Psychoanalyze With SDSU Press’ "Psychoanalysis on the Couch" Series and Lectures by Ralph R Greenson

How To Psychoanalyze Your Friends At Parties

From The Teachings of Ralph R. Greenson

Written by Abigail Jones

Ralph R. Greenson

With the right drive and passion, going to school and getting a degree in psychoanalysis is well within the realm of possibility for most people. What if, however, you could learn psychoanalytical techniques for as little as $20. With just one book from SDSU Press' series Techniques and Practices on Psychoanalysis from the lectures of Ralph R. Greenson (edited by Harry Polkinhorn) you can pull out psychoanalysis techniques that you friends will totally love. Who doesn't want to have a free therapy session?

All the techniques used are from the publication "Techniques and Practices of Psychoanalysis, 4" by Ralph R. Greenson and edited by Harry Polkinhorn.  

1. Make sure your 'patient' gives up her/his emotional defense-- Surely, when your friend asks you, "What should I do about [event]?", they are asking for you to psychoanalyze them. Greenson's first step in a successful session with a patient is to lower their defenses, and his plan for this is to make the patient uncomfortable and educated. This will make them ultimately more comfortable with you and make analysis more accurate. Imagine:

Friend: I had such a weird dream, it made me so uncomfortable. I'm glad it was just a dream. 

You, educated from reading Greenson's work: Well, this is probably a bad time to tell you that whatever you dream are the desires of your subconscious. 

2. Be careful in debunking the 'patient's' analyze of their own lives-- Of course your friends knows themselves better than you know them. However, they didn't read SDSU's "Psychoanalysis on the Couch" series and you did (at least I hope you did). Greenson says to broach the debunking of incorrect analysis carefully. You must not lie to the patient, but you don't want to disrespect another analyst or the patient themselves. Here is an appropriate way to broach the subject:

Friend: I looked it up and my dream was telling me to take risks. I think I am going to start that new job! 

You, an analyst: No, definitely not. 

3. The Trial Period-- Greenson looks at trial analysis, and its failure in psychoanalysis today. The idea is to make the first period of analysis a trail period. The analyst will looked at the patients responses and their psychosis to try and see if they are a good candidate for analysis. With your friends, every minute you spend with them can be the trial period until you finally understand them. Greenson warns that most analysts don't agree with this anymore because patients are resistant. Here's how to avoid your friend realizing they are on trial.

Friend: You know, lately I've been feeling like you have been putting me through an analytical trial.

You: Whaaaat? Me? No. 

4. How to analyze your 'patient's' secrets-- Greenson looks a lot at how to combat resistance in his lectures. One form of resistance he looks at is a patient that doesn't want to reveal something but will acknowledge that they are leaving something out. Now, wouldn't you say that- for the most part- when your friends want to tell you something, you seem to know what they want to say. Analyzing a friend puts you in a unique position, as you might have more insight into their lives than an analyst would. However, Greenson says it's best to circle around the topic without making the patient have to tell the secret. Here is an example;

Friend: I want to tell you something, but I can't. 

You: Why not! I haven't been friends with you this whole time for you not to tell me things! I tell you everything! It's only fair. 

http://bit.ly/rgreenson (GET A COPY HERE)

Congratulations! You have finished your first class in psychoanalysis, and you would not be here without Greenson's lecture. Go forth and psychoanalyze your friends.

A friendly reminder, however, that nothing in life is free and to completely graduate from psychoanalysis school reading the Techniques and Practices of Psychoanalysis series from SDSU Press can help you on your way. The series offers inside transcriptions of Greenson's lectures, and is a deep dive into

techniques that a skilled analyst may use. It also, obviously, is not a replacement for actually going to school for psychoanalysis, but they do offer an intriguing read and a fun new skill to hone.

Edit: Looking back now, having psychoanalyzed my friends for fun--I can tell you that the techniques offered by Greenson are great, but maybe we should leave this to the trained professionals.

The Drones are Coming! The Drones are Coming! er ... The Drones are HERE! Check out Hyperbole Books's New Cultural Studies Masterpiece, DRONE VISIONS by Naief Yehya

The drones are coming! The drones are coming!

SDSU Press's and Hyperbole Books's latest title is its most ambitious! @nyehya Naief Yehya's awesome DRONE VISIONS! More info here: https://t.co/qoWSkwycl9 pic.twitter.com/7OtoyRHnYa

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) February 27, 2020

Starting the Conversation: Daniel A. Olivas's "Things We Do Not Talk About"

by Madison Cappuccio

"I learned that a short story is like a poem: each word, every sentence, has to matter."

