Conference Program

The 23rd Annual International Conference
on the Psychology of the Self

Explorations Into the Clinical Process
and the Human Condition

November 9-12, 2000
Chicago, Illinois

Conference Contents | Self Psychology Page

Pre-Conference
Thursday Afternoon: Pre-Conference Workshops
Thursday Evening and Friday Morning: Pre-Conference Courses

Main Conference
Friday Afternoon: Panel I
Saturday: Panel II | Kohut Memorial Lecture | Session A | Session B
Sunday: Session C | Panel III

OPTIONAL WORKSHOPS

Workshops A, B, C and D are offered simultaneously and may be taken before the Pre-Conference Program. There will be a 15 minute break at 2:45 P.M.

Optional Workshop A

THE SPONTANEOUS SELF OF THE ANALYST: Exercises in Improvisation

There is a close relationship between the creative spontaneity required in the analytic session and that which occurs in a two-person dramatic improvisation. The goal of this experimental workshop is to explore this relationship and the potential value of improvisational techniques as a way of expanding the analyst's repertoire of responsiveness.

 

Co-Leaders: Arthur A. Gray, PhD

Rosalind C. Chaplin Kindler, MFA

Optional Workshop B 

GENDER AND SEXUALITY: Where Are We Now?

This workshop will explore gender and sexual development from an intersubjective perspective. Biological potentials develop and disappear within particular cultures, communities and families, raising the question: Is there something essential about "maleness" and "femaleness" or are these purely social constructions? We will also examine the role the body plays in the construction of gender and sexuality, the place of affects, especially guilt and shame, in gender and sexual development, and how the analyst's sexual preference influences the therapeutic dyad. Clinical material will be used to illustrate our ideas and questions.

 

Co-Leaders: Ann D'Ercole, PhD

Judith R. Kaufman, MSW

Sandra M. Kiersky, PhD

Amanda E. Kottler, MA, Clin. Psych.

Optional Workshop C 

OPTIMAL RESPONSIVENESS - Part I (of 2 sessions)

The Application of Specificity Theory in Relational Self Psychology

This is a 2-session workshop (Part II, Saturday, November 11) whose aim is to elucidate and illustrate the principles of specificity theory and its clinical application, optimal responsiveness. After a brief theoretical presentation, a core (Balint-type) group will discuss clinical material, in both parts of this workshop. Registrants to the Workshop will locate in a surrounding tier and will be able to participate in an open discussion of the theoretical presentation and the clinical work of the group. Involvement in both parts of this workshop is encouraged. Attendance at Part I of the Workshop is a prerequisite for admission to Part II (see Saturday, 4:15 - 5:45, #12).

 

Group Leader: Howard A. Bacal, MD, FRCP(C)

Presenters: Howard A. Bacal, MD, FRCP(C) & Bruce Herzog, MD, FRCP(C)

 

Discussion Group

Members: Midge M. Breslin, MEd, Bruce Herzog, MD, FRCP(C),

William M. Laurie, MSW, Lester Lenoff, MSW, Judy Lester, MEd,

Carol A. Munschauer, PhD, Richard B. Rosenstein, MD

 

Optional Workshop D

SELF PSYCHOLOGY AND CHILD TREATMENT

This workshop will provide a broad conceptual framework for evaluating children which is consistent with the principles of self psychology. The framework will include neurobiological, family, developmental and social issues which impact the child's developing self structure. Attention will be paid to engaging the parents and child in the assessment and treatment process, and maintaining alliances with each. An in depth case presentation will demonstrate the treatment process and the multiple issues that arise.

 

Chair: Amy H. Eldridge, PhD

Presenters: Joseph Palombo, MA, LCSW

Erika S. Schmidt, MSW

*Coffee and breakfast rolls will be provided
on Friday morning from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM.
There will be a 15 minute break at 10:15 AM.

1. INTRODUCTION TO SELF PSYCHOLOGY

This course will provide participants with knowledge of the unconscious underpinnings that have served as the basis for the various theories that have flourished within the field of self psychology. Thursday evening will explicate the psychoanalytic principles that Kohut conceptualized. On Friday morning we will apply those principles to an ongoing treatment.

 

Thursday Evening 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Friday Morning * 9:00 - 11:45 AM

 

Co-leaders: Allen M. Siegel, MD

Constance O. Goldberg, MS

Sharone B. Ornstein, MD

 

2. CLINICAL CASE CONSULTATION TRACK

Intended for registrants already familiar with the practice of self psychology, this course consists of a presentation on Thursday evening and clinically focused discussion groups on Friday morning.

 

a. Evening Section: In this presentation therapist and consultant will provide an unrehearsed sample of a clinical consultation, with subsequent discussion by the audience, in order to focus on the case consultation process.

