Who is Free to Free Associate: Psychoanalysis and Social Ethics | June 14, 2025

Using a “social ethics” framework, in this workshop, we will consider our implication in (and by) the institutionalization of our field(s) and theory and evaluate our clinical and group relation to the broader “social.”

While many of us have been indoctrinated into framing our work as primarily interpsychic or dyadic, as mental health practitioners, we face timely and urgent ethical questions. For example, what is socially ethical psychoanalytic/mental health care? How is the individual liberation project of psychoanalysis related to citizenship and our engagement with the social–both as clinicians and as patients? How is implication a part of our ethics? What can we do with our implicated subject positions? How do we work with ourselves and others as individuals inevitably embedded in and constituted by ongoing social, historical, and political forces? Moreover, how can we lean towards a radically relational accountability in service to individual and collective ethical care?

We will consider such questions from multiple angles–including philosophical, clinical, personal, and social. The reading materials and discussion will lead to shared clinical reflection and application. Attendees are encouraged to arrive with relevant clinical material in mind.

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Elise Geltman, LCSW, is a social worker in private practice in Oakland, CA. She engages in psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, clinical and organizational consultation, and teaching. Elise has presented and consulted in a wide range of settings, including Access, SFCP, NYU Post Doc, CFS, Cal’s HHRC, and beyond. Elise studies group relations via GREX, A.K. Rice, and CSGSS and is committed to group life and engaging individuals, systems, and the social. Elise is the current President of PINC, on the Community Psychoanalysis Track – Steering Committee, and the Race Working Group.

Learning objectives | After this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the concept of “social ethics” and its application to our field.
• Discuss the concepts of “habitus,” “institutionalization,” and “implicated subject” while considering their application to an understanding of Institutional Mental Health and/or Psychoanalysis.
• Provide at least one example of how the “habitus” may have impacted them in some enactment of social power/harm/structure.
• Discuss “trickle-down psychic economies” and if/how it may be relevant to their work, settings, or training.

Recommended readings (Optional)

1. Geltman, E. (2025). Who is Free to Free Associate: Psychoanalysis and Social Ethics. Psychoanalytic Dialogues; Vol 35, Issue 1, 2025: pages TBD
2. González, F. J. (2020) Trump Cards and Klein Bottles: On the Collective of the Individual, In Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 30:4, 383-398
3. Orange, D. M. (2020). Ethical hearing. In Psychoanalysis, History, and Radical Ethics: Learning to hear (pp. 144–164). Routledge.

Course Outline

9:30-9:50 AM – Introductions, Orientation to the Day

9:50-10:10 AM – Overview – What is Socially Ethical Care in Psychoanalysis/ Mental Health?

10:10 – 10:20 AM – Review Donna Orange Paper

10:20 – 10:30 AM – Review Francsico Gonzales Paper

10:30 – 10:40 AM – Review concepts from Geltman’s paper – habitus, “trickle-down psychic economies”, implication, implicated subject position, and institutionalization and link to clinical work

10:40 – 10:55 AM – Group Discussion

10:55 – 11:10 AM – Break

11:10 – 12:10 PM – Clinical application/discussion

12:10 – 12:25 PM – Closing group discussion

12:25 – 12:30 – Closing and Evals