Anxiety Signifiers in Troubling Times - in-person and on-line

This congress explores anxiety from psychoanalytic and philosophical perspectives. Starting from Sigmund Freud's and Martin Heidegger's conceptions of Angst, two rather different approaches come to the fore. On the one hand, we have Freud's interpretation in "Inhibitions, Symptom and Anxiety", where he tries to define the concept of anxiety as a main element in neurosis and, on the other, Heidegger's concept, which plays a major role in gaining the existential meaning of Dasein, literally translated as 'being-there'. Despite this difference, many scholars have postulated a common anthropo-existential interpretation. Anxiety as such marks the anthropological and existential passage from the non-distinction of the pre-subjective life to the distinction that emanates from the differentiation of the subject from the world. With Freud, a specific connection to repetition insists, formulating anxiety both as repetition of a traumatic situation and as a defence reaction facing a recognised danger-situation. In 1962-63 Jacques Lacan held his Seminar X on Anxiety, where he notes the following: "What constitutes anxiety is when something, a mechanism, makes there appear....at the place which corresponds to the one occupied by the 'o' the object of desire...re-read the article on the Unheimlich,...as being the absolutely indispensable hinge for approaching the question of anxiety". Unheimlich - the 'scary, creepy or eerie"- dominates discourse currently, initially intensifying during the Covid pandemic and escalating into psycho-social anxiety for children and young people; anxiety in relation to war in Europe and crisis in the Middle East; anxiety in the face of climate and threats to survival; anxiety surrounding identity and dismantling of established human rights. Furthermore, recent findings on people's memories, consolidation and systems of memory, memory dissociation, suppression and memory of emotions indicate there is a need for added research on anxiety. 8 CPD POINTS AWARDED PROGRAMME: 9.00-9.30 Registration 9.30-9.45 Welcome by Micheli Romao, Chair of APPI and Carol Owens, Chair of Congress day 9.45-10.30 1st Keynote Speaker: Professor Joanna Moncrieff 10.30 - 11.00 Dr. Ivana Milivojevic 11.00-11.30 Coffee Break 11.30-12.00 Dr. Jeannette Abou Nasr 12.00-12.30 Hannah McCann 12.30-13.00 Andrei Tcaciuc 13.00-14.00 LUNCH (not provided) 14.00-14.45 2nd Keynote Speaker: Dr Derek Hook 14.45-15.15 Fatemeh Biglar Hasani 15.15-15.45 Coffee Break 15.45-16.15 Dr Michael Cooke 16.15-17.15 Speakers' Plenary Session 17.15-17.30 Closing Comments by Ger McLoughlin, Chair APPI Congress Events Committee 17.30 Close of Congress BIOS: Joanna Moncrieff Joanna Moncrieff is Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London and works as a psychiatrist in the NHS in London. She has led and contributed to large, government-funded research projects evaluating psychiatric drugs and is the author of numerous papers including the recent review of research into the serotonin theory of depression. Her books include Chemically Imbalanced: the making and unmaking of the serotonin myth (2025), A Straight Talking Introduction to Psychiatric Drugs, second edition (2020), The Bitterest Pills: the troubling story of antipsychotics (2013) and The Myth of the Chemical Cure(2007). Ivana Milivojević Ivana Milivojević is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with educational and professional background in the areas of mental health, comparative literature and theory of literature,and civil/environmental engineering. Ivana is the author of two monographs: The Authorial Figuresand Love of Diversity. She has also published academic articles and book chapters in Serbia, Italy, Switzerland and Ireland, edited two books of essays by Mark Twain and Danilo Kiš, and a volume of contemporary short stories from Ireland. Jeanette Abou Nasr Daccache Psychoanalyst, Author, Professor of Psychology, Psychopathology, and Psychoanalysis at the Lebanese University, Saint Joseph University, and Université Paris 13. Founder of SPIAL Lebanon and France. Member of the European Foundation for Psychoanalysis and member of URTPP, Sorbonne Paris Nord University. Member of the Scientific Research Committee of the Doctoral College at the Lebanese University. Member of the American Psychological Association (APA). Member of the Disciplinary Committee of the Order of Psychologists in Lebanon. Author of several books and scientific articles, including Love and Its Representations, which has been translated into several languages worldwide. Hannah McCann Hannah McCann is a fully accredited psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Mullingar and Dublin 2, where she works with children, adolescents, and adults. She is a member of the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI) and currently serves on the Executive, Events, and Communications & Innovations Committees. Hannah holds an MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from Dublin Business School, a Specialist Modality Training (SMT) in Psychoanalysis and a Higher Diploma in Psychotherapy Studies from St. Vincent’s University Hospital. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Textiles. Her clinical experience spans university counselling services at Trinity College Dublin, community-based programmes and initiatives in addiction and psychosis, and work with children and young people in areas of social disadvantage. Prior to training as a psychotherapist, she worked in disability and palliative care services, experiences that continue to inform her clinical practice. Originally trained in Fine Art and Textiles, she integrates creative and play-based approaches into her psychoanalytic work with children and adolescents. Andrei Tcaciuc Andrei Tcaciuc is an accredited psychoanalytic psychotherapist with over twelve years in private practice and more than twenty years of experience in the wider healthcare field. A full member of the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI) and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP), he has worked with young people, adults, and families across a wide range of issues including trauma, bereavement, depression, anxiety, and identity. Alongside his clinical practice, he has collaborated with TUSLA in training healthcare professionals in bereavement and loss, highlighting his dedication to both direct therapeutic work and professional education. He is also the founder of mentalhealthcare.ie, an initiative dedicated to making high-quality psychotherapy and mental health education accessible to all. Through this platform, he has developed a mental health screening model, delivered psychoeducational workshops, and expanded access to online therapeutic resources. Education: Doctoratand in Psychotherapy, DCU; MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (UCD & St. Vincent’s University Hospital); MSc in Bereavement Studies (RCSI & Irish Hospice Foundation); Postgraduate Diploma in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy; BA (Hons.) in Psychology and Sociology. Derek Hook Derek Hook is a professor and clinical supervisor in the psychology department at Duquesne University. He is a scholar and practitioner of Lacanian psychoanalysis, and he is the co-editor of the Palgrave Lacan Series (with Calum Neill) and the Reading Lacan's Ecrits Series (with Calum Neill and Stijn Vanheule), and the author of Six Moments in Lacan and Fanon, Psychoanalysis and Decolonial Psychology. His co-edited books include Lacan on Melancholia and Depression (with Stijn Vanheule), Lacan and Race (with Sheldon George), and Fanon and Lacan (with Sinan Richards). His YouTube channel (@derekhookonlacan) features 250 videos and lectures on Lacanian psychoanalysis). Fatemeh Biglar Hasani Fatemeh Biglarhasani is a psychoanalytic candidate and researcher in psycho-social studies whose academic and clinical journey reflects a sustained interest in the relationship between individual subjectivity and social reality.