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Conspiracies? The "Paranoid Style” Revisited, in Psychoanalytic Thought, History, and Political Life - Daniel Pick, PhD (Live)
2024-25 Friday Night Guest Lecture Series
Dr. Daniel Pick will reflect on psychoanalytic thought about paranoia and consider its relevance to the exploration of mass phenomena, past and present. He will draw on past work by a range of writers, including Freud, Tausk, Erikson, Klein, and Bion. He will also return to the work of historians and philosophers, including Hofstadter and Arendt, whose work is useful for exploring conspiracy theory and 'the paranoid style.' The talk will conclude by engaging with various contemporary explorations of the crisis of democracy, the AI revolution, and the so-called ‘deep state’.
Target Audience
______ Introductory __x___ Intermediate ______ Advanced
Learning Objectives
- Learn about key psychoanalytic ideas regarding paranoid states of mind, as developed by Freud, Klein and others.
- Understand some key endeavors by historians and cultural commentators to apply ideas about paranoia, and the paranoid style’ to cultural, social and political phenomena, past and present.
- Identify the potential richness of applied psychoanalytic thought in interpreting mass phenomena, note opportunities for understanding what may be at stake in contemporary ‘conspiracy theory’, and recognize potential pitfalls when likening minds, groups, cultures, and states.
Daniel Pick, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and historian. He is a training analyst at the British Psychoanalytical Society, and professor emeritus at Birkbeck College, University of London. He received a Sigourney Award in 2023 and held a senior investigator grant from the Wellcome Trust (2014-21) for a team-based project on the history of ideas about brainwashing, He is an associate editor of History Workshop Journal and an occasional broadcaster who has made a series of documentaries for BBC Radio. His publications include Faces of Degeneration: A European Disorder, c. 1848-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 1989), Svengali’s Web: The Alien Enchanter in Modern Culture (Yale University Press, 2000), Psychoanalysis: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2015), The Pursuit of the Nazi Mind: Hitler, Hess, and the Analysts (OUP. 2012), and Brainwashed: A New History of Thought Control (Profile/Wellcome Collection 2022). He also co-edited Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism (New Library of Psychoanalysis, Routledge, 2017).
Austen Riggs Center Inc. adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. All those at Austen Riggs Center involved in the planning of this activity, including the presenter(s) listed above, report they have no relevant financial relationships with an ineligible company*.
The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Austen Riggs Center.
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In support of improving patient care, The Austen Riggs Center is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team
Available Credit
- 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
ACCME - As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for a maximum of 1.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 1.50 APA
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for 1.50 continuing education credit(s) (CE) for psychology. Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
Austen Riggs Center, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0115.
- 1.50 ASWB-ACE
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organization, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Austen Riggs Center maintains responsibility for this. Social workers completing this Webinar live course will receive 1.50 continuing education credit(s).
- 1.50 Contact Hours/ ParticipationA certificate of attendance for all Learners.