Psychoanalysis Los Angeles California Extension
PLACE makes room for a new mode of practice that is a critical return to the discovery of Freud and its construction in the topology introduced by J. Lacan. This website has the goal of providing a portal to this paradigm shift.
PLACE introduces an effective production of analysis, not the production of doctors and patients, therapists and clients, the normal and abnormal. With regard to the mental symptom, we take the position that there are no spectators or observers, rather the doctor/patient and therapist/client are on the same side of the wall. The traditional terms invented to reflect this de-hierarchization of the practice of analysis are analyst/analysand. This unique re-organization permits a de-stigmatization of the field that could not have been achieved by the previous academic, therapeutic, and medical models of mental health.
PLACE is open source: we are based on a transparent network of sources – Library, School-Clinic, seminars, work-groups, and private analysis – open to anyone. In many instances, Zoom can be used to overcome distance and time barriers.
Organizational History
PLACE began in Los Angeles, California in January 1998 when one of its founders returned from France to set up its framework in Santa Monica, CA.. It was then set up in 2006 as an educational non-profit 501.c.3. It was founded on a double movement: to make room for a work of Lacanian analysis that would neither be held hostage in a humanities department nor assimilated to a mental health profession. PLACE is supported by private contributions, grants, and endowments from those individuals and foundations concerned with promoting an authentic praxis of analysis. If you care to visit, participate in the school-clinic, or work in analysis, send us an email at PLACE@topoi.net
A Common Confusion: Where is the Analytic Door?
What is it to do psychoanalysis? It is to practice and construct its discourse-theory. Today, to practice Lacanian analysis requires separating it from a marketplace of the 'psych' – psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy, counseling, social working, coaching, etc. It is never a question of finding a psy-expert to treat you like a 'patient' or 'client'. It is never a question of searching for an analyst like you would search for a garage mechanic to repair your car: where the mechanic knows and works on the theory and you do not. In fact, it is this ignorance of a technocratic-consumerist approach that is part of the very symptom that analysis treats. To begin differently, it is a question of developing a practice of analysis with another – not technicians applying analysis onto others like cars or attempting to interpret others' dreams or life problems. Just as nobody can – or should –interpret your dreams or life in your place, nobody can make you into a clinical case. Though the problem and door to analysis lie elsewhere, many confound it with a garage. To make room for this other door and style of entry, PLACE was set up differently. Just as we are not a school where people come just to learn a knowledge that they then attempt to apply onto others, we are not a clinic where people come to be sick or 'mentally ill'. On the contrary, we have combined both the school and clinic such that our clinic is our school and vice-versa. Thus, creating a structure that is at once theoretical, but imminently practical in not separating the two. For those not in a rush, we have devoted a page that begins to explain the importance of this other door of analysis at: School-Clinic.
Admission To School-Clinic
Though university and grad-students can apply to attend PLACE, the enrollment at PLACE is not limited to university students. In short, you can attend without having any previous training or background in psychology, psychotherapy, or psychoanalysis. Though PLACE does not award any university degrees, you may attend PLACE in order to achieve credit towards a degree elsewhere or not. Anyone interested in attending PLACE for credit transfers should contact the secretary at PLACE@topoi.net
The School-Clinic instruction begins at the end of September and follows the habitual Fall, Winter, and Spring semesters, with an Immersive Summer session beginning in late June. The majority begin in September, but arrangements can be made to enter at other times. If you do not know what Lacanian analysis is or if you want to simply follow a seminar or course before applying, you may sign up as an Auditor. Auditors may follow a course or cartel for one semester free of tuition.
To keep informed of important events of the School–Clinic you should sign up on the virtual classroom interface at http://www.lacanlosangelespsychoanalysis.com/classes/ Once you have established a contact address, you will be sent notifications with regard to the scheduling of work-groups, seminars, and events of PLACE.
To apply for the School–Clinic, complete this form PLACE INSCRIPTION, then send it to the secretary via email or regular mail. Though it is advised to have an interview with a Trustee of PLACE to become oriented with the procedures of School-Clinic, it is not necessary. You will be informed of the dates and times of the cartels, courses, and seminars on the completion of the inscription and reception of the tuition. On advanced notice, internet assisted attendance is possible for distance learners. Each seminar is also digitally recorded, then uploaded onto the net so that it may be reviewed at a later date.
Tuition
PLACE is supported both by grants, foundations, and donations from its participants. This economy allows for free-tuition for the homeless, recently unemployed, and disenfranchised youth (18-21 years old). Sliding scale private intensive sessions are made available on a case by case basis, while first-time auditors may attend one semester in the school-clinic for free.
The current tuition for the 2024 school year is $850. (full-time Adherent) and $450. (part-time Guest) per semester; with 0$ for Auditors for only one semester. We accept cryptocurrency as payment and as a way to support the new decentralized economy. This low-cost tuition has been made possible by grants provided by individuals and foundations concerned with establishing a rigorous and open transmission of psychoanalysis. The typical caseload of courses and cartels (work-groups) is one 3 hr. course per month with up to 12 hrs. of cartels per week. The typical session work is one to four hours per week.
Didactic
Seminars are offered once or twice a month, while cartels are once or twice per week. Seminars have a fixed topic set by the instructor, while cartels form around topics decided upon beforehand by those participating in the cartels. You can find typical seminars and cartels on the virtual classroom site at: Virtual School+Clinic
PLACE does not have a set time period for the achievement of the title of analyst within its school-clinic. Indeed, not everyone working in the school-clinic has the goal to achieve such a title or to work as an analyst. In either case, people may attend full or part-time, and/or work in a private analysis according to their own schedule and desires. Full-time individual sessions can range from 1 to 4 hours per week, while the extensive instruction in the school-clinic can be 12 hrs. (full time) or 4 hrs (part-time) per week. After a certain period of time, the consequences of the coursework, clinical instruction, and private analysis may be assumed and refined by submitting one's work to the Pass. This procedure and its objectives are briefly described on this website below in the Sclinic-Catalog.
Library
PLACE maintains a full lender library that the participant may use to establish a work of analysis. It includes the complete works of Freud (German and English) and Lacan (French and English) with other Psychoanalytic authors, works of Philosophy, Mathematics, Logic, Linguistics, and the Humanities. On enrollment, the participant is provided with digital editions. A digital reference may be found at Library
Important Informational Documents, Forms, and Site:
1) The current association guidelines are reviewed bi-annually (PDF): Association Rules 2022-24
2) The current PLACE School+Clinic Guidelines (PDF): Guidelines 2022-24
3) All new participants please send the PLACE inscription form (PDF) to the secretary PLACE INSCRIPTION (only need to inscribe once)
4) The virtual interface of PLACE containing the seminars, courses, and cartels, at Virtual School+Clinic