An Immersive Reading of Jean Laplanche, Part 4: Freud and the Sexual

For this fourth, and final, part of this seminar, we will focus on a selection of Jean Laplanche’s later papers from 2000 to 2006.

This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.

11 Sessions on Fridays: Feb. 20, 27, 2026; Mar. 6, 13, 20, 27, 2026; Apr. 10, 17, 2026; May 1, 15, 22, 29 2026
Time: 4:00 - 5:45 PM EST

All courses will take place online. Seminar sessions are not recorded
Registration Deadline: February 16, 2026

Continuing Education credits are not offered for this course.

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.

 

An Immersive Reading of Jean Laplanche, Part 4: Freud and the Sexual

For this fourth, and final, part of this seminar, we will focus on a selection of Jean Laplanche’s later papers from 2000 to 2006. Over this period, Laplanche continues to refine his vision and understanding of Freud's notion of enlarged ("polymorphous perverse") infantile sexuality. He writes, "In short, the sexual is not exactly what we think. It is much more complex and even more repressed, sometimes buried within barely formulated fantasies." The seminar text will be Fletcher, House, and Ray’s translation of Freud and the Sexual, published by UIT Press. We will read through this text over the duration of this eleven-week seminar. If you are joining this seminar for the first time, please note that about half of the attendees have completed seminars I-III where the group reviewed all previous works by Jean Laplanche available in English. Newcomers do not need to review all previous works to participate. However, we do recommend at least reading some of the chapters in the New Foundations of Psychoanalysis textbook before starting this seminar.


Instructors

Paola M. Contreras, PsyD

Paola M. Contreras, PsyD is a psychoanalyst member of BPSI, where she is co-director of the Community Division. She is an Associate Professor at William James College and directs their Human Trafficking Community Research Hub. In her private practice in Cambridge, MA, Paola primarily works with individuals with complex trauma, especially those who have experienced sexual exploitation and duress in war and political violence.

Alistair McKnight, PsyaD LMHC

Alistair McKnight, PsyaD LMHC is a psychoanalyst and a faculty member at both BPSI and the Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Institute of New England (PCFINE). He is an Editorial Board Member for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, the Psychoanalytic Quarterly, and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He has a private practice in Cambridge, MA.


Open to Licensed Clinicians & Clinicians on the Path to Licensure. 

Scholarships are available for BPSI programs.

FEE:

$375 Course Fee
$50 Early Career Clinicians, Residents and Students
$350 Early Bird (available until 02/10/2026)  Use Code at Checkout: EB2026JL

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 Administrator
Jackson Doty: jdoty@bpsi.org

Program Chairs
Natasha Lifton, PhD: natashalifton@gmail.com
Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD: l-emanuel@northwestern.edu
 
 
Event Cancellation Policies & Procedures
Any program participant requesting their individual program registration be canceled, must submit their request in writing via email to Jackson Doty at jdoty@bpsi.org. For fee-based events, a request for cancellation (and refund using the original form of payment) must be received no later than 48 hours in advance of the event. Requests received later than 48 hours prior to the event will not be processed or accepted. All approved refunds are subject to a $10.00 administrative fee. If BPSI cancels an event, all registrants will receive a full refund of fees paid (no administration charge) no later than two business days following the scheduled date of the event, using the original form of payment.
 
Grievance Policy
Please address any questions or concerns about your experience at this or any program or event you have attended at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute to the Program Chair(s), via the Senior Administrator/Continuing Education Administrator, BPSI, 141 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459; team@bpsi.org; 617.266.0953.
 
The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Inc., 141 Herrick Road, Newton Centre, MA 02459, does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, sexual orientation, national origin or handicap in the admissions to or administration of its educational programs, scholarship programs or employment.