Psychoanalysis Meets Virtual Reality

Organised by:

The Association for Psychosocial Studies

Description

‘Psychoanalysis Meets Virtual Reality’, an upcoming theoretical-experiential event convened by Dr Noreen Giffney (BPC Founding Scholar, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, and Ulster University, Belfast), Prof Lynn Froggett (BPC Founding Scholar, University of Central Lancashire and Chair of the Association for Psychosocial Studies), Prof Jill Bennett (Director of the Big Anxiety Research Centre and the felt Experience & Empathy Lab at the University of New South Wales, Sydney) and Dr Gail Kenning (The Big Anxiety Research Centre and the felt Experience & Empathy Lab at the University of New South Wales, Sydney). The event will take place at the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) in London on Friday 23 June at 9 am-5 pm.

There is a significant amount of work happening at the interface between research on mental health and Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR). This work brings together artists, curators, clinical practitioners, patient advocates, academics and activists. VR, AR and MR make use of arts-based technologies to facilitate individuals having an immersive sensuous experience by means of wearing a headset. This event will include an individual VR experience, Perinatal Dreaming (fEEL 2023), which will be launched at the event. This will be followed by a number of small and large group activities to help us to reflect on, and talk about, our individual and collective encounters with Perinatal Dreaming. We will also have an opportunity to hear from Prof Jill Bennett and Dr Gail Kenning about their work, and discuss what VR, AR and MR might offer psychoanalysis and vice versa. We will consider the importance of VR, AR and MR experiences within the context of arts and mental health projects more broadly. The emphasis will be on experience, reflection and conversation throughout the day.

What kinds of feelings might be evoked and/or contained while engaging in VR, AR and MR experiences? How might our engagement with VR, AR and MR experiences help us to become more aware of, and reflective about, the operation of introjection and projection? Might VR, AR and MR have a place in our clinics and/or as part of our clinical training programmes? What, in particular, might the Perinatal Dreaming VR experience contribute to our thinking about the long-term impact of early life experiences? How might our participation in group activities, underpinned by psychoanalytic thinking, help us to make meaning of our individual encounters with the Perinatal Dreaming VR experience? These questions will frame our event.

It is sponsored by the Association for Psychosocial Studies (APS), the Big Anxiety Research Centre (BARC), the felt Experience & Empathy Lab (fEEL), Psychoanalysis +, the UCLan Psychosocial Research Unit, and the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) in London.

Contact Dr Noreen Giffney (n.giffney@ulster.ac.uk) and Prof Lynn Froggett (LFroggett@uclan.ac.uk) for the event brochure, further details about registration fees and how to register. Places are limited so early registration is advised. This is an in-person event only; it will not be possible to attend online. It will not be recorded.

To book, email n.giffney@ulster.ac.uk