British Psychoanalytic Association

09/03/2026

In recent years, narcissism has made its way into popular discourse, being used to describe an increasingly wide range of psychological phenomena, whilst the label “narcissist” is commonly applied to all sorts of people in the public eye, from celebrities to politicians. But what exactly is narcissism?

In this Wednesday's (11 March) Introductory Lecture, psychoanalyst Brett Morris will explore various aspects of the psychoanalytic understanding of narcissism, from Freud to the present day. He will give thought to the possible causes of narcissism, how narcissism manifests in everyday life and in the consulting room, and how contemporary psychoanalysts work with narcissism.

Book your ticket here (under 'Apply'): https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/training/pre-training/introductory-courses/

28/02/2026

On Saturday 7 March, join us for a day of exploration of autistic states of mind, both in children and in adults, and how we can think about them psychoanalytically.

The conference will start with an introduction concerning some of the key psychoanalytic findings from work with children on the autism spectrum. The conference will go on to show, first, how an awareness of these features can add to the understanding of adult patients who are not ‘normal neurotic’.

This will be followed by a presentation of work with a child, in order to show what the actual syndrome looks like and how it can be approached psychoanalytically. The parent/infant relationship will then be explored by two analysts who were involved in an early intervention project. This revealed the importance of the interaction between parents and their at-risk toddlers in influencing whether a toddler receives a diagnosis.

The day will close with a plenary discussion.

Find out more and book your ticket here: https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/events/bpa-scientific-conference-psychoanalysis-on-the-spectrum-encounters-with-primitive-mental-states/

27/02/2026

Listen to this article by adult and child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Christine Anzieu-Premmereur, which explores the relationship between compulsion and the body in childhood and adolescence. Using psychoanalytic theory, she analyses how the compulsive repetition of self-destructive behaviours can represent an attempt to process and make sense of early traumatic experiences.

The article highlights the importance of early therapeutic intervention in childhood to prevent emotional and addictive problems later in life.

Listen here:

In this article, Christine Anzieu-Premmereur explores the relationship between compulsion and the body in childhood and adolescence. Using psychoanalytic theory, she analyzes how the compulsive repetition of self-destructive behaviors can represent an attempt to process and make sense of early traum...

24/02/2026

"Bumping into my analyst in the street was uncanny. He knows me well, and I know little about him, nor do I want to. In a sense, he is like an invisible man, a kind of ghost, but at the same time, substantial and forthright in his opinions.

Standing there with him, before my family, members of which represent different epochs of my life, all together now and relatively harmonious, I felt compelled to acknowledge something. A considerable portion of this success belongs to my work with him."

He was like an invisible man, a kind of ghost, but at the same time, substantial and forthright in his opinions.

22/02/2026

Join us this Wednesday, 25 February, to learn more about the psychoanalytic concepts of transference, projection and countertransference. The resulting emotional experience of all of these processes is present in all of our relationships and is essential to psychoanalytic work - it informs the analyst about the potential unconscious material the patient is bringing.

Book your place here (under 'Apply'): https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/training/pre-training/introductory-courses/

17/02/2026

Join the second part of term 1 of our Introductory Lecture series, either individually or as a block of 5 lectures.

This series of lectures introduces fundamental psychoanalytic ideas and explores a range of topics in greater depth. Delivered by BPA Psychoanalysts, presentations are followed by a group discussion.

Find out more here: https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/training/pre-training/introductory-courses/

14/02/2026

"The reasons for psychoanalysis’s contemporary resurgence mirror those that drove its earlier waves of popularity. In times of political upheaval, state-sponsored violence and collective trauma, psychoanalysis offers tools for making sense of the seemingly senseless. It provides a framework for understanding how authoritarian impulses take root in individual psyches and spread through societies."

Freud’s insights into trauma, repression and the unconscious are finding new relevance and millions of followers.

12/02/2026

“To come back to this idea of ‘groaning’ – I really like it because I think it’s a good description of the work we do, but particularly because it refers to Antonio Ferro’s concept of the absorbency of the frame, which I think is another way of referring to it, that the frame can take a little give and take, that there’s something organic about it. It has a structure, but it’s absorbent, it can move, it’s alive. So that is a very important concept. I think a lot of younger analysts or psychotherapists who want to be inspired by psychoanalysis don’t let themselves feel comfortable letting things happen first before they try and immediately intervene and feel that they have to have some kind of magical response to it.”

Listen here:

“To come back to this idea of ‘groaning’ – I really like it because I think it’s a good description of the work we do, but particularly because it refers to Antonio Ferro’s concept of the absorbency of the frame, which I think is another way of referring to it, that the frame can take a ...

09/02/2026

Join BPA psychanalyst Sarah Miller this Wednesday, 11 February, as she explores the life and work of Wilfred Bion. By delving into his biography, we will explore his psychoanalytic thinking, specifically his work on groups, his writing on psychosis and how his ideas evolved in later life.

Book your ticket here (under 'Apply'): https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/training/pre-training/introductory-courses/

06/02/2026

Listen to the latest episode of Freud in Focus featuring artist Cathie Pilkington discussing her current exhibition 'Housekeeper' at the Freud Museum London:

In this episode, Tom is in conversation with artist Cathie Pilkington about her current exhibition Housekeeper at the Freud Museum.

02/02/2026

In this Wednesday's Introductory Lecture (4 February), BPA psychoanalyst Jayne Hankinson will offer a brief history of the development of the Independent group within the British school of psychoanalysis, focusing on what it might mean to be identified as an Independent. She will follow with an introduction to the work of Donald Winnicott and an overview of his contribution to the independent tradition and psychoanalysis as a whole.

Book your ticket here (under 'Apply'): https://www.psychoanalysis-bpa.org/training/pre-training/introductory-courses/

31/01/2026

“A saturated state is a state in which the conceptual or emotional object has absolute value, it is already stacked or closed to new meanings and therefore cannot undergo any kind of transformation. An unsaturated state, on the other hand, is a state in which the emotional or conceptual object is in an open state in which it is still open to transformation, to new meanings, to all kinds of change. What I think is interesting and important is to understand that one of the most difficult aims of working with traumatic objects is linked to this transformation from saturated to unsaturated states. Traumatic objects become fixed in a saturated state, which does not allow them to undergo any transformation within the psyche or within the therapeutic analytic process. The saturated state of traumatic events or objects is a frozen state in which therapy or analysis is used to preserve rather than intervene. This creates, in quite a few cases, a situation that I call false therapy or false analysis – a process, a therapeutic process in which very detailed materials are ostensibly presented, but in fact they are presented in a way that forces the therapist or to either swallow them as they are, or vomit them up but not digest them because they are presented in a way that does not tolerate any intervention, any other point of view, any creation of movement within the given frozen narrative.”

Listen here:

“A saturated state is a state in which the conceptual or emotional object has absolute value, it is already stacked or closed to new meanings and therefore cannot undergo any kind of transformation. An unsaturated state, on the other hand, is a state in which the emotional or conceptual object is ...