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Publications and Presentations

Work in Progess

Empathy Reconsidered: Psychoanalytic Investigations into Theoretical and Clinical Uses of Empathy. Book contract with Routledge.
publications and presentations on psychtherapy and psychoanalysis

Publications

Books

Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2019). Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan: On and Off the Couch. New York: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysing-Ambivalence-with-Freud-and-Lacan-On-and-Off-the-Couch/Swales-Owens/p/book/9781138328457
Reviews
"Covering everything from Aristotle to zombies to Breaking Bad, Carol Owens and Stephanie Swales have written a masterpiece unlocking the secrets of ambivalence. In Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan, they demonstrate that ambivalence is perhaps the central category in social relations. The need for this book is especially urgent today, in an era characterised by its various ways of refusing ambivalence, which are, Owens and Swales make clear, ways of refusing the price of interacting with others altogether. Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan speaks to the contemporary political catastrophe better than any book I’ve read." - Todd Mcgowan, Professor, University of Vermont, USA
"Exceptionally wide-ranging, deeply learned and laugh-out-loud funny, this book demonstrates how much psychoanalysis still has to offer when it comes to destabilising our contemporary glorification of strong, stable, and unequivocal rationalities. Yet for all its insistence on the inexorability of ambivalence, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to feel ambivalent about what Swales and Owens have done. Feel confident, stand firm and commit yourself wholeheartedly to this book. You shall be rewarded with countless redemptive questions about all that is dear to you." - Professor Dany Nobus, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategy and Development, Brunel University, London
Swales, S. (2012). Perversion: A Lacanian psychoanalytic approach to the subject. New York: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Perversion-A-Lacanian-Psychoanalytic-Approach-to-the-Subject/Swales/p/book/9780415501293
Reviews
"This is the most in-depth, clinically astute, and illuminating exploration of perversion that I know of! Swales convincingly guides us through the maze of sadism, masochism, voyeurism, exhibitionism, and fetishism, illustrating her discussions throughout with eye-opening case material. A must-read book for all clinicians wishing to work with patients many shy away from owing to myriad transferential difficulties and misconceptions." - Bruce Fink, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Duquesne University
"Whereas 'perversion' has been replaced with the allegedly less pejorative term 'paraphilia' in the psychiatric textbooks, most psychoanalysts continue to employ the term, and much in the same way as their fellow clinicians, notably as a synonym for transgressive and eccentric sexual behaviors. In this illuminating book, Stephanie Swales demonstrates how Lacan's conception of perversion opens up an entirely new perspective, which does not focus on particular, non-normative sexualities, but starts from the identification of a certain relationship between the subject and the symbolic structures of language and the law. The startling consequence of Swales' Lacanian approach, in which detailed textual analysis is balanced against the richness of clinical experience, is that perverts may not exist where they were always held to be, and may also linger where they were never held to operate. If you thought you knew what 'perversion' meant, this book will make you think again; if you thought you were a pervert, or you thought you knew how to make other people admit it, this book will challenge everything you thought." - Professor Dany Nobus, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategy and Development, Brunel University, London

