Talk 8 : Nuances of Clinical Relationship – the Alliance and its Vicissitudes by Prof Salman Akhtar

Salman Akhtar, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, USA. He is an alumnus of the Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. He very generously offered, on his own and without any external remuneration whatsoever, to do a course titled “Primer on psychoanalysis” for the residents and members of the department of psychiatry at his alma mater as a goodwill gesture of giving back to the Institute from where he received his psychiatry training under the tutelage of Dr. Narendra Nath Wig, the founder of the department, who Dr. Akhtar considers his early mentor and Guru. These are the recording of the talks, with his kind permission.
Prof. Akhtar has served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Psychoanalytic Quarterly. His more than 400 publications include 108 books, of which 22 are solo-authored. Dr. Akhtar has delivered many prestigious invited lectures including a very prestigious plenary Address at the 150th Freud Birthday Celebration sponsored by the Dutch Psychoanalytic Society and the Embassy of Austria in Leiden, Holland (2006), and the Plenary Address at the Fall Meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 2017.
Dr. Akhtar is the recipient of numerous awards including the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Edith Sabshin Award (2000), Columbia University’s Robert Liebert Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Psychoanalysis (2004), the American Psychiatric Association’s Kun Po Soo Award (2004) and Irma Bland Award for being the Outstanding Teacher of Psychiatric Residents in the country (2005). He received the highly prestigious Sigourney Award (2012) for distinguished contributions to psychoanalysis.
Dr. Akhtar’s books have been translated in many languages, including German, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, and Turkish. A true Renaissance man, Dr Akhtar has served as the Film Review Editor for the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and is currently serving as the Book Review Editor for the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies. He has published 16 collections of poetry and serves as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Inter Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia.
We highly appreciate this noble gesture and feel proud to be a part of this journey of 10 talks delivered online through zoom platform. In this, in an informal, conversational, story-telling manner, Dr. Akhtar covers the basic tenets, principles and components of psychoanalysis, a seemingly impossible task carried out with effortless élan and ease. Each of the talks covers invaluable learning lessons wrapped in a package of stories, case vignettes, sharing of experience and occasional mention of poetry, music and films. The language of the discourse is primarily English but with a generous sprinkling of Hindi (and some Urdu poetry couplets too!) to add to the cozy and comfortable coffee-room conversational style of the entire discourse!
All in all, this 10-session “Primer on psychoanalysis” should be a both a treasure and a pleasure for those who would dare to take the plunge!