Existential Pioneers. 5. Peter Lomas (1923–2010). Inner Circle Seminar 160 (13 February 2011)

Peter Lomas

Existential Pioneers

5. Peter Lomas
(1923–2010)

Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 160
Sunday 13 February 2011
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Peter Lomas was born on 27 February 1923 and died on 12 January 2010 aged nearly 87. His central thought, that psychotherapy is ‘ordinary’, made him, paradoxically, an extraordinary figure in the history of psychotherapy. By ‘ordinary’, he meant that psychotherapy deals with decency, love, kindness, creativity, courage and truth; and that it is best described in ordinary language. This he did, with great sensitivity, in ordinary, but very good, English. Well versed in psychoanalytic and existential literature, he valued their authentic findings but disliked their pretentious jargon. A respected member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and founder of the Guild of Psychotherapists, he resigned from both because of what he thought they had become. He then founded a training scheme known as the ‘Outfit’ (officially, the Cambridge Society for Psychotherapy). Today we shall discuss some of Peter Lomas’s books and papers. Your contribution will be most welcome, especially if you were his client, supervisee, colleague or friend.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ (http://www.durrantshotel.co.uk/)
Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.