The Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Annual Lecture began in 2008 in response to community interest in psychoanalytic couple therapy. Co-hosted each October by the Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Group (PCPG) and the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP), the annual event brings renowned international psychoanalytic couple psychotherapy scholars to the San Francisco Bay Area. Previous lecturers have included many of the most important contemporary contributors to the couple psychotherapy literature. These lectures have represented a range of psychoanalytic theoretical orientations with a particular emphasis on the Tavistock model, which emphasizes a contemporary Kleinian framework. Participants have been offered a rich and deep understanding of the growing literature in couple psychotherapy derived from the ideas of key psychoanalytic theoreticians such as, Freud, Bion, Klein, Winnicott, Meltzer, Fairbairn, and Bollas. Other theories that have been highlighted in the October lecture include attachment theory, relational psychoanalysis, link theory from South America, and self-psychology. While these lectures have brought cutting-edge theory to the Bay Area, they have also been well grounded in technique. Past presentations have focused on the technical issues of working with highly disturbed couples, understanding the role of interpretation, the value of being able to identify unconscious beliefs in couples, the complexities of working with domestic violence in couple relationships, and how to work with sexual disturbance in couples.

For more information about past or future Annual Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Lectures, please contact us at pcpgbayarea@gmail.com.

List of previous Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Lectures

2008   “The Macbeths in the Consulting Room”
James Fisher, Visiting Scholar and Shelley Nathans, Ph.D., Discussant

2009    “Beliefs about a Couple and Beliefs about the Other”
Mary Morgan, Visiting Scholar and Milton Schaefer, Ph.D., Discussant

2010     “Psychotic and Depressive Processes in Couple Functioning”
Frances Grier, Visiting Scholar and Julie Friend, LCSW, Discussant

2011    “How was it for you? Attachment, Mirroring, and the Psychotherapeutic  Process with Couples Presenting Sexual Problems”
Chris Clulow, Visiting Scholar and Leora Benioff, Ph.D., Discussant

2012    “Romantic Bonds, Binds and Ruptures: When Love Hurts”
Virginia Goldner, Visiting Scholar and Rachael Peltz, Discussant

2013     “Couples on the Couch: Working Psychoanalytically with Couple Relationships”
Stanley Ruszczynski, Visiting Scholar and Rachel Cooke, Psy.D., Discussant

2014    “Growing Old Together in Mind and Body: A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Couples in Older Age”
Andrew Balfour, Visiting Scholar and Leslye Russell, Discussant

2015    “Lost – And Found – In Translation: Do Ronald Fairbairn’s Ideas Still Speak Usefully to 21st Century Couple Therapists?”
Molly Ludlam, Visiting Schola and Leora Benioff, Ph.D., Discussant    

2016    “Approaching Couples Through the Lens of Link Theory”
Monica Vorchheimer, Visiting Scholar and Julie Friend, LCSW, Discussant

2017    “Complex and Creative: The Technique of Interpretation in Couple Psychoanalysis”
Mary Morgan, Visiting Scholar and Shelley Nathans, Ph.D., Interlocutor

2018    “Creativity and Imagination in Couple Psychoanalysis: The Influence of Winnicott and Bollas in Clinical Practice”
David Hewison, Visiting Scholar and Shawnee Cuzzillo, Ph.D., Discussant

2019 “Promoting Self-Object Experience Between Partners: The Application of Self Psychology and Related Theories to Couple Psychotherapy”
Carla Leone, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar and Rachel Cooke, Psy.D., Discussant

2020 “Co-Parent Therapy and the Parenting Plan as Transitional Phenomenon: Working with High Conflict Separating and Divorcing Couples”
Dana Iscoff, MFT

2021 “Working with No-Sex Couples; Theoretical Considerations"
Amita Sehgal, M.A., Ph.D., Visiting Scholar and Paula Mandel, Ph.D., Discussant

2022 “Oedipus for Everyone: Revitalizing the Model for LGBTQI Couples and Single Parent Families”
Shelley Nathans, Ph.D., Scholar and Gary Grossman, Ph.D., Discussant

2023 “I'll Be Your Mirror: Love Songs and Couples – a Mentalizing View”
Perrine Moran, MA, Visiting Scholar and Adam Kremen, Ph.D., Discussant

2024 “Notes on the Healing Couple”
James Poulton, Ph.D., and Ortal Kirson-Trilling, Psy.D., Discussant