Articles, Book Chapters, and Book Reviews

Swales, S. & Roberts, John (2023, November). Empathy and Lacanian psychoanalysis? Paper presented at the Days of Assembly of the Lacan School of Psychoanalysis, Virtual.
Swales, S. (2023, November). Gang members, minorities, and sexual offenders (or “Lions and tigers and bears, Oh my!”): Psychoanalytic clinical work in the system. Paper presented for a workshop Psychoanalysis and the Prison System as part of the series Psychoanalysis at the Margins sponsored by The Guild of Psychotherapists (London)
Swales, S. (2023, October). Perversion or neurosis? Revisiting disavowal in a clinical case study. Paper presented at the 2023 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, New Brunswick, NJ.
Swales, S. (2023, October). Conversation Hour: What is a Psychoanalytic Community? Roundtable presentation given at the 2023 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, New Brunswick, NJ.
Swales, S. (2023, October). A child/racialized Other is being beaten: Hysteria and varieties of racist fantasy considered through Lacan and Freud. Paper presented at the 2023 Psychology and the Other Conference, Boston, MA.
Swales, S. (2023, October). The dream is the thing: Structure and play in Lacanian psychoanalysis. Paper presented at the 2023 Psychology and the Other Conference, Boston, MA.
Swales, S. (2023). Fantasy, the blind spot, and the art exhibition: Hadi Falapishi’s Young and Clueless. Psychoanalysis, Culture, & Society (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-023-00380-x
Swales, S. (2022). Depression reconsidered: The well-spoken, neurotic conflicts, and desire. In D. Hook & S. Vanheule (Eds.). Lacan on depression and melancholia. London: Routledge.
Swales, S. (2022). Sexual Difference, abjection, and liminal spaces: A psychoanalytic approach to the abhorrence of the feminine. Psychoanalysis, Culture, & Society (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-022-00343-8
Swales, S. (2022). Neoliberalism and liminality: Perverse cruelties in the age of the capitalist discourse. In M. Lee (Ed.) Lacan’s cruelty: Perversion beyond philosophy, culture and clinic. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Swales, S. (2022). A Lacanian critique of the empathy cure: Jouissance, extimacy, and hating thy Neighbor. AWRY: Journal of Critical Psychology 3, 2, 27-41.
Swales, S., May, C., Nuxoll, M., & Tucker, C. (2020). Neoliberalism, guilt, shame and stigma: A
Lacanian discourse analysis of food insecurity
. J Community Appl Soc Psychol. 2020;1–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2475
Swales, S. (2020). Children’s fears during the pandemic. Pediatric Society of Greater Dallas,
COVID-19 Newsletter, Spring 2020.
Swales, S. (2020). Session IV: “The Psychology of the Rich: Pausanias”. In G. Thakur & J. Dickstein (Eds.) Reading Lacan's Seminar VIII: On Transference. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Swales, S. (2020). Session XVIII: “Real Presence”. In G. Thakur & J. Dickstein (Eds.) Reading Lacan's Seminar VIII: On Transference. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Swales, S. (2019). Review of Jessica Benjamin’s Beyond Doer and Done To: Recognition
Theory, Intersubjectivity, and the Third
. Psychoanalysis, Culture, & Society, 24, 3, 371-375.
Swales, S. (2018). Metaphor of the Subject. In S. Vanheule, D. Hook, & C. Neill (Eds.) Reading Lacan’s Écrits: From ‘Signification of the Phallus’ To ‘Metaphor of the Subject’. London & New York: Routledge.
Swales, S. (2018). The Phobic and Fetish Objects. In C. Owens & N. Almqvist (Eds.) Studying Lacan’s Seminars IV and V: From Lack to Desire. London & New York: Routledge.
Swales, S. (2018). Transphobia in the Bathroom: Sexual difference, alterity, and jouissance. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 23 (3), 290-309.
Owens, C. & Swales, S. (2018). Why the Zombies Ate My Neighbors: Whither Ambivalence?. In V. Sinclair & M. Steinkoler (Eds.) On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives. London & New York: Routledge.

Swales, S. (2017). Lacanian psychoanalysis with children: framing challenges and inventions. In C. Owens and S. Farrelly (Eds.), Further Notes on the Child: Lacanian Psychoanalysis with Babies, Children and Teenagers (pp. 3-15). London: Karnac. http://us.karnacbooks.com/product/lacanian-psychoanalysis-with-babies-children-and-adolescents-further-notes-on-the-child/38610/

Swales, S. (2017). Neurotic treatment resistance in screen- or phone-based analysis. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 14, 2, 175-192.
Swales, S. (in press) Review of Sergio Benvenuto’s What are Perversions? Sexuality, Ethics, Psychoanalysis. DIVISION/Review, 16.
Pruitt, S.L., Leonard, T., Xuan, L., Amory, R., Nguyen, O.K., Pezzia, C., Swales, S. (2016). Who Is Food Insecure? Implications for Targeted Recruitment and Outreach, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005–2010. Preventing Chronic Disease, 13.
Swales, S. (2014). Hysteria as a philosophical problem [Review of the book A non-Oedipal psychoanalysis? A clinical anthropology of hysteria in the works of Freud and Lacan, by P. Van Haute & T. Geyskens]. Philosophy in Review, 34, 3-4, 174-176.
Swales, S. (2011). S/he stole my jouissance! A Lacanian approach to gender in the group. GROUP, 35, 3, 221-234.
Swales, S. (2010). Psychosis or neurosis? Lacanian diagnosis and group therapists. GROUP, 34, 2, 129-144.
Fowler, C., Brunnschweiler, B., Swales, S., & Brock, J. (2005). Assessment of Rorschach dependency measures in female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Assessment, 85, 146-153.
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Recent Presentations

