FIFTH ANNUAL C. PHILIP WILSON, MD MEMORIAL LECTURE (PANY)
The Reality Principle, Tragic Knots, and the Analytic Process
Lecturer:  Roy Schafer, PhD

"Civilization and its discontents" is shown to occupy a special place in Freud's development of psychoanalytic theory and technique. It call for a new, inclusive understanding of the Reality Principle The concept "tragic knots" is then defined and used to emphasize Freud's readiness to include tragic elements in that Principle. There follows an extended section illustrating the place of tragic knots in several diverse aspects of human existence: victimization, intimacy, and maintaining privacy. Finally, implications are drawn for the clinical assessment of working through unconscious conflicts and readiness for termination of analysis.

Roy Schafer is a training and supervising analyst at Columbia University's Center for Psychoanalytic Training & Research. He has been honored twice by the American Psychological Association for his contributions to psychoanalysis and professional knowledge, and was the first Freud Memorial Professor at University College in London. Dr. Schafer lectures extensively throughout the United States and abroad, and is the author of, among other works, A New Language for Psychoanalysis, Aspects of Internalization, The Analytic Attitude, and The Contemporary Kleinians of London.