Events

This conference will explore the dynamic between psyche and soma, using the theoretical frame of the Paris Psychosomatic School to enhance skills. Both adult and child clinical cases of patients suffering from somatic illness will be presented along with some specific mental organization that requires technical changes in the analytic intervention to improve strategies.

This applied psychoanalytic presentation by W. Scott Griffies, MD, explores the phenomenon of murder-suicide in post-Katrina New Orleans. This presentation utilizes an object relational framework to understand the multidetermined causes of the murder-suicide. It highlights how disasters can bring individuals together in desperate situations, destabilize social connections, and exacerbate avoidant defenses through increased substance abuse. […]

Presenter: M. Sagman Kayatekin, MD | Psychoanalytic discipline is in the process of broadening its theory, practitioners and applications. We welcome contributions from different psychoanalytic approaches and related disciplines in social sciences, humanities and neuro-psychoanalysis.

This series of 6 closed meetings offers pre-licensed and licensed therapists a safe and confidential place to get help with difficult cases, discuss professional challenges, and explore new ways to approach clients. The instructors will provide participants with tools to cultivate a foundational understanding of various psychoanalytic theories.

Anora (2024) is the fifth consecutive feature film from Sean Baker to focus on the lives of sex workers and similarly marginalized peoples. It tells the story of Anora, or “Ani”, a resilient and powerful young working class woman from the Russian immigrant community of Brighton Beach. The film is a riotous, heartbreaking, uplifting, laugh-out-loud […]

This event will be presented by Dr. Paula Christian Kliger, Dr. Kris Yi, Dr. Lynne Jacobs, and Dr. Holly Han. We are all imbedded in the sociocultural context in which we exist. The personal subjectivities of both therapist and patient are deeply affected by the experiences within their particular sociocultural context. Race and culture make […]

Michael Langlois

Todd Essig

Fred Busch, MD, speaks about Problem-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, a modified psychoanalytic treatment approach that addresses patient’s specific problems, including symptoms, personality issues, relationship struggles, and behavioral difficulties. The primary facets of this treatment approach will be described, including identification of problems and their associated triggers and feelings, and developing a psychodynamic formulation to aid therapists […]

Join us Saturday, May 10, 2025 for Thinking Together Without Falling Apart: A Day in Conversation with Dr. Beverly J. Stoute Live Presentation Only Must be able to attend in person. No Zoom option is available. 11:00 am - 1:30 pm E pluribus unum: An American Fantasy? Presentation Open to the Community George Washington University […]

This event will be presented by Professor Brett Kahr: Although we have all encountered naked human bodies across our lifetime, very few of us have had the opportunity to explore the fully naked human mind, namely, the true contents of sexual thoughts and fantasies and unconscious wishes and unconscious fears. In this presentation on “Psychological […]

57th ANNIVERSARY FREUD LECTURE: The Revolution in North American Psychoanalysis: Enhancement or Betrayal The question asked in this paper is whether the various modifications taking place over the past 50 years are enhancing or undermining the core of psychoanalysis - namely the assumption that there are unconscious mental processes, a theory of resistance and repression, […]

Join Fred Busch PhD, for our next Meet the Author event with Dan Jacobs, MD, and the online audience.

Dr. Hannah Wallerstein address the recent shift towards was has been termed an “ontological” approach to psychoanalysis (Ogden 2019), in which experiencing and becoming oneself more fully are seen as the goals of treatment, with the generation of knowledge taking a back seat.

Dr. Santa Maria will present The Case of the Manufactured Child, examining the impact of assisted reproductive technology with a solo father on a child's development. She will discuss the father's perfectionism, the role of "self-matryoshka" (other mothers), the cultural implications of "manufacturing" a child, and how psychoanalytic psychotherapy can support children navigating complex psychological […]

This is a two-day program which is being presented in person and on Zoom. MANIFEST MIND CONFERENCE III: The Decentered Self in Psychedelic States What actually is the altered reality of psychedelic experience? Is there more... or less... of ones self? The experience of subjective dimensionality is a key scientific conundrum of our age. Sensed […]

This event will be presented by Dr. Jennifer Hanlin: Attendees will explore Philip Bromberg’s paper, Treating Patients with Symptoms—and Symptoms with Patience: Reflections on Shame, Dissociation, and Eating Disorders. Bromberg’s theory is that the therapist’s task is to allow themselves to slowly discover the patient’s multiplicity of self-states and the existing gap between the states. […]

