Sandra Buechler Ph.D. - “Holding a Mirror Up to Nature:” Perspectives on Human Striving
ABOUT THE DAY
Morning Session 2 hours:
“More Simply Human:” Fundamental Motives According to Erich Fromm and
William Shakespeare
In his instructions to actors, Hamlet directs them to “…hold as ‘twere the mirror up
to Nature to show Virtue her feature, Scorn her own image,
and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure” (Hamlet, Arden,
2016, Act III, Sc.2, 21-24). I will compare the assumptions about human motives
implicit in the plays of William Shakespeare and the psychoanalytic and
sociological theories of Erich Fromm. More specifically, I will discuss needs for
relatedness, transcendence, rootedness, identity, and a frame of orientation and
devotion. My premise is that creating a “dialogue” between these two astute
observers of human behavior will yield interesting ideas for our discussion.
Afternoon Session 2 hours:
“More Simply Clinical:” The Clinician’s Hope and Grief
This talk takes as its basic assumption that hope and grief are inevitable in the
clinician’s professional life. I will describe some of my own hopes, the losses I have
incurred, and their emotional consequences. They run the gamut, from the deaths
of patients, through sudden terminations, planned terminations, and losses of
hope, meaning, and purpose that, collectively, take their toll. I believe that,
however the work ends, the clinician loses the potential “self” she might have
become, had this particular treatment continued. Finally, I will suggest some
sources of resilience for the mourning clinician.