Events

Dr. Colarusso will share insights on his paper, Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Nearness of Death, which contimues his lifelong interest in normal and pathological development. Using the psychoanalytic tools of observation, insight and introspection, he describes the very sparse, psychoanalytic literature on late-late adulthood, and describe his own experience as he approaches 90.

This symposium will focus on the effects of war on children and on parenting with three case presentations describing children and families who have experienced war and a paper by Dr. Abigail Gewirtz in which she will focus on the impact of a parent's military experience, exposure to war, and transition stressors, while also discussing […]

This paper deals with the problem of reversibility and the limitations of the psychoanalytic psychotherapy for the severely traumatized patient. The repetition compulsion is understood as failing reparation of the damaged internal world. Two clinical cases are presented to discuss the problem of working through mourning and guilt. Final considerations address the role of remembering […]

In this workshop, we will consider how discussions of race are avoided in interracial couples. The interracial couple's dissociation from racial stratification leaves the couple ensconced in the paranoid-schizoid position, where Internal and external pressures contribute to the couble enacting a monoracial identification aligned with white dominant norms. These racialized dynamics have an impact on […]

Presented by Howard B. Levine, MD

This seminar is presented Afsaneh Alisobhani, Psy.D, FIPA will explore André Green’s seminal paper, The Dead Mother, delving into how the experience of an emotionally unavailable maternal figure—due to loss, depression, or trauma —shapes psychic development, attachment, and identity formation. Green’s concept provides profound insights into the inner worlds of patients, particularly those he describes […]

Many child clinicians are not trained in group work, yet they are often called upon to lead such groups. This program will offer a description of group work with children, summarizing curative factors and clinical applications. It will provide direct strategies for leading groups and understanding the clinical process. By detailing best practices, it will […]

Join us online for a lively discussion with students and faculty from each of our programs who will share how their training at NCP has fostered personal growth, a deeper understanding of their patients' experiences, and opportunities to build professional networks. You'll also have an opportunity to meet our program directors and Dean, learn more […]

Blink Twice (2024, Zoe Kravitz director & co-screenwriter, 1 hr 42 min) tells the story of a dream-perfect island retreat turned sinister, where guests become entangled in a web of memory manipulation and psychological control. Set against the alluring backdrop of wealth and exclusivity, the film traces themes of power, complicity, and the struggle to […]

Nathan H. Brown, Psy.D and Sandy Hyatt, Psy.D. will provide an overview of trauma and its treatment among patients seeking medical care for traumatic injuries in a Level 1 Trauma Center. Presenters will review current research on "evidence-based" treatments for PTSD, specifically Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), compared with certain […]

A Book Review and Discussion of The Necessary Dream: ?New Theories and Techniques of Interpretation in Psychoanalysis by Giuseppe Civitarese, MD, PhD, presented by Mark Winborn, PhD Civitarese takes the title of the book from a passage in Bion’s volume (p. 33), Cogitations, “the way in which the necessary dream is constructed”. The emphasis taken […]

Join us for an engaging opportunity to learn more about NPI! Meet the Dean and President for an introduction to the programs offered, connect with current candidates, experience a live class in action, and participate in a Q&A session to explore all our program offerings. This event is in-person, but we will be holding a […]

Led by Diane O'Donoghue. There is a considerable bibliography of writings about the vast collection of early objects, most from Egypt and the classical Mediterranean, filled Freud’s working spaces at Berggasse 19 in Vienna. He spoke frequently of the close relationship between his methods and those of the archaeologist; indeed, the language of fieldwork appeared […]

Howard Levine, MD: Psychoanalysis is ‘the talking cure,’ but the problems raised by language are complex, paradoxical, and perhaps unsolvable. At their most effective, words play a vital role in psychic homeostatic regulation and the psychoanalytic process that is analogous to the architecturally structural role played by the keystone of an arch. The problem, however, […]

