Psychoanalysis & You is the official podcast of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) about psychoanalysis and everyday life hosted by Dr. Gail Saltz.Episode 13 – Artificial Intelligence and Psychoanalysis

In this episode of Psychoanalysis and You, Dr. Gail Saltz speaks with Dr. Todd Essig, a psychoanalyst and AI expert. They discuss the impact of telemedicine on psychoanalysis and the evolving role of AI in mental health care. Dr. Essig explores how psychoanalysts should engage with AI, the concept of techno-subjunctive relationships, and the ethical responsibilities of the psychoanalytic community in the AI revolution. The conversation also addresses the potential benefits and dangers of AI chatbots in therapy and the broader implications for society. Tune in to learn how psychoanalysis can contribute to the development of AI technologies that align with human values and needs.

Dr. Todd Essig is  Faculty and Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute, Adjunct Clinical Professor at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and member of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) Advisory Board. Widely known as a pioneer in the innovative uses of mental health technologies his current areas of research, writing and teaching include the gains and losses of teletherapies and how emerging technologies, especially AI, change self-experience and intimate relationships. He created and currently co-chairs APsA’s Council on Artificial Intelligence. Previously he co-chaired APsA’s Covid-19 Advisory Team for which he was awarded Distinguished Service awards by APsA and the NY State Psychological Association. For 10 years, until the pandemic hit, he wrote "Managing Mental Wealth" for Forbes. Dr. Essig maintains a private practice in New York where he treats individuals and couples. 

Chapters 

In this episode of Psychoanalysis and You, Dr. Gail Saltz interviews Dr. Harold Kudler, a distinguished psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, about his extensive experience working with veterans. Dr. Kudler shares insights from his career, including his time at the VA and his psychoanalytic training, and discusses the intersection of psychological trauma and military service. He explains how psychoanalytic principles helped him treat veterans suffering from PTSD and illuminates the complex nature of trauma and moral injury. Additionally, Dr. Kudler addresses the stigma surrounding mental health care in the military and highlights the importance of personalized mental health treatment. The episode concludes with Freudian quickies, where other analysts share their views on psychoanalytic values and the shortest treatments they have provided.

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast

00:26 Meet Dr. Harold Kudler

01:23 Psychoanalytic Training and VA Psychiatry

05:13 Understanding Psychological Trauma

11:10 Challenges in Treating Veterans

18:00 Military Mental Health Policy

24:53 Psychoanalytic Principles in Public Health

38:47 Freudian Quickies

43:16 Conclusion https://apsa.org/podcast #APsApodcast

Dr. Kudler received his M.D. from Downstate Medical Center, trained in Psychiatry at Yale and is Associate Consulting Professor at Duke and Adjunct Professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. From 2000 through 2005, he co-chaired the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA’s) Special Committee on PTSD which reports directly to Congress. He has served on the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Board of Directors, co-led development of joint VA/Department of Defense Guidelines for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress, and advised Sesame Street’s Talk Listen Connect series for military families.

Dr. Kudler is immediate Past President of the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas and chairs the Service Members and Veterans Initiative of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Military and Veterans Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

Our Host

Our Host Dr. Gail Saltz is best known for her work as a relationship, family, emotional wellbeing, and mental health contributor in the media where she is a go-to expert for commentary on the mental health aspects of current/breaking issues and news. She is a bestselling author of numerous books. She serves on the public information committee for the American Psychoanalytic Association and for The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Dr. Saltz is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the NY Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell School of medicine, a psychoanalyst with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute.

In this podcast, we explore the intricacies of psychoanalysis under the guidance of our host, Gail Saltz. Founded in 1911, the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) is the oldest national psychoanalytic organization in the nation. APsA is committed to being a professional membership organization for psychoanalysts, psychoanalytic psychotherapists, academics, researchers, students, and other interested people – all whose work is profoundly informed by psychoanalytic theory and values, and to supporting their education and continuing professional development.

https://apsa.org/podcast

Our Host

Our host, Dr. Gail Saltz, is best known for her work as a relationship, family, emotional wellbeing, and mental health contributor in the media where she is a go-to expert for commentary on the mental health aspects of current/breaking issues and news. She is a bestselling author of numerous books. She serves on the public information committee for the American Psychoanalytic Association and for The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