 

Thursday Evening 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Title: The Process of Clinical Consultation

Chair: Jill R. Gardner, PhD

Consultant: Paul H. Ornstein, MD

Therapist: Scott M. Davis, MD

 

b. Morning Section: Participants will attend one of several Master Classes in the form of clinical case presentations with the discussion led by a senior self psychologist. Please rank in order your first 8 preferences from the list on the conference registration form. Master Class groups will be assigned on a first-come (paid), first-served basis. Those interested in attending a Master Class of their choice should apply early. We regret that exceptions cannot be made to allow additional registrants once a Master Class has reached maximum capacity.

 

Friday Morning* 9:00 - 11:45 AM

 

3. MARITAL THERAPY COURSE

This course will present a self psychological/intersubjective approach to the treatment of couples. It will include an introduction to basic concepts as well as recent developments in this area. Stress will be placed on the original work of the presenters. Clinical material from the leaders' practices will be included to enrich and illustrate the concepts introduced. The last section will consist of small group discussions of the participants' experiences with their own cases.

 

Thursday Evening 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Friday Morning * 9:00 - 11:45 AM

 

Chair: Martin S. Livingston, PhD

Presenters: Carla M. Leone, PhD

David Shaddock, MA, MFT

 

4. GROUP THERAPY COURSE

This course will teach participants about the application of self psychological principles to group psychotherapy. It is designed to teach and apply Kohutian, intersubjectivity, and motivational systems theory. Further advances also to be taught include the application of infant research to group therapy models, the multiple selfobject model, and groupobject theory. In addition to the theoretical presentations, there will be a demonstration group designed to highlight a co-therapy model of treatment and the range of intervention strategies from a self psychology perspective.

 

Thursday Evening 7:00 - 9:00 PM

Friday Morning * 9:00 - 11:45 AM

 

Co-leaders Rosemary A. Segalla, PhD

Damon L. Silvers, PhD

Bruce S. Wine, PhD

PLEASE NOTE: A maximum capacity will be strictly adhered to for the Optional Pre-Conference Workshops and Pre-Conference Courses and SPACE IS LIMITED. Early registration is strongly recommended. We regret that exceptions cannot be made to allow additional registrants once maximum capacity has been reached.

*Coffee and breakfast rolls will be provided on Friday morning from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM. There will be a 15 minute break at 10:15 AM.

Friday Afternoon - November 10, 2000

Please Note: Click here for abstracts and summaries about the Panels or Original Papers/Workshops.

1:00 - 1:15 PM WELCOME

David M. Terman, MD

Chair, 23rd Annual International Conference

1:15 - 3:15 PANEL I

Title: The Role of Empathy and Interpretation in the Therapeutic Process

Chair: James L. Fosshage, PhD

Presenter: Salee A. Jenkins, PhD

Discussants: Daniel Kriegman, PhD

Marian D. Tolpin, MD

3:15 - 3:45 Coffee Break

3:45 - 4:45 POST PANEL I DISCUSSION GROUPS

Registrants will meet to discuss Panel I. Sessions will be assigned at random. Each group will be led by experienced clinicians.

These conference sessions are designed to allow small groups to discuss the material presented in Panel I with an experienced self psychologist. The Post Panel Discussion Groups will allow the participants to ask questions and to clarify their understanding of the material presented in the panels and to make comments about their thoughts regarding the panels.

7:30 - 8:30 AM Coffee and Breakfast Rolls

8:30 - 10:30 PANEL II

Title: The Role of the Relationship in the Therapeutic Process

Chair: Estelle Shane, PhD

Presenter: Joye E. Weisel-Barth, PhD

Discussants: Robert D. Stolorow, PhD

Lewis Aron, PhD

 

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 - 12:00 PM POST PANEL II DISCUSSION GROUPS

Registrants will meet to discuss Panel II. Sessions will be assigned at random. Each group will be led by experienced clinicians.

These conference sessions are designed to allow small groups to discuss the material presented in Panel II with an experienced self psychologist. The Post Panel Discussion Groups will allow the participants to ask questions and to clarify their understanding of the material presented in the panels and to make comments about their thoughts regarding the panels.

12:15 - 2:00 PM Optional Luncheon

(An additional fee will be charged for the meal. Those who do not elect to eat but wish to attend the lecture after the meal may do so based on space availability.)

12:45 Lifetime Contributions Award

Miriam Elson, MA is the recipient of this award for her contributions to self psychology and for bringing Kohut's work to the social work community. Jill R. Gardner, PhD will present the award.

