Presenter: Dr Susan Schwartz

In this lecture Susan Schwartz will be talking about the topic of her book “The absent father effect on daughters’’. This is a love story, but an unrequited one. It is about the needs a daughter has for a father figure, made more prominent and painful when he has been absent.

There are numerous stories told in the analytical psychotherapy space by daughters with absent fathers who relate experiences of the deprivation suffered without a father’s love and care. These daughters emoted the needs, longings and wishes for the presence of a good father. This common and necessary desire has sadly gone unmet through generations.

The central premise is the absence of the father is harmful not only due to absence but more to the presence of the absence, affecting a daughter in body, mind and soul. Additionally, absence is accentuated because it implies the space to be filled, a hope for other dynamics between daughters and fathers personally and culturally. This subject, although focused on daughters has application to sons as well.

Susan E. Schwartz, PhD, Jungian analyst and clinical psychologist, presented workshops and lectures in numerous countries. Susan has published articles in several journals and contributed chapters to books on Jung’s analytical psychology. Her book, published by Routledge in 2020, is entitled: The Absent Father Effect on Daughters, Father Desire, Father Wounds.

Her analytical private practice is in Paradise Valley, Arizona, USA and her website is www.susanschwartzphd.com