Our Guest for Episode 10: Dr. Beverly Stoute

Beverly J. Stoute, MD, FABP, DFAPA, DFAACAP, is an innovative, internationally recognized leader and advocate in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry and psychoanalysis. She has held multiple leadership positions locally and nationally, most recently serving as a Co-Chair of the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in American Psychoanalysis, formerly on the Board of Directors of the American Psychoanalytic Association, on the faculties of multiple psychoanalytic training programs, and currently in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science as Adjunct Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, and Adjunct Clinical Professor the Morehouse School of Medicine. She is a prominent speaker, author, scholar, educator, clinician, leadership advisor and organizational consultant who has received multiple awards and honors for her work.

Dr. Stoute’s significant work is recognized for changing psychoanalytic and developmental perspectives on implicit bias in health care delivery, and diversity in psychoanalytic education, organizations and in the training of mental health professions. Her work as a clinician and educator integrates psychoanalytic approaches in the multimodal treatment of children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety, mood disorders, behavior problems, severe psychiatric illness, neurodivergent learning styles, with adjustment issues in high conflict divorce and complex trauma.

Dr. Stoute combines psychoanalytic understanding with community advocacy work and forensic work in civil litigation for children, adolescents, and adults with complex trauma and teaches mental health clinicians at all levels on a wide range of topics in private and community settings. Her innovative and award-winning scholarship on the developmental aspects of race implicit bias and diversity awareness is on the cutting edge of expanding psychoanalytic theory, is taught at training programs across the United States and has been translated into German, Spanish and Portuguese. Dr. Stoute maintains a full-time private practice in Atlanta, GA He book, co-edited with Michael Slevin, book, The Trauma of Racism: Lessons from the Therapeutic Encounter, co-edited with Michael Slevin, was released by Routledge in 2023. maintains a full-time private practice in Atlanta, GA.

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What if police officers understood clinical concepts around traumatic stress? Would that change the way they respond in heightened circumstances? 

What if they had the tools to identify people in need and refer them to the appropriate clinical resources?

Dr. Steven Marans, MSW, PhD, is a child and adult psychoanalyst at the Yale School of Medicine, where he serves as Harris Professor of Child Psychoanalysis, Professor of Psychiatry at the Child Study Center and Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Yale Center for Traumatic Stress and Recovery.

Having devoted much of his career to developing psychoanalytically informed responses to children, families and communities traumatized by violent and catastrophic events, Dr. Marans is also Founder of the Child Development-Community Policing Program, a pioneering collaboration between mental health and law enforcement professionals. 

On this episode of Psychoanalysis and You, Dr. Marans joins host Dr. Gail Saltz to discuss his work with the New Haven Police Department, describing what he’s learned from working with law enforcement and how it informs his clinical practice.

Dr. Marans explains how consistent exposure to traumatic events impacts police officers and explores how training in clinical concepts helps cops visualize themselves as helpers and apply safer, more effective strategies in high-stress situations.

 Listen in to understand how Dr. Marans’ partnership with the New Haven PD inspired the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention and learn how we might scale the model of collaboration between clinicians and law enforcement in police departments across the country.

Topics Covered

·      What inspired Dr. Marans’ work with the New Haven Police Department

·      The potential police have to identify kids and families exposed to trauma and refer them to clinical resources

·      How consistent exposure to traumatic events impacts police officers

·      Dr. Marans’ insight around what clinicians and police officers can learn from each other

·      How training in clinical concepts helps police visualize themselves as helpers

·      How Dr. Marans’ work with police helps officers self-reflect on their responses and apply safer, more effective strategies moving forward

·      What Dr. Marans has learned from working with police and how it informs his clinical practice

·      How Dr. Marans’ collaboration with police birthed the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention

·      How amenable police departments are to implementing programs similar to that of Dr. Marans’ curriculum for the New Haven PD

·      Why we have yet to scale the model of collaboration between clinicians and police officers in departments across the country

Connect with Dr. Marans 

Dr. Marans at the Yale School of Medicine

Connect with APsA

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Gun violence is a common occurrence in America, and that makes us an outlier among developed nations.

There were 39 mass shootings in January 2023 alone, and firearms are the #1 cause of death for children in our country.

