Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society
Saturday, November 21, 2026, 1:30 pm–4:30 pm ET
Speaker: Lee Grossman, M.D
“The Object-Preserving Function of Sadomasochism”
Description:
Clinical practice has not taken sufficient account of the distinction between what belongs to conjoining and what belongs to destroying in sadomasochistic relations. This is partly a consequence of a plethora of uses of the terms sadism and masochism. They have been used to describe perverse sexual practices, acts of cruelty, acts of aggression, acts of destruction, “component instincts” of libido, aspects of normal psychosexual development, character traits, manifestations of the death instinct, and the turning of one instinct against another. This presentation will review how this multiplicity of meanings arose and argue that the central aim of sadism, masochism, and sadomasochism is the preservation of a tie to an object. The goal is to provide a shared conceptual language, regardless of theoretical orientation. It will further argue that sadism and masochism are best understood as two expressions of the same tendency and that sadomasochism is at the heart of all so-called sexual perversions.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
- 1. Differentiate sadistic aims from aggressive aims in the clinical setting.
- 2. Recognize the role of sadomasochism in preserving an object tie.
- 3. Identify the object-preserving sadomasochistic function in rigid obligatory sexual practices.
Speaker:
Lee Grossman, M.D., now retired, was a training and supervising analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and a member of the editorial boards of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly and The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He is the author of The Psychoanalytic Encounter and the Misuse of Theory. He is now an exhibiting photographer (www.leegrossman.net) and lives in Oakland with his wife and a bewildered bulldog named Murray.
References:
1.Chancer, L. S. (2017) Sadomasochism or the Art of Loving: Fromm and Feminist Theory. Psychoanalytic Review 104:469-484
2.Chavis, D. A. (2018) The construction of sadomasochism: Vicissitudes of attachment and mentalization. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 99:1144-1164
3.Novick, J. & Novick, K. (2022) A Metapsychological Framework for Sadomasochism. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 103:1038-1056
3 CME ’S
LOCATION: Virtual - Zoom
CHARGE: Members get up to 21 CMEs/CEUs for free per year.
Non-members pay $25 to attend a 3-hour speaker program meeting and an additional $20 for CEUs for a total of $45 (or $15/CEU).
Register Online: https://tbps.wildapricot.org/
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME,s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.