Swales, S. (2023, June). Perversion in Lacan: A Structural Diagnosis Or…? Workshop presented at the International Psychoanalytic University, Berlin.
Swales, S. (2023, June). Empathy and harm: The subject and the social bond. Hans Kilian Workshop presented at Ruhr University Bochum for the Hans Kilian and Lotte Kohler Center, Germany.
Swales, S. (2023, June). Lacan’s capitalist discourse, liminality, and contemporary subjectivity: Varieties of fantasy and jouissance. Workshop presented at Ghent University, Belgium.
Swales, S. (2023, June). Cure by empathy? A Lacanian approach to empathy in clinic and culture. Workshop presented at Ghent University, Belgium.
Swales, S. (2023, April). Lacan’s capitalist discourse and liminal subjectivities: 31 flavors of fantasy and jouissance. Paper presented at the 2023 LACK IV conference, Burlington, VT.
Swales, S. (2023, January). Ambivalence about the Other: Racism, xenophobia, and loving/hating thy neighbor as thyself. Workshop presented to the New Jersey Institute for Training in Psychoanalysis, Virtual.
Swales, S. (2022, October). Passing as normal: Food insecurity in the neoliberal era. Paper presented at the 2022 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, New Brunswick, NJ and online.
Swales, S. (2022, October). Working with obsessional neurosis: Transference, interventions, and live case supervision. Clinical Workshop presented at 2022 Lacan: Clinic and Culture Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
Swales, S. (2022, October). Lovesickness: A Lacanian approach to working with couples. Paper presented at 2022 Lacan: Clinic and Culture Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
Swales, S. (2022, September). Lovesickness: A Lacanian approach to working with couples. Workshop presented to The Massachusetts Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Swales, S (2022, August). Psychoanalysis’s marginalization in academia: Teaching psychoanalysis through film and parapraxes. Paper presented at the 2022 APA Convention, Minneapolis, MN and virtual.
Swales, S. (2022, July). Liminality as it affects subjectivity today. Invited presentation to Lacan Toronto (Ontario).
Swales, S. (2022, March). Psychoanalysis: How is it excluded, how does it exclude, and at what cost? Roundtable presentation at the 2022 Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, online.
Swales, S. (2022, February). Ambivalence about the Other: Racism and xenophobia. Workshop presented to Austin Psychoanalytic.
Swales, S. (2022, January). Ambivalence, racism, and xenophobia: Loving/Hating thy neighbor as thyself. Workshop presented to the Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology.
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2021, October). Nostalgia and paranoia as refusals of mourning – some thoughts on the consequences for liminal beings. Paper presented at the 2020 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society, online.
Owens, C. & Swales, S. (2021, September). The jouissance of black humour in Key and Peele (and why White people don’t know if it’s ok to laugh). Paper presented at the 2021 Psychology and the Other Conference, online.
Swales, S. (2021, September). APA Division 24: Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology panel, “Seeing Anew: Donning Philosophical & Psychoanalytic Lenses to Address Pressing Real-World Issues”, online.
synapses of the brain
Swales, S. (2021, August). Hate thy neighbor as thyself: ambivalence explains xenophobia and racism. Paper presented at the 2021 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, online.
Swales, S. (2021, July). A Lacanian critique of the empathy cure: Jouissance, extimacy, and hating thy neighbor. Invited presentation to Lacan Toronto.
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2021, June). On Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan: On and Off the Couch: Part 1. Podcast interview conducted for podcast New Books in Psychoanalysis. Interviewed by Christopher Russell. Retrieved from https://newbooksnetwork.com/psychoanalysing-ambivalence-with-freud-and-lacan
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2021, June). On Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan: On and Off the Couch: Part 2. Podcast interview conducted for podcast New Books in Psychoanalysis. Interviewed by Christopher Russell. Retrieved from https://newbooksnetwork.com/c-owens-and-s-swales-psychoanalysing-ambivalence-with-freud-and-lacan-on-and-off-the-couch-part-2-routledge-2019
