CFS Study Group: Freud’s From the History of an Infantile Neurosis (The Wolf Man)

The Scientific Program Committee
is pleased to present

A Study Group: Freud’s From the History of an Infantile Neurosis (The Wolf Man)
Led by Deborah Rotenberg Moses, PhD, LCSW

Sundays, November 8, 15, 22 and December 6, 2026
3:00 – 4:30pm via Zoom
6 CEUs Available

The most compelling and daring of Freud’s cases is the Wolf-Man’s, where Freud argues that the collision of fantasy, memory, and historical truth is the (potentially treacherous) foundation for constructing a past, a mind, and a sense of succession. In bringing the Wolf-Man back to his earliest beginnings through infantile sexuality, Freud intimates a parallel between his drive to fathom origins and the Wolf-Man’s entrancement with his infantile origins. Despite the factual and stylistic incongruities between Freud’s more theoretically riddled case history and the Wolf- Man’s plainer, more moving memoirs, other uncanny similarities between Freud’s writings and the Wolf-Man’s perturbations reveal how deeply Freud immersed himself in the Wolf Man’s psyche. This “interpenetrating mix-up” is perhaps why the Wolf-Man haunts Freud’s writing up to the end of his life. We will examine how Freud’s struggle to propel the Wolf-Man into function and temporality was formed out of their intersecting transferences, countertransferences, and enactments, and laid the ground for contemporary Freudian theory.

Presenter:
Deborah Rotenberg Moses, PhD, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst practicing in New York. She works with individuals, couples, and families, and supervises psychoanalytic candidates and therapists.  She received her Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, where she taught for many years.  She is currently on the faculty at Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (PTAR), Contemporary Freudian Society (CFS), Pulsion, and Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (MITPP).   At IPTAR, she was past editor of the Manifest Content, past Secretary for the Board of Directors as secretary, and is currently Member at Large.   She runs a study group on Freud.  She has presented several papers on Freud and Couples Therapy.

Program Fee:
CFS Candidates: $120 ($30 per session)
CFS Members: $240 ($80 per session)

CFS Scientific Program Committee:
Cornelius Dufallo (Chair) • Baiyu Chen • Umi Chong • Jennifer Grant • Michael Krass • Kristin Lee • Jessica Reik • Janet Schiff

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:
1. Describe how Freud’s theory of transference combined with his counter transference to infuse his clinical capabilities, quagmire him in areas of conflict and contradiction, and affect the treatment trajectory and outcome.
2. Describe how Freud’s theories about sexuality, infantile seduction, the Oedipus Complex, and the primate scene shape his understanding of the Wolfman.
3. Show how Freud’s ideas about Memory, Constructions, Dreams an Historical Truth interface with his analysis of the Wolfman, causing a pivotal juncture in his theory of mind.
4. Articulate how Freud reveals belief, as in infantile sexuality and the primal scene, as simultaneously seductive intoxication and route to truth.
5. Discuss how Freud both criticizes and entangles himself with other thinkers on his way to forming his ideas about the Wolfman.
6. Identify how the Wolfman’s difficulties force Freud to breach his prior theories and consider areas of mind in ways he had not conceived.

References:

Reconstruction in the Present Two-Person Psychoanalysis: The Wolf Man Case Reconstructed, Harold Blum, (2018) Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 66 ((3) 479-492.

Muriel Gardiner and the Wolf Man: Preserving a Legacy, Erika Schmidt, (2019), American Imago  76:513-531.

Reconstruction in a Two-Person World May Be More about the Present than the Past: Freud And the Wolf Man, an Illustration (2017), Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 65(2):305-316.

Continuing Education Credits:

NY Social Workers: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0087

NY Psychoanalysts: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0021.

NY Licensed Psychologists: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provide of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0017.

Psychologists: The Contemporary Freudian Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The CFS maintains responsibility for this program and its content. (DC, MD and VA Psychologist licensing boards accept CE credits provided by an APA approved Sponsor. All other psychologists should check with their licensing boards.)

DC, MD and VA Social Workers: The Social Work Boards of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will grant continuing education credits to social workers attending a program offered by an APA authorized sponsor.

CE credits will only be granted to participants with documented attendance of the entire program and completed online evaluation form. No partial credit will be offered. It is the responsibility of the participants seeking CE credits to comply with these requirements. Upon completion of this program and online evaluation form, participants will be granted CE credits.

Important Disclosure Information:
None of the planners and presenters of this program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.