Dr. Santa Maria will consider how technology has contributed to the subjective experience of living with AI and how it may be changing our relationship to the experience of otherness. This presentation will seek to generate discussion among the attendees about our emerging technological world and how AI may be impacting the conservation of our […]

Dear Nursing Colleagues Interested in Psychoanalysis: APsA's Advanced Practice in Nursing Committee will be hosting a free, online group mentorship Q&A on Sunday, May 18th, 2025 from 11am-12:30pm EDT/8am-9:30am PDT. Please pre-register to attend here and bring your questions and curiosity: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Q8tJgOVZSaGeKHTaoUBpUA Click here to access the flyer and share with nursing professionals who are […]

If virtual, discussion starts at 4:15pm CDT. Please use link to learn all details. This film screening explores how psychotherapists and psychoanalysts are increasingly confronted with the question of whether an AI platform (ChatGPT, therapy bots, or a future operating system) can replace the therapy relationship and to what degree it can mimic it. This […]

Heather Ferguson, LCSW will present on the applicability of tragic consciousness in psychoanalytic work, focusing on the way in which the psychoanalytic relationship can aid in a patient developing such a form of consciousness.

Led by Salman Akhtar, MD. This presentation will open by discussing what poetry is in actuality. What are its components? From where does it originate? How does it exert a healing effect upon mental pain? Moving on from such issues, the presentation will highlight three links between poetry and psychoanalysis. These refer to the presence […]

In this seminar Dr. Lemma will critically review how psychoanalysis has approached the question of transgender identities and the challenges that have been proposed to the classical psychoanalytic understanding. She will introduce some key ethical points that are important for therapists working in this area. Finally, she will share some of her own clinical work […]

Led by Salman Akhtar, MD. While retaining the 'trio of guideposts' (Pine, 1997) constituted by anonymity, abstinence, and neutrality, contemporary psychoanalysis has witnessed many changes in its theoretical base and clinical praxis. These include (1) a greater developmental orientation, (ii) a tendency to judiciously accommodate the frame to the patient's sociocultural ethos, (iii) a greater […]

Presented by Dionne R. Powell, MD

The diagnostic category of melancholia, described by Freud, still has much to teach us in respect of effective clinical psychoanalytic treatments, even if reference to the term is largely absent in diagnostic debates. Melancholia, as understood by Freud, involves identification with a loved then lost and subsequently hated object, resulting in aggression being directed against […]

Dr. Peter Shabad will briefly describe how the origins of chronic shame emerge from chronic experiences of rejected vulnerability at the hands of one’s parents. These cumulative experiences of trauma may be viewed as the psychic loss of a physically present parent, in which one’s expectant hope for a wished-for parent is continually frustrated by […]

Alan Sugarman, PhD will be discussing some of his ideas regarding the prominent place that countertransference has in child and adolescent work. He notes the existence of a “Broader Field” or “Total Situation” when analyzing children and adolescents because of the various roles required of the child analyst i.e. analyst, developmental object, and real object; […]

All We Imagine As Light is a psychological journey of revelation, a film of connection, memory, and the intricate emotional landscapes that bind human experience. Set in the vibrant, complex world of contemporary Mumbai, the film weaves an intimate narrative that delves deep into the inner worlds of two women navigating the delicate intersections of […]

This presentation first explores key concepts from Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of psychosis, highlighting its role as one of several ways humans navigate existential dilemmas such as sexuality and love. According to Lacan’s 1950s theory, psychosis arises when conventional frameworks for making sense of reality collapse due to the absence of the so-called Name-of-the-Father, the […]

Elevate your clinical competence by understanding the persistent impact of fused family dynamics in adult patients. This talk addresses the gap in recognizing how defenses maintain these relationships and how cultural shifts impede separation. Learn to apply these insights to your practice, fostering deeper understanding and more effective interventions with clients navigating individuation and lifespan […]

Can the existing English translation by James Strachey of Freud’s Psychological Works be salvaged and updated, or is a completely fresh start called for? This is the question that confronted Mark Solms, the editor of the Revised Standard Edition, when he began his massive task thirty years ago. In this presentation, he will provide the […]

This series of 6 closed meetings offers pre-licensed and licensed therapists a safe and confidential place to get help with difficult cases, discuss professional challenges, and explore new ways to approach clients. The instructor will provide participants with tools to cultivate a foundational understanding of various psychoanalytic theories. This course will be held on Zoom. […]

