Creativity is often misunderstood as a talent possessed by a gifted few. Psychoanalytic theory offers a radically different perspective: creativity is a fundamental human capacity necessary for psychological development, adaptation, meaning-making, and survival.
Drawing from the work of Donald Winnicott, Carl Jung, and contemporary creativity research, this seminar explores creativity as a developmental achievement, a clinical tool, and a pathway toward emotional integration. Participants will examine how play, imagination, symbol formation, and artistic expression support psychic growth while considering how these processes emerge within psychotherapy, supervision, leadership, and everyday life.
Through didactic discussion, clinical reflection, and experiential exercises, attendees will explore creativity not as artistic talent, but as a core human process through which individuals make meaning, metabolize emotional experience, and construct a life worth living.
Participants will be able to:
Describe creativity from a psychoanalytic and developmental perspective.
Explain the role of transitional space in psychological growth and psychotherapy.
Identify the relationship between play, symbol formation, and emotional transformation.
Discuss creativity as a mechanism of adaptation and psychic survival.
Recognize the role of artistic and symbolic expression in emotional processing.
Apply concepts of creativity and meaning-making to clinical practice and therapist development.