- Daniel A. Olivas

In his collection, Things We Do Not Talk About: Exploring Latino/a Literature Through Essays and Interviews, readers follow Daniel A. Olivas down the rabbit hole that is the empowering process of writing; they also get to witness Olivas's becoming as a Latina/o/x author. The experiences of twenty-eight esteemed authors, including Salvador Plascencia, Gustavo Arellano, and Reyna Grande, are documented through enlightening interviews that are quintessential for new writers. Through these essays and interviews, Olivas invites his audience to travel in time--readers encounter the roots of Chicano culture and the oppressive stigmas that have inhibited the welcoming of Mexican-American excellence in writing and beyond. The author calls upon Latino creatives to use the power of language to initiate widespread Chicano representation and breakdown America's wall of bigotry. Olivas's sharing of stories, coupled with his expertise in law and literature, encourages readers to examine the relationship between justice and reality. You will be tasked with the challenge of opening your eyes to a mirror of stories that reflect the ugly truth of living in a blind society. Join the Revolution / Únete a la revolución and learn more about the movement supporting the Latino community's resilience by getting your hands on a copy of Daniel A. Olivas' awe-inspiring anthology Things We Do Not Talk About here.

Fluxus, by Owen Smith, from SDSU Press #fluxus #dada #avantgarde

Are you a fan of Fluxus? Does the European Avant-garde get your blood pressure rising?! Then check one of our all time classics, FLUXUS: THE HISTORY OF AN ATTITUDE by Owen Smith. Get your copy here: https://t.co/zBQkRPD0EM#fluxus #zaum #dada #avantgarde pic.twitter.com/JVMYQoAbvY

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) February 22, 2020

Dance in/on/with/through the Border with SDSU Press!

Ballet goes multicultural! https://t.co/HD0jQ18S6E Be sure to check out SDSU Press's critical anthology on Dance at/on/in la frontera: "Bodies beyond Borders: Dance on the U.S.-Mexico Border" https://t.co/GQOnjrWERO A broadly conceived collection of interviews, articles, & essays pic.twitter.com/WyuDqjAEwk

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) February 19, 2020

El Norte the Us-Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema: The U.S. - Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema -- SDSU Press

El Norte the Us-Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema: The U.S. - Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema 

Author: David R. Maciel

David R. Maciel is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico whose books include Aztlán: Historia del pueblo chicano and El Norte: The U.S.-Mexican Border in Contemporary Cinema. Isidro D. Ortiz is an associate professor of Mexican American studies at San Diego State University and editor of the book Chicanos and the Social Sciences 1970-1980: A Decade of Development. María Herrera-Sobek is the Luis Leal Endowed Chair and Professor of Chicano/Chicana Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Description 

Now back in print through a joint arrangement between the Institute 
for the Regional Studies of the Californias and San Diego State 
University Press, David R. Maciel's El Norte: The U.S./Mexico Border in Contemporary Cinema remains a pathbreaking study of cinema from and focused on both sides of the United States/Mexico border. Originally released in 1990, it is now made available again for a new generation of Latinx cinema scholars and the general public.

•  
• Series: Border Studies Series
• Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: San Diego State University

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A Direct Blog Posting FOR SDSU Press Present and Former Interns and Editorial Associates!

Our publishing fellowship program is now open to applicants. Spread the word!

—All humanities graduates are eligible.
—Fellowship includes a $30K stipend.
—Apply by March 31, 2020.

More info → https://t.co/qF9AVFqsIt#publishing #AcademicChatter #ReadUP #AltAc pic.twitter.com/400bNMRO0W

— Univ of Texas Press (@UTexasPress) February 3, 2020

SDSU Press's Psychoanalysis on the Couch Book Series: Post Freud Studies for a Post Freud World

SDSU Press's Psychoanalysis on 
the Couch Book Series 
Ralph R. Greenson's Legacy
Abi Jones 

Among 100+ publications of San Diego State University Press, you’ll find a large number of publications penned by highly noted authors. None so interesting, and overlooked, as the publications of Ralph R. Greenson. Greenson’s training seminars are edited by noted Psychoanalyst (and former director of this Press!) Harry Polkinhorn and published by SDSU Press with the "Techniques and Practice of Psychoanalysis" series title and with the Psychoanalysis on the Couch imprint.

