TRISP Home Page | Self Psychology Page
SATURDAYS 10AM TO 12 NOON
AT THE TRINITY SCHOOL
91ST STREET AND COLUMBUS AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
Since Heinz Kohut introduced the theoretical and technical advances that so dramatically changed analytic practice, self psychology has undergone considerable transformation. Recently, for example, the blending of self psychology and the theory of intersubjectivity has greatly enhanced the effectiveness of the therapeutic relationship. The goal of the 1996-1997 TRISP Continuing Education Series is three-fold:
to explain the basics of self psychology and intersubjectivity
to introduce exciting, cutting-edge developments in the clinical application of self-psychological theory
to present significant contributions by leading clinicians to the field as a whole.
The Series covers a wide range of fascinating topics including
the psychoanalytic treatment of multiple personality disorder, psychic deadness,
dissociation, gender, menopause, psychosis, addictions, dreams,
"self-supervision," mother-daughter relations, Ferenczi's pioneering
use of empathy, and the work of Eugene O'Neill. Attend all nineteen lectures and
workshops at a substantial discount and let seasoned and creative experts help
you enrich your work.
1. September 21, 1996
Self Psychology and Intersubjectivity: A Primer
Peter Zimmermann, PhD
In this lecture, Dr. Zimmermann provides a comprehensive
overview of the central theoretical concepts of self psychology and the theory
of intersubjectivity as well as clinical guidelines that derive from them.
2. October 12, 1996
The Theory and Practice of
Clinical Empathy
Arnold Rachman, PhD, FAGPA
The clinical use of empathy was introduced by Sandor Ferenczi in 1928 when
he developed his humanistic method to deal successfully with
difficult cases. Subsequent analytic and therapeutic inquiry advanced the
theoretical and clinical basis for empathic understanding as a fundamental part
of the analytic process. This lecture traces these developments to focus on
Kohut's use of empathy as fundamental to a self-psychological analysis. Clinical
examples of the use of empathy will be introduced by Dr. Rachman and
participants to explore issues in applying the theory to clinical practice.
3. October 26, 1996
Narcissism, The Family, and Madness:
A Self-Psychological Study of the Plays of Eugene O'Neill
Maria T. Miliora, PhD, MSW, LICSW
This workshop presents a self-psychological exploration of
three of Eugene O'Neill's plays, Dynamo(1928), Mourning Becomes Electra(1931),
and Long Day's Journey into Night (1941). All three plays involve characters
with narcissistic personality disorders, a disturbed family context, and
madness. Long Day's Journey Into Night, an explicitly autobiographical play, is
used to exemplify O'Neill's subjective experience within his family. The other
two plays are used to illustrate narcissistic themes, especially as regards
selfobject functions (or lack thereof), narcissistic rage, and violence that
were expressed later in Long Days Journey. The three plays illustrate family
contexts that failed to provide a sustaining selfobject milieu and the possible
consequences of such failures.
4. November 2, 1996
The Successful Psychoanalysis of a
Patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder
and Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy
Richard P. Kluft, MD
A young physician sought psychoanalysis for difficulties in relationships and paralyzing depression in the aftermath of rejection. After four-and-a-half years of classical analysis she spontaneously dissociated into an alternate personality. This presentation outlines the process of the analysis, indicating the emergence and resolution of the dissociative processes, with attention to their manifestations in the transference and the dream materials. The vicissitudes of managing the severe symptoms and behaviors associated with
a complex and chronic dissociative disorder within the format
of a classical psychoanalysis is reviewed. Several subtypes of dissociative
identity disorder and the psychoanalytic resolution of Munchausen's Syndrome by
proxy are discussed.
5. November 9, 1996
The Supervision Process: A "Self-Supervision"
Developmental Model For Psychotherapists
Conrad Lecomte, PhD
Annette Richard, MPS
How do we become "good enough" psychotherapists? If
healing is an art, how do we become artists? Can a Salieri be transformed into a
Mozart? Applying a self-psychological approach to the supervisory situation, the
workshop presenters discuss learning and change processes at work in developing
our optimal response-ability as psychotherapists. They also explore how change
can be facilitated in the supervisory situation when viewed as a triadic
intersubjective process. Drawing from their experience as trainers of graduate
students in Counseling Psychology and as trainers of supervisors, they present
their approach to "self-supervision" training for therapists. Clinical
material illustrates the presentation.
