Hi Folks,

Please join us for our next group discussion exploring a set of Freud’s most influential short papers on the unconscious, repression, resistance, and transference. These six brief essays, some of Freud’s clearest and most enduring, offer a fascinating window into how our hidden mental life shapes the ways we think, feel, and relate to others.

📖 **About the Readings**
We’ll be exploring six short texts by Sigmund Freud, organized into two major themes. Each cluster highlights a different side of Freud’s thinking, how hidden mental life works, and how it plays out in relationships.

### **Theme 1: The Unconscious & Repression**

These papers introduce Freud’s ideas about how the mind conceals uncomfortable truths, why memories return in disguised forms, and how insight gradually develops.

* *[A Note on the Unconscious in Psychoanalysis](https://www.lutecium.org/ftp/Freud/pdf/1912_note_on_the_unconscious_in_psycho_analysis.pdf)*
* *[Repression](https://dravni.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Freud-S-1915.-Repression.pdf)*
* *[Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through](https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/201/articles/1914FreudRemembering.pdf)*

### **Theme 2: Resistance & Transference**

These essays explore the ways people defend against psychological change and how old emotional patterns reappear in new relationships, especially within therapy.

* *[Resistance and Repeating](https://readingsinpsych.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/freud-dynamics-of-transference.pdf)*
* *[The Dynamics of Transference](https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Freud_TransferenceLove.pdf)*
* *[Observations on Transference-Love](https://bgsp.edu/app/uploads/2014/12/Freud-S-Resistance-and-repression.pdf)*

📚 **Reading & Participation**
You’re welcome (but not required!) to read the texts beforehand. If reading all of them is too much, you may read a selection, for example two from each theme.

To make things easier, **Tiffi will give a short kickoff overview of the material** and we'll provide a **two-page handout**, summarizing each of the two major themes.

No prior background in psychoanalysis is necessary; the event is designed for a mixed audience.

💬 **Discussion Format**

* We’ll begin with Tiffi’s 10–15 minute introduction.
* Then we’ll break into groups of \~4 people.
* **First 30-minute discussion:** *Theme 1 — The Unconscious & Repression*
* After that, we’ll switch groups.
* **Second 30-minute discussion:** *Theme 2 — Resistance & Transference*

These two themes create a natural flow:

* First, we explore the inner workings of the mind.
* Then we look at how those inner dynamics show up in relationships.

Bring your openness, curiosity, and willingness to think together about how the mind works behind the scenes.

📍 **Location**
Writers & Books
740 University Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
If you have the means, please consider donating or becoming a member of Writers & Books to support this venue:
[https://wab.org/product/donation/](https://wab.org/product/donation/)

🗓️ **Date & Time**
**Saturday, November 20**
**11:15 AM – 1:15 PM**

🌐 **Event Details**
All are welcome — no background in psychology or therapy required. I am advised the room we are using fits 12 people (maybe a few more if we squeeze in), so if you cannot make it please update your RSVP to enable space for others.

🪶 **Questions or Feedback?**
If you have questions or feedback, feel free to reach out to me on Meetup.

Best regards,
Ryan

Ryan Bohman

Tiffi Westcott

Philosophy Cafe in Rochester, NY

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Freud’s Big Ideas: The Unconscious, Repression, Resistance & Transference

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