This case conference series targets early career clinicians and those interested to learn about psychodynamic therapy technique. Jon Venitz, LSW, will present a patient seen in residential D&A treatment, with discussant Fred Baurer, MD, providing an overview of key concepts for working psychodynamically with patients struggling with addiction, including (1) case formulation, (2) the use […]

Presented by Diane O'Donoghue. Guided tour at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Sigmund Freud’s widely read The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) made a number of bold claims about the meaning and mechanics of a phenomenon—dreaming— that was at that time widely dismissed in Eurocentric traditions. One of the best-known of his insights involved the notions […]

During this two-day conference, Ofra Eshel will present two works, which will be evaluated and discussed by contemporaries Charles Levin, Aner Govrin, and Mary Tennes, as well as a clinical case presentation by Margaret Rubin. The works focus on recognition of the paradox of learning uncertainty and multiplicity of knowledge as well as helping clinicians […]

Speaker: Chester Smith, MEd, LPC. Loss and trauma in general have long been understood to play a role in the creative process for many famous artists. Using the early histories of Munch, Van Gogh, and Picasso we will look at the role of loss as a contributor to their art. In this course we will […]

Kate Scharff & David Scharff

Speakers: Harold Braswell, PhD & Nikki Karalekas, PhD. This course will explore the relationship between writing and psychoanalysis through a group workshop process. We will begin by holding two courses exploring the connection between psychoanalysis and writing: How do psychoanalysts work with difficulties that can arise during the creative process? How do we support our […]

This series of four meetings is designed to meet the needs of clinicians interested exploring on- line aspects of child play psychotherapy and incorporating these psychodynamic concepts and techniques into their clinical practice with children. This course will have a clinical focus and will provide an opportunity for participants to hear and discuss case material.

Presented by Christie Hunnicutt, PhD, LCSW

Morning Focus: Core Competencies in Relational Psychoanalysis Drawing from Dr. Roy Barsness’ text, Core Competencies in Relational Psychoanalysis: A Guide to Practice, Study, and Research, this session invites participants to identify and explore the seven core disciplines of relational psychoanalysis, as revealed through his qualitative research. The workshop will deepen participants' understanding of relationally oriented […]

If virtual, the discussion begins at 4pm CDT. Please use link to review all details. This film screening explores the pleasure and fascination we experience when consuming horror movies and true crime media. Presenters will draw from analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory to explain our attraction to what is frightening and uncertain in our world. […]

In person film screening begins at 2pm. The discussion begins at 4pm. This film screening explores the pleasure and fascination we experience when consuming horror movies and true crime media. Presenters will draw from analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory to explain our attraction to what is frightening and uncertain in our world. By identifying horror […]

David Scharff & Kate Scharff

Daniel Brockett, M.D. will explain the neuropsychopharmacology of classical psychedelics as well as atypical psychedelics such as ketamine and empathogens such as MDMA.

Alessandra Lemma

Presenter: Usha Tummala-Narra, Ph.D. | In this presentation, Dr. Tummala-Narra will explore how personality is shaped by sociocultural context, and how experiences of one’s sociocultural context rely on personality, family dynamics, and trauma.

Join us for an engaging opportunity to learn about NPI on Zoom! Meet the Dean and President for an introduction to the program, connect with current candidates, experience a live class in action, and participate in a Q&A session to explore all our program offerings.

Please join us for a series of conversations 1  Sessions remaining April 12, 2025 Presented by the Committee on Women and Psychoanalysis of the International Psychoanalytic Association (COWAP) North America, and sponsored by the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis. Organizing Committee: Chair: Margarita Cereijido, Co-chair: Catherine Mallouh, Members: Anne Adelman, Janice Lieberman, Jill Gentile and Jeri […]

"Work Discussion Group (WDG) for Catastrophic Situations" – Martha Harris Model, Tavistock Organized by the IPA PACE Committee & NCP. About the Work Discussion Group: The Work Discussion Group (WDG) provides a reflective space for professionals working in catastrophic situations across diverse contexts such as hospitals, schools, and community centers. Grounded in the Martha Harris […]