The claim that Strachey ‘falsely scientized’ Freud, mainly through the translation of his technical vocabulary, is the red thread that runs through all the major criticisms of the Standard Edition (e.g. Bettelheim, Ornston, Laplanche). In this lecture, Professor Mark Solms will argue against this criticism on three grounds. (1) It fails to take account of […]

Humans have long looked to dreams for meaning, seeing in them symbolic messages, divine signs, or glimpses of the future. Dr. Daniel Goldin suggests that dreams reconnect us with a pre-verbal mode of communication—what Tomasello calls a "natural language" of imaginative storytelling. In this immersive, symbolic space, our minds craft metaphorical narratives that mirror the […]

Publication of the first-ever special *climate change* issue of BPSI's Library Newsletter, with thoughtful contributions by: --issue editor/psychoanalyst Delia Kostner --psychoanalyst Rita Teusch: a survey of BPSI trainees on climate issues --psychoanalyst Jack Foehl: a personal tribute to Donna Orange --BPSI and Chicago Psychoanalytic Society/Institute member Linda Emanuel: an appreciation of Susan Kassouf’s recent paradigm-changing […]

Presenter: David Mintz, MD - This presentation will review the evidence base for harmful meaning effects in psychiatry and some of the common dynamics by which the meanings of medication cause harm. We will explore some of the ethical dilemmas posed by mechanisms of harm and efforts to avoid harm. We will also consider the […]

Presenter: Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP - The most destructive force waylaying development in children comes from failures in mourning that leave parents unreliably available to attend to the needs of the child, the type of small-t trauma that impedes growth. Parental failures invite overwhelming experiences of helplessness that become precursors for later feelings of shame, […]

presented by Kate Leslie, MSW, LCSW

The online application portal for the 2025-2026 Psychoanalytic Institute Training Program is now open! Prepare to practice as an adult psychoanalyst. Child and Adolescent Training is also offered. The Psychoanalytic Training Program is designed to provide psychoanalytic candidates with comprehensive training in psychoanalytic theory and technique. Successful graduates are qualified to practice clinical psychoanalysis with […]

The online application portal for the 2025-2026 Psychoanalytic Studies Program is now open! A two-year program for licensed professional clinicians and advanced scholars interested in learning about psychoanalytic approaches to enrich their work and help their clients. Tuesdays, 4:00 pm - 8:15 pm September–May Via Zoom; Note: There will be one class per month that […]

6 Tuesdays | Sept. 2 - Oct 7 Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank’s significant contributions to modern psychotherapy have been undervalued. Drawing on her comprehensive research, Sara Ekenstierna offers an overview of some of the key tenets of Rank’s psychology, with focus on his relational, integrative, and process oriented approach, and aims to show how he […]

Elliott Jurist, PhD, uses memoir as a way to understand how patients experience therapy. Memoirs provide an unexplored place to hear from patients, separate from professional opinion. Drawing from diverse sources, Dr. Jurist argues that some memoirists see therapy as transformative, but others are equivocal or even negative. He also reflects upon how our beliefs […]

Sex trafficking is pertinent to psychoanalysis because of its historical roots and its persistence in current culture. It can be traced to ancient civilizations, where adults and children were enslaved for labor and sex. Not until 1921 did the newly formed League of Nations make efforts to ‘suppress trafficking in women and children’. Since then, […]

7 Wednesdays | Sept 10 – Dec 3 | Facilitated by: Garrett Tanner, PhD | This reading group is offered to explore the foundational texts of our field. Participants will engage in the seminal works of Sigmund Freud that all subsequent psychoanalytic theory – intentionally or unintentionally – responds to. Special attention will be given […]

In this presentation, the author considers long-term psychodynamic treatments, how they develop, when they are an outgrowth of treatments that should have ended, and when they are beneficial for the patient.

What if the most important perspective in psychoanalysis is the one we rarely hear? Lay patients—those without theoretical training or professional community—constitute the majority of analysands, yet their authentic voice remains largely absent from our field's discourse. Unlike analyst-patients who can contextualize their experience through theory and peer discussion, lay patients navigate analysis without a […]

Speaker: Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C - The role of the father, both flesh-and-blood and symbolic, is explored in a subset of families of patients with anorexia nervosa. In these families the mother’s narcissistic investment in her child makes separation-individuation difficult. A factor potentially influencing whether the child goes on to develop anorexia nervosa […]

Led by our Emeritus Faculty, this event will feature a short documentary and discussion about the shared trauma of Katrina: how the Center came together to manage the crisis and evolved as a result, personal accounts of rebuilding, and how the storm impacted their career trajectories. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the profound impact […]

presented by Tobias Wiggins, PhD