Born on September 20th, 1911, Greenson had to travel to Switzerland to gain his education as he was not allowed to study at American universities due to anti-Semitic policies at the time. What is most remembered about Greenson in American popular culture is his affiliation with Marilyn Monroe. He was her therapist and is mentioned in various conspiracies regarding the actress's death. After his own death, Greenson’s wife opened his personal library. This library included transcriptions of his influential lectures. The transcriptions of his training sessions provide an extensive overview of psychoanalysis and are educational psychological novels that cannot be overlooked. 

We have praised the work of Sigmund Freud (he of the cigar) and Ivan Pavlov (he of the drool), critiqued and discussed the likes of Philip Zimbardo, but, then, why should we leave Ralph Greenson to the likes of Bigfoot-hunting and Flat Earth-loving conspiracy theorists. Why? Since 2006--when the first publication of these lectures were released--psychologists, students, and scholars have been able to read professional training lectures by someone who left an indelible mark on West Coast (and American) Psychoanalysis. SDSU’s published series “Techniques and Practice of Psychoanalysis” offers a new lens on classic teachings. Go out and get your own copy today!

AVAILABLE HERE → http://bit.ly/rgreenson

Drone Visions! An International Feat of 21st Century Cultural Studies Focused on Science Fiction and our Surveilled Futures!

Don't have a copy yet of DRONE VISIONS?! By @naief?!!!

Check out the latest raves below for Naief Yehya's first full-length cultural studies book in English by @monorama, aka Bef! #bef

Then pick up one for yourself here: https://t.co/qoWSkwycl9 pic.twitter.com/Q4EIWxiwsw

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) January 31, 2020

Some pictures from the volume

Click to enlarge!

Tijuana 1964: A Photographic and Historic View/Tijuana 1964: Una Visión Fotográfica e Histórica -- SDSU Press

Tijuana 1964: A Photographic and Historic View/Tijuana 1964: Una Visión Fotográfica e Histórica {Commemorative Edition} Paperback – 2014

Paul Ganster (Author)

David Pinera Ramirez (Author)

Antonio Padilla Corona (Author)

Ruth Ramirez/DDO Producciones (Designer)

Take a deeper look inside

Tijuana 1964: A Photographic and Historical View, was designed to present the remarkable photographs taken in Tijuana in June 1964 by Harry Crosby. The book was published in 2000 and included an essay by historians Paul Ganster, of San Diego State University, and David Piñera Ramírez and Antonio Padilla Corona, both of the Institute for Historical Research at the Autonomous University of Baja California in Tijuana, that set the context for the photographs. The book included 42 photographs in addition to the front cover and the back cover. The publication of Tijuana 1964 

was accompanied in October 2000 by an exhibit 

of selected images organized by Tijuana's Casa de la Cultura.

By 2013, the participants in the original publication, which has long been out of print, realized that the 50th anniversary of the photographs was fast approaching. Pedro Ochoa Palacio, Director General of the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT), suggested that his institution might be interested in collaborating on a new edition of Tijuana 1964 and the participants in the first edition responded enthusiastically to the proposal.

The second edition, or the Commemorative Edition, differs from the first in a number of ways. Most importantly, the new publication includes 20 additional photographs and also replaces three of the original images due to technical reasons, for a total of 23 new photographs. All of the additional photographs were made by Harry Crosby during the same two-week period in June of 1964, as those in the first edition. Also, the Commemorative Edition has a revised text that sets the context for the photographs and also provides a discussion of the changes that are evident in Tijuana after 50 years.

A New Book From Hyperbole Books, An SDSU Press Imprint: Naief Yehya Interview on Drone Visions: A Brief Cyberpunk History of Killing Machines

Naief Yehya: An Interview with the Author of Drone Visions
Kaylee Arca

 

In celebration of Naief Yehya's new book Drone Visions: A Brief Cyberpunk History of Killing Machines, Kaylee Arca interviewed Yehya on cyberpunk, technology and inspiration. Buy a copy here.

click to enlarge

Kaylee Arca: Drone visions explores cyberpunk and technopolitics through the lens of film, videogames and technology. What was your inspiration for writing on the influence of cyberpunk on war? 

Naief Yehya: When cyberpunk appeared, it was perceived as an anarchic and liberating force. It was a mix of the technological and the biological, energized by the rebel spirit of punk music, a universe of hybrid beings capable of throwing the world off balance. It was an appropriation of technology by “the street,” imagined as an empowering strategy that consisted in taking technological tools from corporations and governments, improving them, using them for the common good and empowering the imagination. But eventually the trend was inverted and what had been retrofitted and redesigned to be used by the people was retaken and recycled by industry and the military. This applies mostly to software, but it happened all over the technological landscape. I believe that movies and other popular culture artifacts that belonged to that subgenre of science fiction became very relevant in the way we adopted new technologies. Cyberpunk made high tech sexy and brought it to the masses. Suddenly we were surrounded by innovative communication devices, cyborgs, computers, screens everywhere and all kinds of gadgets but also by weapons and killing machines capable, at least in theory, of choosing their targets.