How can we use our training as psychoanalysts to recognize who might be at risk for committing mass gun violence and intervene long before they’re inclined to take action?

Dr. Jeffrey Taxman, MD, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with a private practice Mequon, Wisconsin, and serves on the clinical faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Psychiatry. He is also an internationally recognized expert in massive community trauma with a focus on first responders.

Dr. Taxman has supported police officers, soldiers, firefighters, medical personnel and mental health workers during crisis situations, and his work to develop a psychoanalytic framework for understanding and preventing mass gun violence in the US is presented and discussed nationally.

On this inaugural episode of Psychoanalysis and You, Dr. Taxman joins host Dr. Gail Saltz to explore the tremendous need for mental health care among first responders and explain how he uses psychoanalytic principles to help them do their jobs better in crisis situations.

Dr. Taxman walks us through the risk factors for committing a mass shooting and discusses the politicization of gun violence in America.

Listen in to understand why gun control alone won’t eliminate mass shootings and learn what we can do as mental health professionals to limit the pool of future shooters in our communities.

Topics Covered 

·      Why Dr. Taxman is driven to use his skills as a psychoanalyst during massive disasters

·      How Dr. Taxman uses psychoanalytic principles to help first responders do their jobs better

·      The tremendous need for mental health care among members of the military, first responders and police officers

·      Using a psychoanalytic framework to understand and prevent mass gun violence

·      The risk factors for committing a mass shooting and what we might do to limit the pool of future shooters

·      Who is best qualified to screen children around their capacity for empathy

·      How Dr. Taxman thinks about adolescents having access to guns during the high-risk period when they’re highly impulsive

·      Why gun control alone won’t solve the problem of mass shootings in America

·      The politicization of gun violence and Dr. Taxman’s challenge to Congress to consider the perspective of mental health professionals in addressing the issue

Connect with Dr. Taxman 

Dr. Taxman at Mequon Clinical Associates

‘Gun Violence in America—A Tri-Vector Model’ in the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies

Connect with APsA

 The American Psychoanalytic Association

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Does understanding an artist’s mind enhance our appreciation of their work?

Traditional art history stressed the importance of looking at works of art in isolation and discouraged ‘contaminating’ art with biographical data. But if you ask Dr. Adele Tutter, MD, PhD, it’s that biographical data that uncovers the significance of the art to its creator. 

So, how can we use our training as psychoanalysts to better understand the creative process? And how might we use art as a tool to support our patients, whether or not they happen to be artists themselves?

Dr. Tutter is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos School of Medicine and Director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In her award-winning scholarship, Dr. Tutter explores the underpinnings of creativity and the relationship between the artist and their art, including the short stories of Raymond Carver, the photography of Francesca Woodman, and the fashion of Alexander McQueen.

On this episode of Psychoanalysis and You, Dr. Tutter joins host Dr. Gail Saltz to explain how understanding an artist’s mind helps us better understand their work.

Dr. Tutter discusses the therapeutic nature of making art, describing how artists use their work to process trauma and transform it into something beautiful.

Listen in for Dr. Tutter’s insight on treating creative people and learn how to use art as a vehicle to help patients talk about themselves.

Topics Covered

·      How Dr. Tutter’s curiosity leads her to the artists she chooses to write about

·      Dr. Tutter’s psychoanalytic approach to art history and how it differs from traditional methodology

·      Understanding an artist’s mind in order to understand their work (i.e.: Josef Sudek’s photographs of trees)

·      How our mind impacts the way we view a work of art

·      How their work can help an artist process their trauma and transform it into something beautiful

·      Surprising things Dr. Tutter has uncovered in analyzing artists and their work

·      How the themes or objects in an artist’s work have multiple meanings that change over time

·      The therapeutic nature of making art and why we should encourage it

·      Using a patient’s art or works they’ve seen as a vehicle to talk about themselves

·      Why creative people seek out Dr. Tutter and how that affects their treatment

·      How writing about artists and their grief helped Dr. Tutter process her own

·      Why Dr. Tutter shares more of her own experiences than most psychoanalysts

Connect with Dr. Tutter

Dr. Tutter at Columbia University

Dr. Tutter on LinkedIn

Books by Dr. Tutter

Research by Dr. Tutter

Connect with APsA 

The American