Sunday Papers : with Shalini Masih and her paper: MADNESS AND OTHERNESS: Moments of Possibility

For this Sunday Papers event, we will be in dialogue with the author and each other as we reflect on Shalini's paper : 

Madness and Otherness - Moments of Possibility.  

( The Psychoanalytic Review  Vol. 107, No. 2, April 2020). 

You will get a link to the paper once you have registered.  

Abstract: 

Since Freud’s time, psychoanalysis has been invested in engaging with our shifting awareness of “otherness.” Michael Eigen (2018b) calls it “one of the farthest reaching mysteries of the human self … that its sense of boundaries shifts in radical ways” (p. 139). The present article reflects work with a psychotic male patient. Psychosis is a psychic condition where the game of peek-a-boo with Otherness becomes profound. This article touches on struggles in negotiating and renegotiating the analyst’s status as Other when faced with a patient who tries to undo this gap. In these negotiations, different forms of communication emerge as the therapist and patient try to find ways of engaging with madness. In working with psychotic states, time for reverie is a luxury not often afforded the therapist. Writing this article has been akin to a form of reverie that sessions tended to short-circuit, a kind of reverie writing in which clinical details intermingle with cultural images and memories.

Bio: Shalini Masih is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and writer who lives in United Kingdom. She  was brought up in India, growing up in the stimulating environment of priests and healers, witnessing firsthand states of spirit possession and exorcism. 

She received a Masters Degree from Tavistock & Portman, London, UK and a PhD Degree in Psychology from University of Delhi, India. She has been supervised and mentored by esteemed colleagues including Michael Eigen, Giuseppe Civitarese and Sudhir Kakar. She was awarded the Scholar Award by Division 39 of American Psychological Association for her Clinical and Research work in the field of Psychoanalysis. She has written and published many papers and chapters. One of her papers titled ‘Devil! Sing me the Blues – A Life Struggling to be Born’ was awarded the Critics Award for Best Psychoanalytic Writing in the Fifth International Psychoanalytic Conference held in New Delhi India in 2018 and was also nominated for Gradiva Awards 2020. “Psychoanalytic Conversations with States of Spirit Possession: Beauty in Brokenness” is her first book.Now based in Worcestershire, Masih continues to weave together her Eastern roots and Western training, creating a unique tapestry of psychoanalytic practice. Beyond the clinic, Masih's world is filled with love, creativity and rhythm. As a mother to her vibrant 6-year-old daughter and devoted dog owner, she cherishes family moments. In quiet hours, she expresses herself through writing, painting, and cooking (where she blends distinct flavours). Jazz music resonates deeply with her, and she often likens the psychoanalytic process to improvisational jazz – both requiring empathy, creativity, and a deep understanding of human cadence."

PUBLICATIONS

• Masih, S (2024) “Ah! Strawberries” In Primary Process Impacts and Dreaming the Undreamable Object in the Work of Michael Eigen: Becoming the Welcoming Object. Taylor & Francis Limited, 2024
• Masih, S (2023) “Psychoanalytic Conversations with States of Spirit Possession: Beauty in Brokenness”. Lexington Books.
• Masih, S (2023) “Ghosts in search of bodies” In The Gendered Body in South Asia: Negotiation, Resistance, Struggle. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Limited, 2023.
• Masih, S (2021) “Reading the Works of Michael Eigen in India: Artist of the invisible”, in Healing, Rebirth and the Work of Michael Eigen: Collected Essays on a Pioneer in Psychoanalysis, Ed. By Fuschman, K. & Cohen, K, Routledge, NY.
• Masih, S (2020) “Pandemic, Marching Parents and Sleeping Babies” in The Round Robin, Newsletter, Section 1, Division 39, August 2020.
• Masih, S (2020) “To Continue Dreaming in Nightmarish Times” in Division 39 Newsletter, InSight, July 2020.
• Masih, S (2020) “Madness and Otherness: Moments of Possibility” in Psychoanalytic Review, Vol. 107, No. 2, pp. 175-195.
• Masih, S. (2020) “A Sustained Note of Disquiet: Reflections on Being a Christian in a predominantly Hindu State.” Journal of Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society.
• Masih, S. (2019). “Devil! Sing me the Blues: Story of a Life Struggling to be Born in Being and Work” Hada Soria Escalante (Ed.), Rethinking the Relation between Women and Psychoanalysis: Loss, Mourning, and the Feminine. Lexington Books.
• Masih, S. (2018). Terrors to Expansions: A Journey mediated through Faith. In ‘Psychoanalysis from the Indian Terroir. Emerging Themes in Culture, Family and Childhood’ Lexington Books.