Drone Visions' back cover: Click to enlarge

KA: How and when did you become interested in weapons like drones and missiles? 

NY: I became really interested in missiles and this kind of weaponry during the first Gulf War. Especially, I found myself concerned and terrified by the missile-camera that the USA used against certain targets in Iraq. It was in part a propaganda campaign to prove the smartness of its bombs. These devices turned the war into a spectacle, entertainment pretending to be information. The idea of being able to see the path of the missile all the way to the point of impact and witness, in a flash, the destruction of the lenses, thecamera, the bomb and the building was a reminder of the pornographic image syntax:the obsession of showing the unshowable, a penetrating gaze that tries to reveal more and more, and of the money shot, the external sperm shot that validates the porn narrative.The war drone takes this logic a step further by becoming, in the imagination of politicians and military strategist, an all-seeing eye, an indefatigable, persistent, patient, Never-blinking spying device and precise enforcer. The use of this machine in the theatre of war has been portrayed as prodigious, infallible and a lifesaving resource for the military in a series of never-ending wars. I’m terrified and fascinated by these deadly machines and the way they have been normalized, standardized and accepted as the humanitarian option in war. 

KA: Do you have experience with the weapons you discuss? 

NY: No, just from my research. I don’t like weapons. I like studying them and their psychological, cultural, moral, economic, political impact. 

Page spread from Drone Visions--more below, all are large/high res clickable images

KA: Has tech-noir and cyberpunk personally affected you? 

Enormously. Since I discovered cyberpunk, my work shifted permanently. I received a degree in industrial engineering and have always been fascinated by machinery. So,when I found out that you could actually write about technology and think about The implications of our relationship to gadgets and machines, particularly intelligent machines,I knew I had found my calling. Since then, I have written about cyborgs, pornography, war, the internet and the media sphere from the point of view of how we engage with the technologies that made those phenomena possible. During the 90s these topics were considered unworthy by most of my colleagues, there were not literary enough, too niche and morbid. But now we live in a highly technological time and, in one way or another, we’re all immersed in a techno culture. 

KA: How did you choose Mad Max, Alien, Blade Runner and The Terminator to examine? 

I believe that those films are the canon of cyberpunk. Besides being extraordinary films that were ahead of their time, they were viewed as genre entertainment when in fact they were fascinating masterpieces that spoke about the human condition at a time of fundamental transition. Just like John Ford's westerns showed the transformation of society in a new world when the wild west “opened,” these movies reflected on the inevitable changes to the Human condition at a time when technology was redefining the boundaries of the biological and the mechanical, the evolved and the manufactured, and the appearance of cyberspace. All these films —which started before the massification of the internet, cell phones and the digitization of everything— have sequels, some even have prequels and reboots, and I believe these serials have been amazing at keeping track of the changes that our technologies and dreams of technology have brought. I try to prove in the book that even the lesser products from these franchises and films derived from them are revealing in many ways. 

 

KA: How is Drone Visions different from your other published works? 

The main difference is that Drone Visions was going to be a part of another book thatI have almost finished and which is a more straightforward history of the war drone.The part of that book devoted to the cultural history of the drone became too voluminous and eventually it became evident that it was a book in itself which gave birth to Drone Visions as an independent project. Technology changes quickly and continuously, making the research and writing process very challenging. And it was difficult to have access to military sources. 

KA: What was your writing process for Drone Visions? 

It took me a long time. I have written extensively about the cyberpunk canon. I wanted to write about how the technological dystopias in these films merged and the way that these ideas have entered the mainstream. I was particularly interested in understanding how some ideas in these films became part of our techno cultural zeitgeist, the most relevant one of those ideas being the notion of the killing robot or artificial intelligence playing the role of executioner. 

KA: Do you think films and video games will continue to change future war technologies? 

Definitely. In ways that we cannot even fathom at this time. It’s clear that drone Technology was heavily influenced by video games and films. Now they are unavoidably linked and, as the nature of digital entertainment evolves, its military counterpart will do the same. 

KA: Do you think technology has created a cultural desensitization to violence? What is technology's role in desensitization? 

