Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

"In this latest installment of our case conference series, targeted at early career clinicians and those curious to learn more about psychodynamic approaches to therapy, PCOP psychotherapy student Nicole Flibbert Laurino, LPC, will present from her work with an adult patient treated in a community mental health setting, who struggles with feeling ""not good enough"" […]

Divergent Models of Psychoanalytic Identity

Sylvia Flescher, M.D., will join us in person on Friday, November 17th, and share with us excerpts from her memoir-in-progress. Her memoir describes the evolution of her identity as a clinician since her analytic training in the '80s. Dr. Flescher will talk about the origins and development of her ambivalence towards psychoanalysis, considering the role […]

The word “stranger” comes from the Latin word extraneus, meaning “one who is on the outside.” In this latest installment of our case conference series, targeted to early career clinicians and those curious to learn more about psychodynamic approaches to therapy, PCOP Psychotherapy Associate Member, Jasmine Gibson, LCSW, will present from her work with a […]

Psychoanalytic interventions occur in manualized short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy through the Regulation Focused Psychotherapy approach. In this presentation, Drs. Leon Hoffman and Timothy Rice will review the history of the psychoanalytic technique of interpreting defenses against painful affect with children, demonstrate its effectiveness in the case history of Philip, a six-year-and-five-month old boy who was felt […]

Splitting and Polarization are two common phenomena in the intrapsychic and social world. Yet, in recent years, with heated and polarized divisions in various contexts breaking further apart, the topic is particularly on point. The program will offer participants an environment to explore the emotionally highly charged dynamics of splitting and polarization, which are occurring […]

Listening to secrets is part of the everyday work of a psychodynamic clinician. Despite its importance, this topic has not received extensive attention in the analytic literature. The impact on the clinician in unexpected emotional and physical ways deserves greater scrutiny than has generally occurred in training. It can be experienced as uncanny and disturbing. […]

Following a two-year personally driven immersive odyssey into the works of French Psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva, Nancy M. Kulish, PhD has arrived at a particular understanding of the concept of the abject. Dr. Kulish will guide us on her journey to show us a new way to understand the way the very early conflictual engagement between […]

53rd Annual Margaret S. Mahler Symposium on Child Development:  This program draws from approaches to clinical research and practice that are aligned with the work and legacy of Anni Bergman, PhD, a pioneer in developmental theory and in working with high-risk and at-risk individuals and families. Each presentation, and each discussant, builds on Dr. Bergman’s […]

Marilia Aisenstein will lead us on a journey inside the mind of the newborn infant to demonstrate how human beings develop the capacity for waiting, a state that involves a pleasurable experience that paves the way for desire. Referencing Freud’s concept of “primary masochism” Ms. Aisenstein shows that having a “good enough mother”-- who through […]

Marilia Aisenstein will show how the psychoanalytical approach and the writing of fiction share the power to transform human psychological experience, to change the very essence of our being in the world. By referencing masterpieces of literature and presenting clinical vignettes, Ms. Aisenstein will demonstrate the intersubjective processes that are based in the unconscious. She […]

Thomas Barrett, PhD, will present his ideas about the impact of early relational misattunement on children and the role of relational attunement (ie Mindsight) when provided in the context of child psychoanalysis. He will provide vignettes from 3-4 clinical cases to illustrate his point of view. Ya-Juan Zhang will discuss Dr. Barrett’s paper and present […]

Thomas Barrett, PhD, will present his ideas about the impact of early relational misattunement on children and the role of relational attunement (ie Mindsight) when provided in the context of child psychoanalysis. He will provide vignettes from 3-4 clinical cases to illustrate his point of view. Ya-Juan Zhang will discuss Dr. Barrett’s paper and present […]

The 2 recent explosions within the Program Committee and then within the American Psychoanalytic Association are examined, from an insider's perspective, as analysts' difficulties with listening to each other. Analysts' anxiety with erotic excitement, especially with racial erotics, even when used for self-affirmation, is discussed. So too is the need for 'Othering' and the need […]

Beginning with the question of the individual’s fitness with their family of origin, the authors describe the variables that determine the adolescent’s capacity to join peer groups. Optimally, the adolescent – when cognitive advancement is combined with a specific kind of group psychological mindedness – can consolidate their group identifications. When traumatized, an adolescent’s exclusion […]

Decoupling (2023) is about a journey the filmmaker took to bring back his daughter who was trapped overseas due to US-China tensions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film becomes an examination of his family's suppressed history of trauma caused by forced separation during the Cultural Revolution.

Based on 25 years of psychoanalytic and intensive psychotherapy work with patients and his experiences as a teacher, supervisor, and mentor, Dr. Klafter will describe how psychoanalysts are affected by their relationships with their patients. Drawing on object relations theories of psychological development, he will describe how the patient inhabits the analyst's representational world, and […]

Robin Holloway, PhD, CPsych, will use children’s artwork from psychotherapy to explore how drawings provide insights into a child's mind, helping to understand fears, relationships, and emotional growth. Click here for the flyer and full description. CE.

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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; […]

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.

James Anderson, Ph.D. introduces therapists and analysts to the ways that psychobiography reveals the powerful undercurrents of countertransference, to serve as a didactic tool for early career therapists and analysts, as well as a refresher for more senior practitioners. CE

Please join PCOP in welcoming Dr. Steve Axelrod from NYC to speak about some of the most recent considerations of adult psychological development in our field. CE.

Join us for the Kramer-Mahler Forum for a compelling case presentation demonstrating the use of TFP-A in working with a 17-year-old patient with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

This year, the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia's Henri Parens Symposium will focus on resilience in the face of violence. The speakers will be Ann Masten, PhD, LP, a distinguished researcher on resilience, and Merav Roth, PhD, Training Analyst and world-renowned trauma expert, as well as one of the organizers of the psychoanalytic on-the-ground response in Israel.    A case […]

Not theory and not advocacy, this program highlights the lived experiences of transgender and nonbinary psychoanalysts and patients, offering a clinically-relevant presentation of how psychoanalytic thinking can bring understanding when gender, ideology, and law collide inside the analytic frame.

Leading researchers and clinicians will present and compare the latest findings as to how to best facilitate successful early relationships and most successfully interrupt the intergenerational transmission of trauma.