‘Staying with the Trouble: Psychoanalysis Meets Ecological Crisis’
When: Monday 19th October 2026, 7:15pm to 8:45pm
Speakers: Anastasios Gaitanidis
Chaired by: Shane Sneyd
This paper explores how contemporary ecological crisis invites a rethinking of psychoanalytic practice beyond anthropocentric frameworks. Drawing on clinical experience and ecopsychological theory, it examines how “wilderness” functions not as external backdrop but as constitutive of psychic life, challenging entrenched dualisms between human and nature. Concepts such as negative capability, ecological attunement, and the “metabolic rift” are applied to the consulting room, reframing symptoms like anxiety and depression as potentially meaningful responses to systemic ecological and social rupture. The talk will consider how clinicians might “wild” their practice – attending to embodiment, environment, and more-than-human presence – while supporting patients in tolerating uncertainty, grief, and interdependence within an era of profound environmental instability.
ANASTASIOS GAITANIDIS
Dr Anastasios Gaitanidis is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, supervisor, and Director of Relational Psychoanalytic Therapy Ltd. He has held senior academic roles at Regent’s University London and the University of Roehampton, and currently contributes to doctoral training as a visiting professor. He serves on the editorial boards of leading psychotherapy journals and has published extensively on psychoanalysis, culture, and socio-political dimensions of psychic life. His recent co-authored book, Wilderness and Ecopsychology: From Anthropocentrism to Ecological Awareness, develops an interdisciplinary framework linking clinical practice with ecological thought and environmental crisis.
For details of Anastasios’ book visit https://www.routledge.com/Wilderness-and-Ecopsychology-From-Anthropocentrism-to-Ecological-Awareness/Gaitanidis-Bainbridge-Mighetto/p/book/9781032702834
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