2025 - 2026 Dialogues in Contemporary Psychoanalysis
| Program Title: | A PASSION FOR EVER MORE |
| Date: | Saturday, February 7, 2026 |
| Time: | 09:30am – 12:30pm PT |
| Presenter: | Dominique Scarfone, MD |
| Discussant: | Adam Blum, PsyD |
| Location: | San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis 444 Natoma Street San Francisco, CA 94103 (remote option is available) |
| Program Fee: | $ 55 — General Admission If you are a Candidate, Trainee, or Student of the SFCP, including those in the SF-PPTP, PAPPTP, CAPPTP programs or the Extension Yearlong Program: If you are a Candidate, or Student of another institution: |
| CME/CE: | This program has been approved for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for free (for SFCP members) or $45 (for non-SFCP members) |
What happens when desire no longer seeks satisfaction but escalation? When the wish to feel alive veers into the compulsion to overpower?
In his new paper, Dominique Scarfone traces a line from Freud’s drive theory to contemporary crises of violence, addiction, and breakdown, offering a compelling account of what he calls the “sexual drive for power” and illuminating how the very forces that animate our social world also threaten to destroy it.
Joined by discussant Adam Blum, the program turns to what is at stake for psychoanalysis today: how these dynamics shape psychical life and clinical practice, and how we handle the forces that overwhelm, disrupt, and define our work in this extraordinary historical moment.
Accreditation Statement for CME/CE Sponsorship and Disclosure Statement
Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this activity, the learners will be able to:
- describe Scarfone’s concept of the “sexual drive for power” and its relation to Freud’s Bemächtigungstrieb (drive for mastery) and the death drive.
- explain how Scarfone uses the concept of allostasis to link the dynamics of addiction, capitalism, and the human pursuit of mastery and control.
- discuss how the fusion of desire, aggression, and omnipotence can manifest in the clinical situation, and apply Scarfone’s framework to understanding patients’ struggles with control, dependence, and disillusionment.
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 San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. 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.
Disclosure Statement
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 activity 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.
PSYCHOLOGISTS: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Psychologists attending SFCP events approved for CE credits may report AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ toward their CE requirements. Psychologists self-certify the number of hours they have completed on their renewal form (whether online or paper).
LCSWs/MFTs: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a continuing education provider that has been approved by the American Psychological Association, a California Board of Behavioral Sciences recognized approval agency
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists will be awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ on an hour for hour basis; see the program description for the maximum of credits awarded for each program.
Commercial Support: None