NSWIPP Nuts and Bolts Outreach Series on Eating Disorders

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

Prof Janice Russell
Professor Janice Russell is a physician and psychiatrist.  She is Director of Eating Disorders Unit at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital SSWAHS, and the Northside Clinic. She is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney and has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, abstracts and chapters in books in the area of eating disorders, ranging from psychotherapy to behavioural and metabolic aspects and psychoneuroendocrinology.

“Waiting for the Waking”
A descriptive account of severe Eating Disorder presentations highlighting the psychobiological and developmental factors in supporting the re-emergence of ‘self’ to be addressed in a therapeutic space within the necessary context of a safe, containing inpatient renutritional program.

David Blyth
David Blyth has worked with families in a number of mental health contexts as a Social Worker.  He has had an association with the Eating Disorder Program at Northside Clinic since 1992.  His clinical interest is in associations between the family/couple context and individual developmental impasse in 50% of severe Eating Disorder presentations where eventual response to contemporary manualised family treatment or extensive cognitive behavioural individual outpatient treatments results in first time or repeated hospitalization.

“Developing Analogies to Promote Understandings between Staff, Carers and Eating Disorder Sufferers”
David will outline some thoughts about the (compromised) functioning of the sufferer’s mind, their experience of anxiety (terror) around meal events and the enormous impact on relationship with family and friends.  His systemic approach will acknowledge the importance of supporting carers in the meal-by-meal grind of maintaining basic daily nutrition on the one hand and therapeutic support for the sufferer to effect developmental change on the other.

Dr Sue Austin
Sue Austin PhD is a Jungian Psychoanalyst and a Training Analyst with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Jungian Analysts.  In addition to being in private practice, Sue specializes in working with eating disordered adults and supervises clinicians who work in the eating disorders field.  She is also the author of Women’s Aggressive Fantasies: An Exploration of Self-Hatred, Love and Agency (Routledge, 2005) and has published a number of clinical and theoretical papers.

“Working with the Possibilities of Change Embedded in Eating Disorders”
This presentation offers a way of thinking about eating disorder as a point of access to the patient’s unconscious and to parts of their inner life which are currently split off and can only communicate to the patient and others through the disorder.  Seen in this way, an eating disorder can be used as the basis of the therapeutic encounter (instead of being something which needs to be somehow overcome in order to make recovery and therapy possible).  This approach will be illustrated by an account of clinical work.

Margaret Berkovic
Margaret has been a practicing psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in Sydney for the past 38 years.  She was a founding member of the NSWIPP and past president.  Margaret teaches and supervises for a number of training Institutes and is a casual lecturer for the University of NSW Department of Social Work.

“Anorexia and Different Psychodynamic Approaches to Treatment”
Margaret will be looking at the topic of anorexia using a number of different helpful psychodynamic approaches followed by a discussion highlighted with clinical material.

Enquiries: Tel: (02) 9558 3175

Email: nswipp2@bigpond.com