St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Presented by Tina Marie Dale, LCSW. This course is intended for clinicians new to the therapeutic field or those with little to no exposure to the psychodynamic approach thus far in their professional careers. We will look at what the psychodynamic approach can offer to clinicians treating families, treating children, and/or working with parents. We […]

Presented by Stuart Ozar, MD and Juliana Varela, MSW. For clinicians or mental health students who are curious about what it is that psychodynamic therapists actually do, we offer a “window” into the process and a chance to connect an introduction to theory with actual clinical material. Each class will begin with a brief theoretical […]

Presented by Gary Hirshberg, LCSW. This two session workshop will challenge clinicians to look at our own deeply held beliefs about sex and coupling, specifically what is ‘perversion’ and what is ‘healthy’ coupling. Most of us have come of age and been trained to still consider kink as deviant and as deriving from early childhood […]

Presented by Harold Braswell, PhD, MSW. The word “radical” is generally understood to mean a break from tradition. But, etymologically, the term also connotes a return to one’s roots. A “radical” psychoanalysis would, in this sense, seem paradoxical—but perhaps, in the process, faithful to the nature of the unconscious itself. This course explores this paradoxical […]

Presented by Richard D. Harvey, PhD. The Oppression Monopoly experience is quickly becoming widely known as a fun, yet deeply impactful simulation of the dynamics of oppression. The overriding theme of the experience is that the lived experience of minorities is systemic and intersectional and requires systemic and intersectional solutions. The experience has many learning […]

Presented by Nikki Karalekas, PhD, MSW, LCSW and Harold Braswell, MSW, PhD. How do we write psychoanalytically? How does psychoanalysis inform and enhance our writing practice? What role does writing have in clinical work? What is the relationship between writing, revision, and free association? How might we develop a psychoanalytically-informed understanding of—and treatment for—“writer’s block?” […]

Presented by Huey Hawkins Jr., PhD, LCSW. Black men living in America have been designated as an “endangered species” for a variety of reasons, namely the targeting and violence done to young Black men by police. Such experiences leave the parents of young Black boys to worry on a constant basis about the safety of […]

Presented in partnership with Casa de Salud’s Mental Health Collaborative with Patricia Gherovici, PhD; Harold Braswell, MSW, PhD and Juliana Varela, LCSW. Patricia Gherovici will compare two films documenting actual cures that push the boundaries of traditional psychoanalysis with two maverick psychoanalysts: Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, a 2013 French film by Arnaud […]

Presented by Paula Christian Kliger, PhD. Taking the position that a road paved with truth, reconciliation, and reparation is the road less traveled in our racial and sociocultural healing and our search for human resonance, this presentation seeks to face our toxic history and asks the question “How do we heal?” It also asks the […]

Presented by Avgi Saketopoulou, Psy.D. Psychoanalytic thinking teaches us that trauma leaves the subject fractured, less agentic, more subject to iterative, stalled revisitations of the traumatic event. With the help of Jean Laplanche’s metapsychology, Saketopoulou will discuss how significant possibilities for psychic transformation and for contact with experience are courted when we make ourselves passible […]

Phoebe Cirio, MSW, LCSW: In a world where there is a high level of strife and anxiety, and seemingly endless conflict, including war, ethnic violence, sexism and gender attacks, open displays of hostility within the United States, and the rapidly changing climate, the question arises what should we do? How does one in the mental […]

Phoebe Cirio, MSW, LCSW: William Styron vividly recounts the experience of his suicidal depression while suffering a breakdown in mid-life, in his small book Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness. Styron’s material will be a large part of the narrative basis for the class, which will be augmented with psychoanalytic theoretical material on the precipitants […]

Edmund Sprunger, MSW, LCSW: Students sometimes seem to dismiss their teachers' best attempts to help them learn. They might ignore simple directions, roll their eyes, sigh, or mention that elephants are the only animal that cannot jump. Teachers can also feel disregarded by parents, who may attempt to discredit a teacher, fail to support their […]