6. November 23, 1996
Gender as Intersubjective Practice:
Femininity as Meaningful Continuity or Premature Disruption?
Susan Pangerl, Ph.D.
Discussant: Jan Crawford, CSW
Within self-psychological circles the complexities of gender
relations and especially mother-daughter dynamics have remained remarkably
unexplored. Certain aspects of mother-daughter relationships will be explored
through clinical vignettes and the theoretical lenses of feminist,
self-psychological, and intersubjective approaches.
7. December 7, 1996
Psychic Deadness
Michael Eigen, PhD
Some form of psychic deadness is increasing in clinical work.
It varies from mild self-numbing and intermittent blankness, to vast, horrific
and persistent self-obliteration. Psychic deadness may overlap with a sense of
meaninglessness and futility, but is by no means so confined. Deadness can take
on a life of its own, gather momentum, and poison a life, whether or not the
latter is felt to be meaningful. In this seminar Michael Eigen will explore
aspects of psychic deadness and the therapist's responses and alternatives. In
addition to individual case practice, psychic deadness will be related to
broader aspects of cultural life and religious experience.
8. December 14, 1996
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Charles B. Strozier, PhD
Discussant: Arnold Rachman, PHD, FAGPA
This workshop investigates the theory of sexuality in self
psychology, including reflections from a biography of Heinz Kohut. What does it
really mean, as Kohut maintained he had done, to jettison drive theory and
reformulate psychoanalysis as a depth psychology? What was Kohut's theory of
"perversion"? Is there anything about his own experience that can help
us understand these changes at the level of theory? And, finally, are Kohut's
ideas about sexuality of enduring clinical significance?
9. January 11, 1997
Megalomania and the Self-Psychological Treatment of the Addicted Patient
Richard B. Ulman, PhD
Harry Paul, PhD
As originally conceived by Freud in the Schreber case,
megalomania (that is, illusions of being god-like) was central to Freud's
thinking on narcissism. In contrast, Kohut, in formulating his
self-psychological theory of narcissism, subsumed megalomania as part of archaic
grandiosity and omnipotence. Based on their continuing work in analyzing a wide
variety of addicts, Ulman and Paul have rediscovered the centrality of
megalomania(that is, fantasies of magical control over things and activities in
the environment) to understanding and treating narcissistic disorders. Through
the presentation of two full-length treatment case histories (the cases of
"Mary" and "Travis", respectively an eating disordered
patient and drug-sex addict), Ulman and Paul illustrate how an empathic
attunement to fantasies of megalomaniacal control is crucial to a
self-psychological analysis of the addicted patient.
10. January 18, 1997
The Influence of Irish-American Ethnicity of
the Therapist and Patient on the Twinship Selfobject Transference: A Self-Psychological Treatment
Patricia Murphy, MSW
Doris Brothers, PhD, Discussant
Monica McGoldric reported that Irish people tend to be
resistant to therapy and have difficulty expressing inner feelings despite their
articulateness in other areas. Ms. Murphy found that treatment progressed with
four Irish-American women she saw for a year or more after a twinship selfobject
transference developed. The twinship selfobject transference was strengthened
when both therapist and patient were of the same Irish-American culture. In this
workshop, particular episodes from sessions that explicate the transference/countertransference
are explored.
11. January 25, 1997
How Cohesive is the Cohesive Self?
Jan Crawford, CSW
Kohut considered self cohesion an attainment and goal of the
mature self. In this workshop Jan Crawford examines what self cohesion is, when
it is experienced, and, in fact, whether self cohesion is the final stage in
becoming fully human.