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2021, June). On ambivalence. Paper presented for the Freud Museum, London, in the special event “Love, Hate, and Ambivalence: An afternoon of desire, tension, and jouissance”.
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2021, April). Ambivalence 1: Psychoanalyzing Ambivalence with Carol Owens and Stephanie Swales (respondents: Patricia Gherovici and David Lichtenstein). Inaugural Gender Matters Symposium. The New School: Gender and Sexualities Studies Institute. Recording available at: https://livestream.com/thenewschool/ambivalence1
Swales, S. (2021, March). Ambivalence and xenophobia: Loving/Hating thy neighbor as thyself. Paper presented to the Oklahoma Society for Psychoanalytic Studies.
Swales, S. (2021, February). How neoliberalism fuels food insecurity. Paper presented for the FAME: Lunch and Learn for University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Psychiatry residents.
Swales, S. (2021, January). Book Presentation on Psychoanalysing Ambivalence with Freud and Lacan: On and Off the Couch. Paper presented for Interabang Books. Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XEif-sd7A4 
Swales, S. (2021, January). The capitalist discourse. Paper presented at the annual Workday, of the San Francisco Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis.
Swales, S. (2021, January). Transphobia and its intransigence: A psychoanalytic viewpoint. Paper presented at the 2021 Annual Conference of the Modern Language Association.
Swales, S. (2020, October). Xenophobia in Pandemic Times: The ‘Chinese Virus’. Paper presented at the 2020 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society.
Swales, S. (2020, October). Individual roundtable contribution to the panel From Truth or Dare to Show and Tell: A conversation about childhood ritual, play, and the evolution of symbolic life and the performative dimensions of psychoanalysis and democracy. Paper presented at the 2020 conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society.
Swales, S. (2020, March). Critiquing the empathy cure: Bullying, himpathy, and loving thy neighbor. Paper presented at the 2020 Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology Midwinter Meeting, San Diego, CA.
Swales, S. (2020, February). The analytic act: Opening up the space for ambivalence. Paper presented at the 2020 The Analytic Act and Its Evidence conference, Los Angeles, CA. – Invited Speaker
Swales, S. (Speaker). (2019, November 17). Building Flawed Characters: Exploring Anxiety and Empathy with Dr. Stephanie Swales [Audio podcast]. Radio interview conducted for podcast Subject Matter Expert. Retrieved from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/subject-matter-expert/id1488281839
Swales, S. (2019, October). Empathy with Extimacy. Keynote address presented at the 2019 Écrits Conference, Pittsburgh, PA.
Swales, S. (2019, October). On the Phobic Structure of Racism: Response to Sheldon George’s Keynote Address, “Psychoanalysis, Race and American Slavery: Rereading Pleasure and Discontent in Freud and Lacan”. Paper presented at the 2019 Psychology and the Other Conference, Boston, MA.
Swales, S. (2019). Empathy Reconsidered: Psychoanalytic Investigations. Paper presented at the 2019 Psychology and the Other Conference, Boston, MA.
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2019, June). Liminal Technologies: Signature Dishes. Paper presented at the 20th anniversary conference of the Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups, Dublin, Ireland.
Owens, C. & Swales, S. (2019, June). Liminal Creatures: Nil by Mouth. Paper presented at the 20th anniversary conference of the Affiliated Psychoanalytic Workgroups, Dublin, Ireland.
Swales, S. & Owens, C. (2019, May). Extimate ambivalence. Paper presented at the 2019 LACK III conference, Worcester, MA.
Owens, C. & Swales, S. (2019, May). Extreme prejudice. Paper presented at the 2019 LACK III conference, Worcester, MA.
Swales, S. (2019, March). Neoliberalism, shame & stigma: How the food insecure are affected. Paper presented at the 2019 Midwinter Meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Nashville, TN.
Swales, S. (2019, February). What is empathy? And how can I be empathic? Kappa Leadership Conference, Dallas, TX.
Swales, S. (2019, January). A Rite of Passage. Paper presented at the 2019 12th Clinical Study Days of the World Association of Psychoanalysis, Miami, FL.
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