Article archive / April 1, 2010
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 8. Source pages: 6, 7.
New Orleans area psychotherapists have an opportunity to watch movies and television, then learn, thanks to Mindy Kronenberg, PhD. Mindy has organized a discussion group through the New Orleans Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center (NOBPC) delving into HBO’s “In Treatment.” The In Treatment group will explore psychotherapy technique, ethical issues, and diagnostic questions raised by the television production with Mindy and co- leader, Dale Firestone, LCSW. She also directs the NOBPC’s film and discussion group allowing interested participants to watch a movie with psychological significance followed by discussion lead by a local psychoanalyst. All this in addition
to her teaching, clinical and administrative responsibilities.
This young New Orleans psychologist epitomizes the Boulder Model. Mindy came to New Orleans from University of Memphis for her internship year at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC.) There she works with psychologist, Joy Osofsky, PhD, doing research and clinical work in infant mental health. Mindy joined the faculty at LSUHSC, Psychiatry Department, staying on to teach, pursue clinical research, and to treat at-risk children and infants. She speaks of her work with excitement, “I enjoy clinical work, but I want to do other things, too… Teaching… Administrative duties… Grant writing… ” She does it all and loves it. In addition to academic work, Mindy brings her clinical, teaching and administrative skills to community mental health programs including the Early Trauma Treatment Network and Louisiana Rural Trauma Services Center, two programs funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Mindy is involved with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN.) Collegial networking is one of Mindy’s rewards. “I enjoy work where I can network with people who share my ideals and goals. NTCSN funds multiple sites that do child traumatic stress treatment. It is important to me because it funds a lot of people who do good clinical work. Boston, New York City, everywhere… There are people doing new things, cutting edge work.”
Mindy feels blessed with good luck in her professional development. Her story of getting accepted into University of Memphis and its influence on her research path exemplifies her good fortune. Mindy had set out to study and treat trauma survivors in graduate school, but her pre-envisioned path took a turn when Dr. Sarah Raz, who later became her mentor, contacted her, curious about her interests in psychology.
“We talked about her [Dr. Raz’s] research in infant neurodevelopment. It was a completely new area of study. I was fascinated by it.” Mindy’s curiosity led to her dissertation on the effects of placental pathology on infant cognitive development. In the course of her research, she administered more than 1000 Bayley Scales of Infant Development to children from four months to six years old. True to her thorough and curious nature, she studied placental pathology like a medical student, immersing herself in readings and hands on dissection of the placenta, “I just didn’t feel like I knew enough until I knew everything I could about placenta functioning.”
Mindy’s other interest, narrative in print and visual media, motivated her to take
over the NOBPC film series after Katrina drove the original organizers away on evacuation. “I was sad not to have it. I wanted to come to it… ” So, she resurrected the program that has become an annual series of monthly movie viewings and analyst-lead discussion. The quality of the program earns it accreditation by American Psychoanalytic Association for continuing education credit.
Mindy became an avid reader in childhood and continues as an adult. She reads fiction, history, autobiography and family sagas. She sees reading as a way to learn about oneself and others. The leap from printed narrative to the visual narrative of film and television was an easy one. In her words, “Narrative gives you the opportunity to experience another person’s reality… to learn about human psychological functioning, and to develop diagnostic skill. It [narrative] safely permits you to step outside of your comfort zone. I believe that’s important for psychologists.”
The film series she organizes each year arose from her desire to watch challenging films, films with provocative themes and content, like The Last King of Scotland and Equus with a group and have an opportunity to learn about psychopathology from material that can be so unsettling. “I find visual imagery more arousing than verbal imagery. In your mind, you can create worse images, but when you see it you are forced to face the reality. The group viewing experience and discussion helps in processing material that is disturbing to us.” Participants can expand their understanding from the discussion, particularly with the theoretical and clinical perspectives offered by the seasoned clinicians
Mindy arranges to facilitate the discussion.
With the same principles in mind, viewing provocative material and discussing for the sake of expanding professional understanding, Mindy developed the “In Treatment” discussion series for a fun learning experience for clinicians. The program includes viewings of the television series, readings on diagnosis, treatment technique and ethics, along with discussion. She co-leads the discussion with psychoanalyst, Dale Firestone, LCSW. For more information on these two fine programs, you can call Mindy Kronenberg at 504- 343-5476.
You can also find information about these, and other continuing education programs for psychotherapists, at the New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center website: www.nobpc.org
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.