Category Archives: Volume 29.1 (2025) Dubrovnik Conference 2024 Proceedings

By: Samir DayalEditor-in Chief PsyArt JournalJanuary 27, 2025 To cite as: Dayal, S., January 2025, “Introduction, PsyArt Conference Proceedings, Dubrovnik, Croatia,” PsyArt 29.1 , pp. 1-5.

By: Aline FerreiraUniversidade de Aveiro,Campus Universitário de Santiago, Portugal Abstract:A psychoanalytical perspective is taken on Dead Ringers (TV series, 2023), a feminist reimagining of Cronenberg’s homonymous movie (1988). Featuring twin women gynecologists, the series combines body horror and ethically challenging experiments on gestational health with a probing of the fraught relationship between the sisters. AgainContinue reading “Twins, Wombs and Future Reproduction in Dead Ringers (2023)”

By: Marcia Anne NewtonUniversity at Albany USA Abstract: In this conference paper, I explore a complex struggle between proponents of the #MeToo movement and rising proponents of the #MenToo movement, which gathered traction following Johnny Depp’s public defamation trial of unfounded allegations of domestic violence by his ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022. As part ofContinue reading “#MeToo vs. #MenToo: A Psychoanalytic Examination of Sexual Economics and Violence in a Hashtag Battle Between the Sexes”

By: Agnė Jurgaitytė-Avižinienė, & Ramunė BalevičiūtėLithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Lithuania Abstract: This study explores the existential resonances within improvisational practices by examining the intersection of psychology and performing arts. In-depth interviews with three professional performing artists, analysed through interpretative phenomenological analysis, reveal four key themes—authenticity, freedom, choice, and the pursuit of meaning—demonstrating theContinue reading “Existential Resonances: Exploring the Nexus of Psychology and Performing Arts in Improvisational Practices”

By: Rita TegonUniversity of Salamanca, Spain Abstract: Literature has historically played a crucial didactic role, particularly through the exploration of the moral dichotomy between good and evil, thus contributing to human moral development. These narratives often seek to depict the moral struggles and choices of individuals, indirectly shaping societal views on morality and responsibility. ThisContinue reading “Free Will, Guilt, and the Illusion of Choice: Intersections of Literature and Neuroscience”

By: Hisao OshimaKyushu UniversityJapan Abstract: Masahiro Kobayashi’s Film Trilogy, Haru’s Journey (2010), Japan’s Tragedy (2013), and Lear on the Shore (2016), focus on Japan’s most serious social issue of aging, featuring Tatsuya Nakadai, the most famous Shakespearean actor in Japan. This paper examines how Kobayashi probes into issues of the aging Japanese society, especially thoseContinue reading “Japan’s Aging Crisis and Masahiro Kobayashi’s Film Trilogy: Haru’s Journey (2010), Japan’s Tragedy (2013), and Lear on the Shore (2016)”

By: Terttu Mäkinen, PhD, psychoanalytical psychotherapist, clinical neuropsychologistTherapeia Society, Finland Abstract: This paper explores parenthood through a psychoanalytic lens, focusing on the interplay of biological, societal, and symbolic dimensions. Parenthood is shaped by cultural, historical, and social contexts, requiring mothers and fathers to adapt to evolving demands and crises. The discussion examines the roles ofContinue reading “In a Room of One’s Own: A Psychoanalytical Perspective on Parenthood, the Womb, and the (Un) Symbolic in the War-Torn Nations”

By: Rae MuhlstockUniversity at Albany Abstract: Like the labyrinth that is both his prison and his palace, the Minotaur of myth is a hybrid, a single structure forged in the tensions between unlike things. While in language he is described by his component parts—half-man, half-bull—the Minotaur is emphatically hybrid, containing no borders between the manContinue reading “The Minotaur: Artistic Ambiguity and Psychological Ambivalence”

By: Kitti JakobovitsPhD Candidate, University of PécsHungary Abstract:The Beat generation was a unique group of artists, especially writers and poets at the ’40s, ’50s in the USA. Their lifestyle, writing methods, thoughts and feelings greatly impacted literature, the whole culture and society, and it is still perceptible in the contemporary art world. Even though literatureContinue reading ““First thought, best thought”: Psychoanalysis, Existentialism and the Beat Generation”

By: Nora Sediánszky Ph.D. Candidate studentUniversity of Pécs, Hungary Abstract:This essay analyses the concept of melancholy through Shakespeare’s works (especially Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice), Freud’s studies on melancholy, and Julia Kristeva’s essay, “Black Sun: Depression and melancholia.” Melancholy, described by the Greek term of “black bile,” is a manifestation ofContinue reading “Hamlet’s Madness, Antonio’s Sadness, and Mercutio’s Illness: Interpretations of Melancholy from Shakespeare to Freud and Julia Kristeva #2”