Bearing the unbearable, repairing the irreparable: Clinical work with formerly incarcerated people who have served life sentences with Beth Kita, PhD
In this presentation for beginner to advanced learners, Beth Kita, PhD, LCSW, discusses clinical work with people who, sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder, have now returned home to live life after serving life, and explores their efforts to reckon with what they have done (and, frequently, what was done to them) despite being confined in traumatogenic institutions that functioned to thwart such growth. Using case material, Dr. Kita reflects on the ways in which a psychodynamic approach can help navigate the overwhelm of violent crimes and violent punishments, and the unresolved trauma that usually precedes both, and offers ideas about how we can and why we should develop our collective capacities to bear and to repair – in the hopes of transforming the trauma that incarceration reenacts.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After attending the program in its entirety, attendees will be able to:
- Describe the proliferation of life sentences in the United States and its disproportionate impacts on certain groups of people.
- Identify some of the reasons, from a psychoanalytic perspective, why and how people who commit murder and are sentenced to life in prison are driven to understand and transform the harm they’ve caused.
- Explain why working with people who have endured and perpetrated violence can be challenging for clinicians.
PRESENTER
Elizabeth (Beth) Kita is a clinical social worker who lives and works in San Francisco, California. She obtained her MSW from UC Berkeley and PhD from Smith College, and became interested in psychoanalysis when its ideas helped her to better understand her work in a state prison. In her private practice, Beth works with people contending with complex trauma. Her practice in a public clinic has also focused on treating complex trauma, but solely with people who are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, particularly those who’ve returned home after serving life sentences. She teaches, writes, and thinks about the relationship between racial capitalism, neoliberalism, trauma, and incarceration from a psychodynamic perspective. Beth co-chairs the Coalition for Clinical Social Work at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.
REFERENCES
Cartwright, D. (2010). Containing states of mind: Exploring Bion’s container model in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Routledge.
Cullors, P. (2018). Abolition and reparations: Histories of resistance, transformative justice, and accountability. Harvard Law Review, 132, 1684 – 1694.
de Maat, S., De Jonghe, F., Schoevers, R., & Dekker, J. (2009). The effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: A systematic review of empirical studies. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 17(1), 1-23.
Kita, E. (2019). “They hate me now but where was everyone when I needed them?”: Mass incarceration, projective identification, and social work praxis. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 26(1), 25-49.
Mauer, M., & Nellis, A. (2018). The meaning of life: The case for abolishing life sentences. The New Press.
McIvor, D. W. (2016). Mourning in America: Race and the politics of loss. New York: Cornell University Press.
Parker, R. N. (2019). Slavery in the white psyche. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 26(1), 84-103.
Purnell, D. (2021). Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and the Pursuit of Freedom. Verso Books.
Sered, D. (2019). Until we reckon: Violence, mass incarceration, and a road to repair. The New Press.
Stevenson, B. (2019). Slavery gave America a fear of black people and a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system. The New York Times, 1619.
DISCLOSURES
Division 39 is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Austin Psychoanalytic is approved by the Texas State Board of Social Workers Examiners (Provider # 5501) to provide continuing education for social workers and the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists (Provider #1138). We also meet the requirements to provide continuing education for the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.5 continuing education credits. Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. Division 39 is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to info@austinpsychoanalytic.org. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest. Participants will be informed of the utility/validity of the content/approach discussed (including the basis for the statements about validity/utility), as well as the limitations of the approach and most common (and severe) risks, if any, associated with the program’s content.