1:00 - 2:00 KOHUT MEMORIAL LECTURE

Title: Reflective Relativism and Kohut's Self Psychology

Introduction: Paul H. Ornstein, MD

Presenter: Mark J. Gehrie, PhD

 

2:15 - 3:45 ORIGINAL PAPERS/WORKSHOPS

SESSION A

1. Title: Crossing The Cartesian Divide: Using Applied Self Psychology and Intersubjectivity to Improve the Practice of Medicine

Presenter: Sharone A. Abramowitz, MD

Discussant: Henry Szor, MD

2. Title: The Analyst's Own Analysis: From Freud to Kohut

Presenter: James W. Anderson, PhD

Discussant: Alan R. Kindler, MD, FRCP(C)

3. Title: From an Empathic Stance to an Empathic Dance: Empathy as a Bi-directional Negotiation

Presenters: Lynn Preston, MA, MS, Ellen Shumsky, MSW

Discussant: Josy E. Fisch, MD

 

4. Title: Contextualism and Dynamic Systems in Psychoanalysis: Rethinking Intersubjectivity Theory

Presenters: Melanie L. Burke, LCSW, Gabriel S. Trop, MA, Jeffrey L. Trop, MD

Discussant: Philip A. Ringstrom, PhD, PsyD

 

5. Title: Multiple Selfobject Relationships: A Case Study of a Woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder

Presenter: Maria L. Slowiaczek, PhD

Discussant: Prudence T. Leib, MD

 

6. Title: The Roar of the Tiger-Lion: Pathological Pattern of Attachment and Structures of Accommodation

Presenter: Jacqueline Hanley, BA, Dipl. TCPP, MCAPCT

Discussant: John A. Sloane, MD, FRCP(C)

 

7. Title: Adoption and the Fantasy of the Idealized Object

Presenters: Allen M. Siegel, MD, Renee Siegel, MA, LCSW, BCD

Discussant: Susan M. Fisher, MD

 

8. Workshop: What Does Dostoevsky Teach Us About Self Psychology In "The Gambler"? Part I of 2 (See Session C-10, Sunday, 8:30 - 10:00)

Presenter: Paul H. Ornstein, MD

Discussant: Axel Joneck, MA

 

Religion and Spirituality Part 1 of 2 (See Session C-4, Sunday 8:30 - 10:00)

9. Title: Religious Experience as Selfobject Experience

Chair: Constance O. Goldberg, MS

Presenter: Pamela J. Holliman, PhD

Discussant: Celia Brickman, PhD

 

10. Title: On Negative Selfobjects, The Overidealization of the Maternal and Countertransference Disclosure: Some Thoughts About Therapeutic Action

Presenter: Christine C. Kieffer, PhD

Discussant: Robert J. Leider, MD

 

11. Title: The Place of Free Association in Self Psychology

Presenters: Charles E. Grayson, PhD, Marian D. Tolpin, MD

Discussant: Sanford Shapiro, MD

 

12. Workshop: Social Constructivism and Self Psychology

Title: Overcoming the Odds: Affirmation of Meaning and Worth in a Dialectical-Constructivist View of the Psychoanalytic Process

Presenter: Irwin Z. Hoffman, PhD

Discussant: Malcolm O. Slavin, PhD

3:45 - 4:15 Coffee Break

4:15 - 5:45 ORIGINAL PAPERS/WORKSHOPS

SESSION B

1. Title: Survival and Recovery: Self Psychological Considerations

Presenter: Anna Ornstein, MD

Discussant: Ruth Gruenthal, MSW

 

2. Title: Issues of Self-disclosure

Presenter: Martin S. Livingston, PhD

Discussant: Dorienne Sorter, PhD

 

3. Title: The Therapeutic Alliance: Couples Oscillators in Biological Synchrony

Presenter: Barbara Fajardo, PhD

Discussant: Frank M. Lachmann, PhD

 

4. Title: Toward a Self Psychological Social Psychology: Work As Selfobject

Presenter: Ilene J. Philipson, PhD

Discussant: Mark D. Smaller, PhD

 

5. Title: Motivation: Sic Transit Gloria?

Presenter: Joseph D. Lichtenberg, MD

Discussant: Gary M. Rodin, MD

 

6. Title: About Cruising and Being Cruised

Presenter: R. Dennis Shelby, MSW, PhD

Discussant: Joan A. Lang, MD

 

7. Title: On Hope: The Patient's and the Analyst's

Presenter: David W. Krueger, MD

Discussant: Andrew P. Morrison, MD

 

8. Title: In The Trenches Treating a Dissociated Trauma Survivor: A Detailed Process Analysis

Presenter: Stuart D. Perlman, PhD

Discussant: Linda A. Chernus, MSW

 

9. Title: Kohut's Understanding and Explaining Steps: Clinical Considerations Influencing the Need for a Prolonged Understanding Only Phase

Presenter: Jeffrey J. Mermelstein, PhD

Discussant: Paula B. Fuqua, MD

 

10. Title: Integrating Self Psychology, Neurobiology and Trauma Theories: Rethinking Good/Bad "Splits" and Impasses in Treating Borderline Patients

Presenter: Barbara Engelman, MA

Discussant: Scott M. Davis, MD

 

