183.https://doi.org/10.1080/00332828.2023.2237501

IMAGE of figure in clouds from Can Stock

Agenda

7:30 - 7:35 pm | Introduction

7:35 - 8:30 pm | Presentation by Dr. Leikert

8:30 - 9:00 pm | Presenter-led question and answer session

Disclosures

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 Houston Psychoanalytic Society. 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 1.5 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.

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.

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