This course will focus on the idea that we can access our unconscious thoughts and images through art, specifically collage. There will be an introduction to “dreaming while awake” referencing both Bion and Thomas Ogden’s thoughts. Participants will be invited to create a collage that represents work with a patient. There will be time to […]

Hosted by the Erikson Institute for Education, Research, and Advocacy of the Austen Riggs Center Peer support serves a vital role in the mental health of college students. Beyond buttressing clinical services and expanding resources to meet unprecedented demand, it can mobilize students’ strengths and foster experiences of community and belonging. However, it also brings […]

Dr. Kite will present a paper, Strange Bedfellows: Sexual Boundary Violations and Ethics in Psychoanalysis, in which she will highlight the powerful role played by the analyst's unconscious functioning in all analytic work and especially in cases of sexual boundary violations. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.

An opportunity to study parenting issues in a variety of settings. This conference will explore current issues of diversity and social challenge as couples become parents and navigate unique parenting issues. Experts from the Tavistock Clinic and the faculty of the International Psychotherapy Institute will illuminate parenting issues through a unique object relations framework. Through […]

Anne Erreich, PhD, cites the prominence of theories which locate serious adult psychopathology in the pre-verbal infant’s inability to formulate or represent traumatic experience. The work of two such authors, H. Levine and D.B. Stern, is briefly considered. The frame of reference for this investigation is that clinical and academic research findings are highly relevant […]

Dr. Clara Mucci presents the three levels of interpersonal traumatizations with all the consequences at the level of attachment styles, interpersonal neurobiology, and affect regulation and personability dynamics up to the point of developing complex PTSD and personality disorders.

Led by Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Goetzmann. In this presentation, I will present?theoretically?the three stages of the Oedipus complex according to Freud and Lacan. A clinical discussion will follow this. With regard to the first phallic-imaginary stage, I will make references to Laplanche's seduction theory, particularly with regard to the attribution of gender identity. I […]

How infants and toddlers separate and individuate from their families has been formally studied largely from a Euro-American viewpoint. Separation-individuation occurs simultaneously, and intertwined with, the development of attachment patterns, but has received much less cross-cultural attention, a deficit this conference will attempt to address. Cultures are highly variable in how they influence early child […]

Unrepresented and yet-to-be-suffered trauma and neglect announce themselves in the language of symptoms, absence and emergent enactments in the treatment field. This course will address the challenges when working with patients whose trauma does not avail itself to symbolization and mentalization. These patients often suffer disturbances in the area of self- other definition, continuity and […]

Led by Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Goetzmann. Altruism itself is underexplored in psychoanalysis. The topic's importance for learners is its investigation into a peculiar form of altruism. Living kidney donors are unusual, extreme cases in which the acceptable costs to the benefactor far exceed an acceptable threshold for most people. There are many instances of […]

Dr. Karbelnig believes that psychoanalytic clinicians practice framing, presence, and engagement in their work with patients. They pursue the unconscious mind through focusing on transference and countertransference, repetitive psycho-behavioral themes, and dreams (and other signifiers of the unconscious).

Adjusting the Distance. Michael Feldman MB, BS,FRC,Psych; Kay Long PHD; Elizabeth Wilson MD

Presented by Neal Vorus, PhD

Daniel Shaw, LCSW. Understanding Traumatizing Narcissism and Its Clinical Utility.  Mr. Shaw presents a way of understanding the traumatic impact of narcissism as it is engendered developmentally and as it is enacted relationally. Here, he focuses on the "traumatizing narcissist's" need for control, describes the internal needs and developmental narrative of the traumatizing narcissist, the […]

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 their way into the clinical dyad in myriad ways both big and small with big consequences. The necessary exploration of […]

In everyday language, "gender" is often used to signify whether one identifies as male, female, or something beyond these categories. For some, gender represents an expansive field of identity possibilities, shaped by an evolving sense of self. For others, it is synonymous with the biological reality of sex. As a verb, "to gender" signifies an […]

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. […]