11. Title: Faith and Passion in Self Psychology, or, Swimming Against the "Postmodern Tide of Uncertainty"

Presenter: Doris Brothers, PhD

Discussant: Donna M. Orange, PhD, PsyD

 

12. Title: OPTIMAL RESPONSIVENESS - Part II (of 2 sessions)

The Application of Specificity Theory in Relational Self Psychology

Chair & Discussion Group Leader: Howard A. Bacal, MD, FRCP(C)

Presenters: Howard A. Bacal, MD, FRCP(C) and Bruce Herzog, MD, FRCP(C)

Discussion Group Members: Midge M. Breslin, MEd, Bruce Herzog, MD, FRCP(C), William M. Laurie, MSW, Lester Lenoff, MSW, Judy Lester, MEd, Carol A. Munschauer, PhD, Richard B. Rosenstein, MD

6:15 - 10:30 Conference Reception:

A light Dinner Buffet followed by dancing to The Good Times Orchestra of Chicago.

(This is an optional ticketed event at an additional fee; see Conference Registration Form.)

7:30 - 8:30 AM Coffee and Breakfast Rolls

8:30 - 10:00 ORIGINAL PAPERS/WORKSHOPS

SESSION C

1. Title: World Horizons: A Post-Cartesian Alternative to the Freudian Unconscious

Presenters: Robert D. Stolorow, PhD, Donna M. Orange, PhD, PsyD

Discussant: Charles M. Jaffe, MD

 

2. Title: Optimal Responsiveness in the Therapeutic Process

Presenter: Lester Lenoff, MSW

Discussant: Kenneth Newman, MD

 

3. Title: Panic Disorder and Self States: Clinical and Research Illustrations

Presenter: Donna M. Mahoney, PhD

Discussant: David S. Solomon, MD

 

Religion and Spirituality Part 2 of 2 (See Session A-9, Saturday, 2:15 - 3:45)

4. Title: Mystical Experience as an Expression of the Idealizing Selfobject Need

Chair: Constance O. Goldberg, MS

Presenter: Lallene J. Rector, PhD

Discussant: Jeffrey B. Rubin, PhD

 

5. Title: Toward a More Optimal Selfobject Milieu: Family Psychotherapy from the Perspective of Self Psychology

Presenter: Carla M. Leone, PhD

Discussant: Naomi R. Malin, DSW, PsyD

 

6. Title: Shattering the Template: The Effect of Moments of Meeting on Enduring Systems of Pathological Accommodation

Presenter: Gary S. Taerk, MD, FRCP(C)

Discussant: Steven H. Knoblauch, PhD

 

7. Title: The Jewish Art of Midrash: Healing Trauma in the Mythological Realm

Presenters: Ann Eisenstein, MSW, Kathryn Rebillot, CSW

Discussant: Shelley R. Doctors, PhD

 

8. Title: The Developmental Trajectory from Amodal Perception to Empathy and Communication: The Role of Mirror Neurons in this Process

Presenters: Nancy S. Wolf, MD

Mary E. Gales, MD

Estelle Shane, PhD

Morton Shane, MD

Discussant: Joseph Palombo, MA, LCSW

 

9. Title: The Subjugation of the Body in Eating Disorders: A Particularly Female Solution

Presenter: Susan H. Sands, PhD

Discussant: Caryle G. Perlman, LCSW

 

10. Workshop: What Does Dostoevsky Teach Us About Self Psychology In "The Gambler"? Part 2 of 2 (See Session A-8, Saturday 2:15 - 3:45)

Presenter: Paul H. Ornstein, MD

Discussant: Axel Joneck, MA

 

11. Title: Twinship Selfobject Experience and Homosexuality

Presenter: Diane L. Martinez, MD

Discussant: Henry J. Friedman, MD

 

12. Title: The Self as a Relational Structure

Presenter: Steven Stern, PsyD

Discussant: Bruce Herzog, MD, FRCP(C)

 

10:00 - 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 - 12:30 PM PANEL III

Title: Self Psychology, Psychoanalysis and the Understanding of the Human Condition

Chair: Arnold I. Goldberg, MD

Presenters: Charles B. Strozier, PhD

Judith Guss Teicholz, EdD

Gerald N. Izenberg, PhD

12:30 Closing Comments and Final Adjournment

David M. Terman, MD

James M. Fisch, MD Jill R. Gardner, PhD

Mark J. Gehrie, PhD Sanford Shapiro, MD

Allen M. Siegel, MD David M. Terman, MD

Conference Contents | Self Psychology Page

Pre-Conference
Thursday Afternoon: Pre-Conference Workshops
Thursday Evening and Friday Morning: Pre-Conference Courses

Main Conference
Friday Afternoon: Panel I
Saturday: Panel II | Kohut Memorial Lecture | Session A | Session B
Sunday: Session C | Panel III