Opera InSight 2018:  Seminar Program July 19-22, 2018 

Opera and The Goldilocks Principle – the Art of Applying Clinical Dialectics 16 CE Hours Presenter:  Don Fineberg, M.D. 

Thursday 7/19 

6 pm Welcome dinner 

7:30 – 8:00 Introduction to the program 

Friday 7/20 

9 -  10:45  Operas and Psychology: Creativity, Balance and Psychotherapy  

Introduction to the Goldilocks Principle as Applied Dialectics

   --break— 

 

11-12:15  Presentation: Madame Butterfly (with psychological annotation) 

Lunch at the opera   

1 - 2  Opera Tour  

2:15 – 4:15 The “Polarities of Experience”:  Applying “Dialectical balance” to    

   

Personality Development and Performance Psychology  

7:30 Pre-performance Prelude talk 

8:30 Madame Butterfly  


Saturday 7/21 

9 – 10:45 Madame Butterfly Review: Psychological and Clinical Perspectives 

--break— 

11-12: 15 Presentation: The Italian Girl in Algiers (with psychological annotation) 

Lunch at the opera 

1:30 – 3:30 Similarities and differences between the opera’s title characters from various psychological perspectives, revisiting “Goldilocks    

Balance, and the Art of Clinical Dialectics” 

7:30 Pre-performance Prelude talk 

8:30 The Italian Girl in Algiers    

Sunday 7/22 

 9-10:30  Wrap up, summary and clinical application 

 FEEDBACK EVALUATION FORMS 


Sponsored by: THE SOUTHWESTERN INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PSYCHOTHERAPY 

SIAP is approved by the American Psychological Association  to sponsor continuing education for psychologists 

SIAP maintains responsibility for the program and its content 

 

At the end of the program, the participant will be able to: 

 

  1. In one paragraph, explain the Goldilocks Principle.

  2. Explain how the Goldilocks Principle applies to the character analysis of “Madame Butterfly.”

  3. Explain how the Goldilocks Principle applies to the character analysis of “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”  

  4. Define “dialectical balance.”

  5. Explain how dialectical balance can be applied to “Madame Butterfly.”

  6. Explain how dialectical balance can be applied to The Italian Girl in Algiers.”  

  7. List five critical aspects of opera development that are related to the psychosocial events at that time

  8. List five techniques for analyzing the psychosocial temperament of the opera hero(oin) 

  9. Define “performance psychology.”

  10. List three ways this program increased your understanding of “Madame Butterfly.”

  11. List three ways this program increased your understanding of “The Italian Girl in Algiers.”  

  12. Briefly describe three of your patients for whom the program enhanced your understanding. 

References for Opera Workshop

Don Fineberg, M.D.

June 2018


Baltes, F.R., & Miu, A.C.  Emotions induced by operatic music: Psychophysiological effects of music, plot and acting: A scientist’s tribute to Maria Callas. 2011. Brain and Cognition. 76(1) 146-157. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/;j.bandc.2011.01.012

Stimmel, Theron. 2012. Opera and the psychology of love – The power of science meets the passion of opera, Itasca Books. 

[Dr. Stimmel is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.]

Holland, N.N., Ph.D., 2009. How opera makes brain sense: It’s natural to cry at Madame Butterfly, March 10, Psychology Today Blog.

[Norman Holland, Ph.D., specializes in the psychology of the arts. His latest book is: Literature and the Brain.]

Jones, M. Psychiatry of opera 1990, Psychiatric Bulletin 14 (306-307).

Lawrence, J. Madness in opera by a psychiatrist mad about opera. 2007. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 41(1) suppl. pp. 46.

Carpenter, A. 2010. Toward a history of operatic psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis and History 11(2) 173-194. ISSN 1460-8235.