Forgotten Histories: when the blue sky clouds over, history can provide a useful perspective
Anne Zachary will talk about the major impact of retirement as seen from a psychoanalyst’s point of view. A perfect storm of preoccupations and painful feelings may emerge, leading to the need for self-analysis. Psychoanalytically, this will cover Separation anxiety, Depressive position, the Unconscious and the perils of ‘Forgetting’.
Date: 22/11/2025 Time: 11:00 - 12:30 Venue: Friends Meeting House, Oxford Price: £25.00
Event Details
Description
This talk will cover some of the complications that can arise during the analyst’s life event we know as ‘retirement’, which can involve several events and take place over a number of years. Unexpectedly strong feelings can appear in the analyst: concerns about age-related health issues or any other factors, possibly leading to the need to establish an active exchange with one’s professional trustees. We are used to working with separation anxiety: addressing the end of the session or of the week, before a break, particularly before the end of an analysis and initially this can be contained and interpreted from within the countertransference. But when the ending of the analysis is specifically due to the analyst’s retirement, more difficult, painful feelings may emerge. It is the ending of several analyses, the ending of an extensive practice, and these details are known only to the analyst and not shared with each patient. A perfect storm of personal preoccupations can emerge for the analyst, some of which Anne Zachary can describe. ‘Blue sky’ is intense yet sensitive to sudden change, and this is illustrated in the countertransference. To guide the analyst through the storm, powerful theories and attention to rediscovered professional events can help contain the anxiety, not turned to systematically but remembered and researched again during the self-analysis, which may come to the rescue. Anne Zachary welcomes personal reflections and preoccupations from the audience during the discussion.
Please note:
The book, "Clinical Psychoanalytic Case Studies with Complex Patients," edited by Anne Zachary, will be on sale at a discounted price of £20 at the event. (Cash or bank transfer only since there will be no credit card facilities available)
About the speaker
Anne Zachary is a psychoanalyst and retired consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy based in the UK. She trained in medicine and psychiatry at the Royal Free Hospital and Friern Hospital and specialised in psychotherapy at the Cassel Hospital. She was locum consultant at the Maudsley Hospital before becoming a consultant at the Portman Clinic and consultant to medium secure units and Broadmoor Hospital. She has a specialist interest in acting out behaviours and risk and a sustained interest in female sexuality. She has a private psychoanalytic practice in SW London.
*If you are a psychotherapist or counsellor residing in an active conflict zone, you are eligible to attend this event free of charge (regardless of whether you are a bpf member or not). Please email membership@bpf-psychotherapy to enquire about a ticket.