2024 Annual Training Conference

Our annual training conference this year was held on 24 August in Cape Town. We were privileged to welcome Dr Adrian Perkel to present a workshop titled ‘On Villains & Victims in Couple Attachments: Exploring the Paradoxical Nature of the Aggressive Drive.’ Combining his deep knowledge of psychoanalytic theory with recent neuroscientific evidence, Dr Perkel presented a science of aggression that Freud himself predicted would be possible through future research. The aggressive drive (perhaps more aptly referred to as the preservation drive) is understood now to pre-exist the life drive and to operate as an immune function that aims to bring about psychic equilibrium. This primacy of the aggressive drive, its aims as separate to its effects, and its nature as shaped by memory and subjectivity were some of the primary themes explored. The central role of the aggressive drive in the genesis of symptoms, and its destructive potential at intrapsychic, interpersonal and societal levels were discussed. Aggression as manifest in couple relationships and the therapeutic implications for working most effectively with it were covered. Most specifically, Dr Perkel advocates for the need for clinicians to engage more actively with patients in seeking out aggressive material that may otherwise lie dormant and unaddressed. Dr Perkel is one of the founding members of the ACPP and a hugely knowledgeable, enlivening and engaging presenter; the event was an enriching learning opportunity for all who attended. Dr Perkel recently published a book on the topic of aggression entitled: ‘Unlocking the nature of human aggression: A psychoanalytic and neuroscientific approach.’ The book is available for purchase on Routledge and Loot.