Embodied Social Psychoanalysis

The CFS-DEI Committee

presents

A Three-Part Seminar Taught by Karim Dajani, PsyD

Wednesday Evenings via Zoom
October 28, November 4, and November 18, 2026
7:30 – 9:00 pm EST
4.50 CE’s

We are pleased to announce the continuation of an ongoing series of CFS community seminars led by Karim Dajani exploring the social unconscious. New participants are warmly welcome.

A set of concepts and techniques emerged from the pioneering but largely neglected work of psychoanalytic theorist Trigant Burrow that can be understood as Embodied Social Psychoanalysis. Burrow directs our attention to the immediacy of embodied experience while expanding our awareness beyond the individual to include the groups and larger social systems of which we are a part. His work points toward a mode of relating that is inherently social, in which the body is experienced as a link in a chain, or a member of a group.

This seminar will reintroduce some of Burrow’s neglected ideas, with particular attention to their relevance for our work with patients and our engagement with groups and communities, including our own. Expanding our attention to the ways the social unconscious and group processes operate within the individual can deepen our understanding of our patients, refine our clinical technique, and broaden the reach of psychoanalytic work.

In keeping with the goals of the recently implemented Board-sponsored small-groups initiative, the seminars will explore the institutional and group-level processes that can make difficult conversations difficult to sustain. Becoming more aware of these often unconscious resistances may strengthen our capacity to remain engaged across differences and is essential to the vitality of our institutions and to the field of psychoanalysis.

Presenter:                                                                                                                                                     

Karim G. Dajani, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst with a specialization in working with issues related to cultural dislocation and displacement.  His research and writing include publications on the links between cultural systems and the unconscious of individuals and groups.  He sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies.  His recent works include a special issue dedicated to the social unconscious and an upcoming chapter on race and ethnicity in contemporary psychoanalytic theories and praxis that will appear in the next edition of the Textbook on Psychoanalysis.

Readings will be provided in advance of each seminar. 

Recordings will be made available to those who register. 

Program Fee:  Members $75 /  Candidates $30

Learning Objectives:
1)   Define the term social unconscious and describe how the concept can be incorporated in your work with patients.
2)    Describe two distinct ways of paying attention to yourself and patients – Organic and Symbolic or Cotentive and Partitive.
3)    Explain how to interpret shared unconscious social images (collective unconscious fantasies).
4)    Describe how an expanded understanding of group psychology can be helpful in working therapeutically with individuals.
5)     Describe how the concept of an embodied social unconscious can be applied to your work with individual and groups.
6)     Describe how the principles of the theory of the embodied social unconscious can be incorporated into the psychoanalytic training curricula.

References: 

Burrow, T. (1948). The neurosis of man. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. https://archive.org/details/neurosisofman031912mbp/page/n11/mode/2up

Campos Avillar, J. (2015). Trigant Burrow: Pioneer of group analysis, Part 1. Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik, 51(2), 138–160.

Dajani, K. G. (2022). The social unconscious: Then and now. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 19(2), 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1755

Frie, R. (2024). Erich Fromm’s social psychoanalysis: Beyond the interpersonal dyad. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 33, 72–80.

Parapraxis. (2026). Peer pressures. Parapraxis Magazine. https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/peer-pressures

Pertegato, P., & Pertegato, M. (2013). From psychoanalysis to group analysis: The pioneering work of Trigant Burrow. Routledge.

Rozmarin, E. (2017). The social is the unconscious of the unconscious of psychoanalysis. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 53(4), 570–588. https://doi.org/10.1080/00107530.2017.1385373

Rozmarin, E. (2024). Belonging and its discontents. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 34(3), 250–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481885.2024.2346516

Sandner, D. (2022). The founding of a critical psychoanalytic cultural psychology by Trigant Burrow in 1924. In D. Sandner (Ed.), Society and the unconscious (pp. xx–xx). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66175-8_8

Tudor, K., & Drury, N. (2022). Trigant Burrow and the social world. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 19(2), 187–201. https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1743

Who Should Attend: All CFS members and candidates are encouraged to attend.  The instructional level for this activity is intermediate and advanced.

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 credits.

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

Questions?  Contact:

Carolyn Curcio at 

Mike Krass at 

Betsy Spanbock at