Medea – For Clinicians Only

Medea’s act of killing her children stands out as one of the most horrific crimes/taboos in our collective memory. In this presentation, we will examine our own potential for rage, hatred, and violence, and our horror at confronting this shadow piece of ourselves.  We will examine what happens symbolically when one is faced with and threatened with possession by our own internal destructive forces, and ways of working with this material clinically.

Learning objectives:

• Describe critical factors which contribute to self-destructive and violent behavior;
• Describe how to help clients identify and work with their self-destructive patterns of behavior;
• Identify some countertransference responses which may affect the therapist in dealing with self-destructive patterns in patients.

Corey Hooper, M.F.T., is a Jungian analyst in private practice in Pasadena. In addition to her practice, she currently chairs the Ethics Committee and recently taught Answer to Job at the Jung Institute of Los Angeles, and is a member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts. Corey was also trained as a botanical artist, worked for a non-profit spiritual organization for many years, and was a pharmacist in her early years. She enjoys the solitude of walking and being in nature in her free time.

Medea as the Modern Mother:  Infanticide, Motherhood, and Transmutation

Presented by Brooke Laufer, Ph.D.

Medea persists as a powerful archetype in modern motherhood, as infanticide continues to be a horrifying and unsolved tragedy.  Neither the field of psychology nor the legal system has adequately healed or contained this phenomenon.  What is infanticide telling us about our world, about motherhood and about Medea’s plight? In this workshop, we will examine the basis and context of maternal infanticide not as a singular crime, but rather as a comment on today’s society and in particular the construct of motherhood from personal, archetypal, and symbolic perspectives. The Jungian concept of transmutation is employed to understand how infanticide can be interpreted in the context of our evolution.

Learning objectives:

• Describe some of the psychological factors in the mother that have led to infanticide;
• Identify the symbolic and archetypal meaning of infanticide and the Death Mother;
• Describe the ‘message’ that infanticide is attempting to send.

Brooke Laufer, Ph. D., is a clinical psychologist with a Jungian orientation, in private practice in Evanston, Illinois. Brooke began her clinical work in psychiatric wards with the severely mentally ill, then in schools with adolescents and their families.  After having her first child, Brooke had a disturbing postpartum OCD experience which inspired her to begin researching, understanding, and specializing in the treatment of perinatal mental illness.  In addition to her practice, she works as an expert witness for women who have committed a crime during a postpartum episode.