For clinicians or mental health students who are curious about what it is that psychodynamic therapists actually do, we offer a “window” into the process and a chance to connect an introduction to theory with actual clinical material. Each class will begin with a brief theoretical description of a core clinical concept, followed by the […]

This is an introductory course on the evolution of the Independent Tradition (British in origin) applied to our work with children and adolescents. This tradition (or approach) is developmentally appropriate to our work with younger populations, as it moves from the more epistemological (knowing) approach, with its emphasis on interpretation and insight, to a more […]

Aisha Abbasi, MD: Homesickness is a commonly used term, and a feeling that has been studied with interest, in psychoanalysis. The connection and distinction between homesickness and nostalgia has been noted in many analytic papers. Normal and pathological forms of both have been described. In this paper, Dr. Abbasi discusses the theoretical framework that informs […]

This course will focus on Butler’s experience and engagement with psychoanalysis, in order to explore what impact their thinking can hold for clinical practice. We will focus both on their early work concerning gender as well as more recent writings about non-violence.

Curious about psychoanalytic education & training? Whether you're dipping your toes into the field or gearing up to apply, our virtual Open House is the perfect place to explore what's possible. Join us for an afternoon filled with insightful conversations, meaningful connections, and a welcoming community ready to share their experiences. Meet our esteemed faculty […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Humanity has engineered a new Other. Sometimes referred to as “alien intelligence,” AI technology has the capability to think about our minds, communicate with us at conscious and unconscious levels, and act as a new “container” for human psychic life. From a psychoanalytic perspective, AI is our symptom. What does it reflect about humanity? Our […]

Speaker Linda Horrell, MDiv, MSW, LCSW. This course is for anyone curious about child development and for experienced psychotherapists who are interested in the psychoanalytic insights into the dreams of children and adolescents. We will have fun discussing the animation, Dream Productions, a Pixar-created mini-series from the creators of Inside Out.

What is a baby trying to say when it is crying? For British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion, cries are more than a call for food or assistance. They are expressions of an all-consuming fear: of dying. Understanding this fear, and responding to it empathically was, for him, essential to the work of parenting—and analysis. But what […]

Spreaker: Volney Gay, PhD. We explore American slave owners who embodied the existential contradiction of American values (individual liberty) with human bondage. We focus on their struggles to defend themselves against that contradiction. We locate those struggles within the biographies of famous persons, such as President Washington, and unknown persons who claimed to be both […]

Speaker: John Lucas, LPC. Many clinicians are hesitant to begin working with adolescents, although there is a significant need for adolescent therapists. This course will serve as a primer on working with adolescents and their parents/caregivers from a psychodynamic framework. We will cover both theoretical and clinical perspectives. The course will highlight the contributions of […]

Speaker: Nikki Karalekas, PhD, LCSW. Love is both mysterious and a psychoanalytic term of art. Despite worrying that love was beyond the scope of scientific inquiry, Freud developed several different theories of love. Perhaps most famously, in the Three Essays on Sexuality, he writes, “The prototype of every love relationship is the child sucking at […]

Speaker: Robert Grossmark, PhD, ABPP. 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 lecture will address the challenges when working with patients whose trauma does not avail itself to symbolization and mentalization. In this lecture I will outline how the analyst […]

Speaker: Rudy Oldeschulte, MA, JD, MACP. This is an introductory course on the evolution of the Independent Tradition (British in origin) applied to our work with children and adolescents. This tradition (or approach) is developmentally appropriate to our work with younger populations, as it moves from the more epistemological (knowing) approach, with its emphasis on […]

Speaker: Alicia Naveas, LPC, MEd. This course will explore foundational concepts of cultural competency within psychodynamic frameworks. Emphasizing the work of authors such as Tummala-Narra, Salman Akhtar, and Patricia Gherovici will integrate multicultural awareness into psychoanalytic thinking. For instance, Tummala-Narra (2025) conceptualizes multicultural competence as a reflective capacity to shift perspectives and understand the patient’s […]