12. February 8, 1997
Through The Dark Light - The Self- Psychological Treatment of a Florid Psychosis
Patricia Simko, JD, PhD
The treatment of Ann, a woman whose self-structure cracked
during the course of treatment, was guided by a self-psychological
understanding. The voices and visual hallucinations were viewed as attempts to
attain safety after trusted caregivers had betrayed her, as well as the
concretizations of the horror of the betrayal. The psychotic break came to be
seen and understood as a needed externalization of a life-long psychosis,
suffered in silent isolation. Over time Ann emerged from the darkness into the
light. Self-psychological theories of psychosis are reviewed.
13. February 15, 1997
Understanding Human Beings: Beyond DSM IV
Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Psychoanalytically oriented practitioners are not particularly
helped by thinking in the limited terms of the DSM-IV. These diagnoses do not
help the psychoanalytically informed therapist to derive an empathic
understanding of the patient nor does this offer the therapist a helpful
treatment stance to the patient. In contrast, psychoanalytic diagnostic
conventions, although subject to misuse, contain implications for a deep
appreciation of and therapeutic connection with the person seeking help. Dr.
McWilliams reviews major personality diagnoses on two axes: developmental
preoccupation and character type, integrating classical, relational, and self
emphases as well as concepts from affect theory and control-mastery theory.
14. March 15, 1997
When More Is Not Enough-Working With the Primary Defect in Self Psychology
Patricia Simko, JD, PhD
Kohut introduced the concept of the compensatory structure,
and often emphasized his preference for working in analysis on the compensatory
line of development. On occasion, he explicitly warned against the activation of
aspects of the primary defect, for fear of "permanent psychological
dysfunction." Is it always advisable to avoid such work? Does the fact of
being a female analyst influence the issue? This workshop looks at the issues
arising in the intersubjective field when the analytic relationship heads toward
the primary defect. Case examples will be discussed.
15. April 5, 1997
Understanding the "Bi" Ways of
Self-Experience: Dissociation, Alter Ego
Selfobject Experience and Gender
Doris Brothers, PhD
It has recently been proposed that pathological processes are
activated in the development of gender as rigidly masculine or feminine, such as
the disavowal of "gender-incongruent" aspects of self-experience. This
workshop examines the disavowal of aspects of self-as-gendered in light of Dr.
Brothers' understanding of alter ego selfobject experience as a dissociative
process related to trauma. A brief clinical vignette of a man who found his
masculine- and feminine- identified qualities embodied in his therapist is
presented.
16. April 19, 1997 Rescheduled to June 7 - See #20 below
Reality and Transference in the Self-Psychologically Oriented Therapeutic Relationship
Esther Menaker, PhD
In the therapeutic relationship, the tendency to repeat old
patterns of relating, to project old emotions onto the person of the therapist,
often prevails. This is the well-known phenomenon of the transference. However,
the task of restructuring the patient's self calls upon the therapist not merely
to analyze the transference in the unrealistic hope that insight alone will cure
the patient, but to provide within the reality of the relationship the
opportunity for positive mirroring as well as to be an object for a modicum of
idealization. The patient's transference reactions often collide with and
contradict the reality of the nature of the therapist's personality. In this
workshop, Dr. Menaker delineates the problem of two seemingly opposing technical
necessities and suggests possible ways of overcoming this dilemma. Some case
illustrations help to clarify the issues.
17. April 26, 1997 (10am-1pm)
Dissociation, Trauma, and the Multiplicity
of Self-Experience
Doris Brothers, PhD
Maria T. Miliora, PhD, MSW, LICSW
Patricia Simko, JD, PHD
Richard B. Ulman, PhD
Recent investigations suggest that dissociation is not merely a symptom of self-fragmentation, but a fundamental mode of mental organization. The four presenters in this workshop have all employed self-psychological theory in their efforts to understand and treat dissociative disorders and all regard the illusion of unitary and cohesive selfhood as an achievement that is vulnerable to traumatic disruption.
