Release date: Sept. 20, 2007
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

Data on Psychoanalysis, Creativity to Fuel Emory Research

Emory University, already a top destination for psychoanalytic studies and clinical psychoanalytic training, has received a one-of-a-kind database from a groundbreaking study on the effects of psychoanalysis on creativity.

Collected by the Lucy Daniels Foundation in Cary, N.C., the data follows eight writers over the course of one-to-10 years of psychoanalysis, and provides a rare window into the inner workings of the creative process, as well as the impact of analytic treatment on life and work.

"This data is extremely unique and important – I don't think there is another database like it in existence," says Steve Levy, director of Emory's Psychoanalytic Institute and editor of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the premier journal of the field.

Only a handful of research institutes in the world have access to archived analytic data due to the tremendous expense involved in collecting it and privacy issues, Levy says. The Lucy Daniels Foundation data is even more unusual since it is focused on creativity.

The foundation is also providing Emory with a five-year annual stipend for research projects that draw on material in the database.

"For Emory to receive such a gift is an important recognition of the resources and talent we have been building here over the past decade," Levy says.

Emory's Psychoanalytic Institute combines clinical practice with training, and is associated with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in Emory's School of Medicine. In addition, Emory offers a Psychoanalytic Studies Program within its Institute of Liberal Arts, which fosters inter-disciplinary research into the theories, application and history of psychoanalytic thought and practice.

"Our Psychoanalytic Studies Program is the most ambitious and well-known in the United States and, without question, the best, because of the constellation of the faculty who are here," says Robert Paul, dean of Emory College and a practicing psychoanalyst.

A few of the prominent names involved in Emory's interdisciplinary psychoanalytic studies include: Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry and author of "The Political Brain"; Sander Gilman, Distinguished Professor, Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of the Psychoanalytic Studies Program; Shoshana Felman, Woodruff Professor of Comparative Literature and an expert in psychoanalysis, trauma and testimony; Claire Nouvet, associate professor of French and Italian and a graduate of the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute; and Cathy Caruth, Winship Distinguished Research Professor and chair of the department of comparative literature.

"The Lucy Daniels database represents the beginning of an exciting new endeavor here at Emory," says Beth Seelig, professor of psychiatry and co-director of Emory's Center for Psychoanalytic Research and Education. "Psychoanalytic theory has tremendously rich explanatory power and this database will serve as a unique resource to scholars from a wide range of disciplines."

Lucy Daniels, director of the Lucy Daniels Foundation, wrote a critically acclaimed novel while confined to a mental institution in her late teens and early 20s. Then, despite her international recognition and being the youngest-ever Guggenheim fellow, after the publication of her second novel, Daniels encountered severe writer's block. This lasted for decades and Daniels credits psychoanalysis with her victory over it.

In 2005, she published "The Eyes of the Father," her first novel in 40 years, and "Dreaming Your Way to Creative Freedom," a documentation of her psychoanalytic growth. In the interim, Daniels earned her doctorate in clinical psychology and continued in private practice in Raleigh. In 1989, she established the foundation, which is dedicated to helping creative individuals overcome psychological issues impeding their work.

A member of the family that once owned the Raleigh News & Observer publishing business, Daniels has used her inheritance to fund long-term studies, such as the ongoing one that is following the writers through years of therapy sessions.

Daniels says she is entrusting Emory's Psychoanalytic Institute with the study data because of the university's breadth of resources and cross-disciplinary approach.

"Psychology and the unconscious are related to everything we do," Daniels says. "Emory has the resources to not only train people to become analysts, but to research psychological issues related to music, French, literature, law, politics, business or whatever discipline you're studying. I'm confident that the database on writers will fuel some interesting dissertations, as well as important new knowledge about the creative process, its hardships and its breakthroughs.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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