Yes, in general, I think that is true. Digital entertainment has made violence extremely appealing, interactive and fun. The abundance of cameras makes it possible for everything to be recorded and eventually broadcasted, the beautiful and the atrocious alike. Special effects and imaging technologies allow for the creation of almost anything imaginable. We have been over exposed to all sorts of violence, brutality and extreme practices in every domain. There are very few things that can shock us now for a prolonged period. Nevertheless, there is a constant search for new technological thrills, it’s part of our nature and the way we are wired. The military drone offers a very special paradigm, by showing scenes happening in real time on the other side of the world as if they were right in front of the viewer. At the same time, these scenes could be imagined as unreal, scenarios of a video game. The viewer can perceive these human beings as playthings to be eliminated in some perverse game. At the same time, drone pilots and operators, in a way, become intimate with the people they spy on, following them for days or weeks, becoming familiar with their world, their everyday lives and, eventually, may receive the order to blow them to pieces. So, in a way, we are becoming more desensitized to violence but also our relationship with what we see on the screen is complex and unpredictable. By turning human hunting into a regular, daily nine to five job, made possible by this peculiar way of telecommuting to war zones and to “suspect hunting grounds” in peace zones, we are creating an unprecedented dilemma. Killing by remote viewing and digital representations is without any doubt one of the most extreme and desensitizing activities we can perform. 

KA: What do you think are the most impactful changes on technologies caused by films and video games? 

Just as many aesthetic choices in films like 2001: A Space Odysseyinfluenced space programs, and design in a great number of areas. Blade Runner and the rest of the sci-fi films I’ve written about have been a major influence in the minds of programmers, engineers, artists and designers who have created most of the gadgets that are part of our lives today. Nobody really imagined 30 years ago that everyone was going to have a powerful portable computer and an amazing communication and entertainment device in their pocket, or that we would become inseparable to our gadgets. It would be hard to find specific movies or games that were responsible for those huge changes in the way we use and relate to technologies. Killing human beings with joysticks is still a morbid irony difficult to accept.

Advance word on Naief Yehya's Drone Visions:

More on the author:

Naief Yehya

Industrial engineer, journalist, writer, film critic and cultural critic, Naief Yehya's writings appear in La Jornada, Letras libres, Zocalo and Art Nexus, among others. He has published three novels, three short stories collections, and essay collections including: The Transformed Body. Cyborgs and our Technological Heritage in the Real World and Science Fiction, War and Propaganda. Mass Media and the Myth of War in the US,and, Pornography, Technoculture, The Intimate Space Transformed in Times of War and Peace and Pornculture. Yehya’s work deals mainly with the impact of technology, mass media, propaganda and pornography in culture and society. Yehya was born in Mexico City in 1963 and has lived in Brooklyn since 1992. 

Twitter: @nyehya

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naief.yehya

Kaylee Arca was the Marketing intern for Hyperbole Books, late 2019. Hyperbole is an 
imprint of San Diego State University Press.

New from SDSU Press and Hyperbole Books! Naief Yehya's DRONE VISIONS

Our imprint, Hyperbole Books just released its new title by @nyehya DRONE VISIONS--available on Amazon here https://t.co/hBNKDr6iD7

...and a special deal here: https://t.co/qoWSkwycl9#drone #drones #surveillance #sciencefiction #scifi #dystopias pic.twitter.com/uQ1EKZSBYf

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) January 19, 2020

Now Available as a Digital Book via Apple Books: THE HURT BUSINESS! Our Collection of Oliver Mayer's Early Plays Edited by William Nericcio

Coming January 20, 2020 from SDSU Press! DRONE VSIONS by Naief Yehya! #drone #drones #surveillanceculture

Something marvelous our way cometh from the wicked wit that is @nyehya ... like some fusion of #paulvirlio #rolandbarthes & #williamgibson, his uncanny dissection of our contemporary DRONE VISIONS is bracing and relentlessly necessary! Here's a back cover sneak peek 01.20.20 pic.twitter.com/pMApxX2Fm6

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) January 15, 2020

Just in Time for Christmas for that Favorite SDSU Alum in Your Life!

Hey Aztecs! @sdsu Looking for a nifty xmas present? SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY: A HISTORY IN WORD & IMAGE is an illustrated history of the largest campus in the CSU.

The $100 hardcover is now $50: https://t.co/w5EHaG6pFx
The $50 paperback is now $25: https://t.co/jQBaQy1xUM pic.twitter.com/HroyTkQq5T

— San Diego State University Press (@SDSUPress) December 12, 2019