Description:

Using the film As Good As It Gets (directed by James L. Brooks and co-written by Brooks and Mark Andrus) as a starting point, psychoanalyst Suzanne Rosenfeld will discuss the symptomology of OCD from a variety of perspectives. The goal is for writers and filmmakers to understand how characters who suffer from OCD might manifest that psychological condition and how it might affect their lives.  Questions on the table might include: Is OCD a “disorder” or another example of neurodiversity? Does it always present the same? Is it associated with other conditions? How does it evolve? Can it be “cured”? What are pitfalls for writers to avoid when conceptualizing their characters?  Moderated by Studio Lab director David Tolchinsky.

*Audience members are invited to watch As Good As It Gets before the evening.

Dr. Suzanne Rosenfeld is a faculty member at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and a member of a working group at the Paris Psychoanalytical Society.  In addition to international psychoanalysis, she has been interested in psychosomatics throughout her career as a medical doctor, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. In recent years she trained with Christopher Bollas and was invited as guest auditor at the Pierre Marty Institute for Psychosomatics-Paris.   Her other research interests include free association, psychoanalytical assessment, psychoanalysis, art and cinema.  She has enjoyed teaching and created a course for students at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis entitled “The Phenomenology of the First Encounter:  How to help a person enter a psychoanalysis with oneself.” She has also prepared talks with non clinicians, including for artists on “Free Association and Creativity” at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership.  She is a proud member of the Advisory Board of the Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab for the Promotion and Creation of Mental Health through Cinematic Arts.

All attendees must wear masks and present their vaccination card. RSVP required.