Doris Brothers challenges the traditional psychoanalytic
notion that repression and dissociation involve different psychological
processes. Maria Miliora explores the tendency toward psychosomatic illness
among individuals who dissociate affect following childhood traumas. Patricia
Simko considers the possibility that dissociated material surrounding trauma
emerges in dreams. Richard Ulman focuses on archaic narcissistic fantasy as a
basis for understanding the dissociative process by means of which trauma
survivors become addicts. All four make extensive use of illustrative clinical
material.
18. May 10, 1997
Dreams, the Understanding-
Explaining Sequence, and the
Facilitation of Curative Process
Martin S. Livingston, PhD
Dreams can play a significant role in facilitating the
curative process. This workshop is not about the interpretation of particular
dreams. It is about the use of self-psychological theory to guide the analyst's
choices in responding to a patient's presentation of dream material.
Specifically, Dr. Livingston demonstrates how Kohut's discovery of the
self-state dream aides in the search for an "optimal responsiveness"
that enhances the treatment process. Using extensive clinical material, he
applies Kohut's two phases of interpretive activity (the
"understanding-explaining sequence") to dreams as a means of
furthering the curative process.
19. May 17, 1997
Menopause, The Cultural Thwarting of
Female Power: A Self -Psychological Look
at the Climacteric
Donna Lynn Fellenberg, LCSW, NCPsyA
In the immediate future, more and more female "baby boomers" will enter the perimenopausal or menopausal stage of life.
In our culture women "suffer" as a result of the
pathologizing of this stage. How can we as self-psychologically informed
analysts help our patients to move through this time in their lives with grace
and joy? Ms. Fellenberg will explore the cultural norms vs. the developmental
norms of menopause and will discuss a feminist/self-psychological approach to
menopause and perimenopause using case material.
20. June 7, 1997 (was April 19)
Reality and Transference in the Self-Psychologically Oriented Therapeutic Relationship
Esther Menaker, PhD
In the therapeutic relationship, the tendency to repeat old
patterns of relating, to project old emotions onto the person of the therapist,
often prevails. This is the well-known phenomenon of the transference. However,
the task of restructuring the patient's self calls upon the therapist not merely
to analyze the transference in the unrealistic hope that insight alone will cure
the patient, but to provide within the reality of the relationship the
opportunity for positive mirroring as well as to be an object for a modicum of
idealization. The patient's transference reactions often collide with and
contradict the reality of the nature of the therapist's personality. In this
workshop, Dr. Menaker delineates the problem of two seemingly opposing technical
necessities and suggests possible ways of overcoming this dilemma. Some case
illustrations help to clarify the issues.
Faculty of the 1996/1997 TRISP Continuing
Education Series
Doris Brothers PhD is a founding member, member of the
Board of Trustees, and senior faculty member of TRISP. She is an author and
co-author of presentations and publications including The Shattered Self: A
Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma (The Analytic Press, 1988) and Falling
Backwards: An Exploration of Trust and Self Experience (Norton, 1995).
Private practice, New York City.
Jan Crawford, CSW is a graduate and faculty member of
TRISP. She has presented papers at national meetings in self psychology and
presented in other TRISP workshop series. Private practice, New York City.
Michael Eigen, PhD, is Associate Clinical Professor in
Psychology and supervisor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in
Psycho-therapy and Psychoanalysis; Control/training analyst, faculty and senior
member, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Author, The
Psychotic Core, Coming Through the Whirlwind, The Electrified Tightrope,
Reshaping the Self, and Psychic Deadness. Private practice, New York
City and Brooklyn.
Donna Lynn Fellenberg, LCSW, NCPsyA is a clinical
social worker, a certified psychoanalyst, and on the faculty of TRISP. She
specializes in eating disorders and women's issues. Private practice, Verona,
New Jersey.
Richard Kluft, MD is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.
He is the Director of the Dissociative Disorders Program at The Institute of
Pennsylvania Hospital; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Temple University
School of Medicine; Faculty of the Philadelphia Psycho-analytic Institute; and
Editor-in-Chief of Dissociation. Private practice, Philadelphia, PA.
