The Green Prince: Film Presentation and Discussion led by Sonia Ioannides, M.D., LMHC and Barbara Lurie, Ph.D., LMFT

The Green Prince: Film Presentation and Discussion 

led by

 Sonia Ioannides, M.D., LMHC and Barbara Lurie, Ph.D., LMFT

April 19, 2015

SEMINAR SUMMARY:
Mosab Hassan Yousef is the Muslim son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, the founder of Hamas. Groomed as a future terrorist by his father, Mosab covertly defected to Israel in 1997 and worked undercover for Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service. Mosab and his Israeli handler Gonan, supplied information to Shin Bet that prevented dozens of suicide attacks and assassination attempts against Israelis, opened up numerous Hamas terror cells, and helped Israel hunt down key Hamas militants, including Mosab's own father. Drawing from the works of Freud, Klein, Brenman, and Etchegoyen, the speakers will analyze how Mosab's relationship with Gonan developed despite great risks to them both. Like patient-Mosab and analyst-Gonan, mutual trust grew and their work together transformed them both. Mutual trust results in "natural" enemies becoming friends. As in psychoanalysis, it is the dyadic relationship that brings about real change. Constructive behavior and harmony emerge from destructive acting out, crossing boundaries of culture and religion.

OBJECTIVES:

• 1.     Describe the concept of the death instinct according to Melanie Klein and Eric Brenman, as it is integral to the psychodynamics of the film’s two main characters.
• 2.     Discuss the curative nature of the dyadic relationship as it relates to transference analysis.

• 3.     Analyze and discuss the cultural and mythological differences between the ethnic/religious groups represented in the film and how they are overcome by the main characters.