Psychoanalysis and Climate Change with Linda Emanuel & Rita Teusch
This 6-week course will delve into the psychological roots of and possible responses to climate change; to start, we will consider an overview of the nature of climate change and nature and psychological origins of climate denial / climate anxiety
6 Sessions: Oct. 14, 21, 28, 2025; Nov. 4, 18, 25 2025
Time: 5:00 - 6:15 PM EST
All courses will take place online. Seminar sessions are not recorded
Registration Deadline: October 10, 2025
Registrants are expected to be able to attend all sessions in their entirety. Should your availability change, please contact the BPSI Team (team@bpsi.org) to remove your course registration and allow other interested participants to attend.
Psychoanalysis and Climate Change: finding this neglected thread in our theory and practice
This 6-week course will delve into the psychological roots of and possible responses to climate change; to start, we will consider an overview of the nature of climate change and the nature and psychological origins of climate denial / climate anxiety. Then we will consider how different psychoanalytic schools of thought contribute to the above understandings, starting with Kohutian, then Existential Analysis, then Bionian, and neuropsychoanalytic approaches. We will then consider needed psychoanalytic contributions to people facing the consequences of climate change – climate migration, epidemics, and political strife;the final week will be devoted to considering theoretical and clinical advances in psychoanalysis that may be responsive to the challenges climate change.
This course is inspired by the Climate Conversations hosted by Rita Teusch and Delia Kostner at BPSI this year and a version of it is being taught as an elective at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute currently where it has been enthusiastically received. Works by H Searles, J Dobbs, S Kassouf, M Boss, S Bodnar, W Bion, V Kast, J Durban and others will be read and discussed; these discussions will be framed by introductory presentations about background theory and intersected with case discussions.
Instructors
Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD
is a member of BPSI and a Training Analyst at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute where she trained as an analyst. Prior to this she work as an academic physician in palliative medicine, running the Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. Linda also lives on a one-acre eco-farm, where she also see patients from a Thoreau-replica cabin. This has allowed her (and her patients) extensive and deep reflection about the interconnections between the human psyche in the larger world, reflections that began long ago during Linda's PhD years studying neurophysiology.
Rita Teusch, PhD, is a key inspirer, supporter, and possible co-teacher of this course. It is too early for her to know if she can commit to co-teaching, however, so I have not put in a second instructor entry for her.
Rita Teusch, PhD
This course is open to beginning and intermediate licensed mental health clinicians and trainees on the path to licensure. Continuing Education credits are not offered for this course.
Scholarships are available for BPSI programs.
FEE:
$375 Course Fee
$50 Early Career Clinicians, Residents and Students
$350 Early Bird (available until 10/03/2025) Use Code at Checkout: EB2025CC
The fee is waived for BPSI Members, Trainees, and Partners. Scholarships are available upon request.
Explorations in Mind: Community Education at BPSI is made possible by the generous support of BPSI Members and friends. To make a gift to BPSI, contact Carole Nathan (cnathan@bpsi.org or 617-266-0953 x101),
go to www.bpsi.org, or send mail to BPSI, 141 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459.
Program Chair