Conrad Lecomte, PhD is Full Professor of Psychology at
Université de Montreal. He is offering specialized training for supervisors in
Canada and in Europe. Private practice, Montreal.
Martin S. Livingston, PhD is on the faculty of TRISP,
NYISP and Postgraduate Center for Mental Health. He is the author of Near and
Far: Closeness and Distance in Psychotherapy and editor of Issues in
Group Therapy and Co-Chair of the Association for Psychoanalytic Self
Psychology. Private practice, New York City.
Nancy McWilliams, PhD Faculty, Graduate School of
Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University; Senior Analyst,
Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy of New Jersey and National
Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. Author of Understanding
Personality Structure in the Clinical Process (Guilford, 1994). Private
practice and supervision, Flemington, New Jersey.
Esther Menaker, PhD is on the Faculty and is a
supervisor at TRISP; Clinical Professor at the New York University Postdoctoral
Program in Psycho-analysis and Psychotherapy. Author, The Freedom to Inquire (Jason
Aronson Press, 1995) Separation, Will and Creativity: The Wisdom of Otto Rank
(Jason Aronson, 1996). Private practice, New York City.
Maria T. Miliora, PhD, MSW, LICSW is a professor at Suffolk University in Boston. She is on the faculty of the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy and TRISP. Private practice, Boston, MA.
Patricia Murphy, CSW received her degree in Clinical
Social Work from New York University in 1989 and graduated TRISP in June, 1996.
She is a Certified Alcohol Counselor and has worked with elderly substance
abusers in recovery at St. Luke's Comprehensive Treat-ment Program since 1990.
Private practice of individuals and groups, New York City.
Susan Pangerl, PhD is senior clinical staff member,
supervisor, and faculty member of the Center for Religion and Psychotherapy in
Chicago. She is a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and a Fellow with the
American Association Of Pastoral Counselors.
Harry Paul, PhD is a founding member, Vice-President of
the Board of Trustees, and senior faculty member of TRISP. Dr. Paul has authored
and co-authored a number of articles on intersubjectivity and addiction and is
co-author of Narcissus in Wonderland: The Self Psychology of Addiction and
Its Treatment (forthcoming, Jason Aronson). Private practice New York City
and Peekskill, New York.
Arnold Rachman, PhD, FAGPA, Clinical Professor of
Psychology at the Derner Institute; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York
University; Training and Supervising Analyst, Postgraduate Institute for Mental
Health; Supervisor, New York University Postdoctoral program in Psychoanalysis.
Private practice of individual and groups, New York City.
Annette Richard, MPS is an Adjunct Professor of
Psychology at Université de Montreal and is also offering training for
supervisors in Canada and in Europe. Private practice, Montreal.
Patricia Simko, JD, PhD is a graduate and faculty
member of TRISP. Private practice, New York City.
Charles B. Strozier, PhD is a practicing psychoanalyst
and senior faculty member of TRISP, as well as professor of history at John Jay
College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. He is currently writing a biography of
Heinz Kohut. Private practice, New York City.
Richard B. Ulman, PhD is a founding member, President
of the Board of Trustees, and senior faculty member of TRISP. Dr. Ulman is an
author and co-author of publications including The Shattered Self: A
Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma (The Analytic Press, 1988) and Narcissus
in Wonderland: The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment ( Jason
Aronson, forthcoming). Private practice, Croton-on-Hudson and New York City.
Peter B. Zimmermann, PhD is a founding member, member
of the Board of Directors, and senior faculty member of TRISP. He is senior
member, faculty member, supervisor and training analyst of NPAP. Dr. Zimmermann
is an author and co-author of presentations and publications including "On
the problem of Truth in the Psychoanalytic Context" (book manuscript) and
"The Case of Ms. M" in Psychoanalysis Today: A Case Book
(Charles C. Thomas, 1991). Private practice, New York City.
Registration Fees: $30 per workshop
$25 per workshop for 3 or more sessions
$250 to register for the entire series of 19 workshops
To register: call TRISP at 212-663-3508
THE TRAINING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SELF PSYCHOLOGY
15 WEST 96TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10025
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