THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS, PLENARY PRESENTATIONS AND
KOHUT MEMORIAL LECTURE
For details on each session, please click on the links below:

Opening Keynote Address: The Concept of ‘Tragic Person’ in Tragedy and in Philosophy
Plenary I: The Condition of Tragic Person in Different Cultures Today
Plenary II: Chasing the Tipping Point: Complexity Theory in the Clinical Surround
Plenary III: The Challenge of Being Adolescents and Young Adults in a World Pervaded by Digital /Virtual Communication
Plenary IV: Anima Mundi: Environment and the Psyche: Their Unity and Close Connection with
ChangePost-Plenary Discussion Groups: Will occur after Plenaries I&II and after Plenary III.
Kohut Memorial Lecture: The Shadows of our Smiles: Kohut’s Tragic Man and its Legacy to theContemporary World

OPENING NIGHT KEYNOTE PRESENTATION:
The Concept of ‘Tragic Person’ in Tragedy and in Philosophy
Thursday, October 24, 2024 7 :00 – 8:00pm

Presenter: Paolo Vinci, PhD
Introduction by Amy Joelson, LCSWAbstract:
The presentation explores the relationship between Tragedy and Philosophy.
The unique experience of attending tragedies in the 5th BC Athens is briefly described and few main characters and topics ofthe tragedies by Eschilo, Sofocle and Euripide will be mentioned to illustrate the concept of Tragic within the frame of the Attic
Greek culture.
Nietsche’s thinking and his “The Birth of Tragedy” are at the core of the debate about Tragedy’s decline and the beginning of
Philosophy with Socrates speculative thinking.
Tragedies put a number of questions about culture and society: what is human culture? Under what circumstances will a humanculture flourish, and under what circumstances will it become ‘decadent’? Attic tragedy was a public spectacle in which poetry,music, and dance were essential constituents. With Socrates the creation of abstract generalizations and theoretical knowledge
put rationalism at the core of human development and emphasizes the attempt to get control of our fate. ‘Modern culture’ isin direct continuity of such approach.

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Explain Attic Tragedy.
2. Describe the conceptualization of “Tragic” by F. Nietsche.
3. Discuss the relationship among Tragedy, Philosophy and Psychology.
Presenter Bio:
Paolo Vinci, PhD. Formerly Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Rome La Sapienza,
is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the School of Rome of the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies.
An expert of Marx, Hegel and Heidegger, he also deals with contemporary philosophy and, in particular, with Adorno andBenjamin's thought. In recent years he has also dedicated himself to the relationship between philosophy andpsychoanalysis, developing his own reflection, especially starting from Freud and Lacan. In addition to numerous essays,

he published: Introduzione alla lettura del Capitale di Marx (Rome, 2016); “Coscienza infelice” e “anima bella”.
Commentario della “Fenomenologia dello spirito” di Hegel (Guerini e associati, Milan, 2012); Soggetto e tempo. Heideggerinterprete di Kant (Bagatto Libri, Rome, 2012); La forma filosofia in Marx. Dalla critica dell’ideologia alla critica
dell’economia politica (Manifestolibri, Rome, 2011); Essere ed esperienza in Heidegger. Una fenomenologia possibile fra
Hegel e Hölderlin, Stamen (Rome, 2008). Since 2006 he directs the journal “Pólemos. Materiali di filosofia e critica sociale”.

References:
Vinci P. (2022) La forma filosofica in Marx. Commento all’ideologia tedesca. Cadmo
Vinci P. (2021) Spirito e tempo. Commentario della Fenomenologia dello spirito. Istituto Italiano di studi filosofici.
Vinci P. (2021) Pensare la psicoanalisi. Individuazione e riconoscimento. Astrolabio

PLENARY I PRESENTATION:
The Condition of Tragic Person in Different Cultures Today
Friday, October 25, 2024 9:30am – 11:30am

Chair:

Kim de la Harpe, MA

Presenter:

Gabriela Mann, PhD

Presenter:

Banu Bülbül Çam, MA

Presenter:

Sascha Schipflinger, MA

Presenter:

Liling Lin, LCSWAbstract:
This panel will explore the Kohutian concept of the Tragic Man today from the perspective of four different
countries. The Tragic Man captures the despair, vulnerability, and uncertainty of the self where factors have
prevented one’s full potential from being reached. Traditionally in psychoanalysis the focus has been on the
micro and immediate world and how this impacts the development and realization of the self. This panel will
be looking at broader forces and contexts that impact our patients: the social, economic, political, andexistential. We will be hearing how these context specific factors impact groups and individuals. Panelists fromfour countries, Turkey, Taiwan, Israel, and Austria, will explore this from their unique perspectives, taking thistheme, often viewed from an individual perspective, to a broader more global level of experience. On a global
level, this theme reflects the turbulent and uncertain time that we are living in, where safety, cohesion, andunderstanding are threatened. We will hear of experiences where relationships, such as the therapeutic dyad,
have mitigated this sense of uncertainty and threat, and found ways towards development, cohesion, andconnection.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the Kohutian concept of the Tragic Man and its relevance today;
2. Compare and discuss the Kohutian concept of the Tragic Man from an individualistic perspective anda broader global perspective;
3. Analyse the effects of context, including the social, cultural, political, and geographic, on theindividual and group in relation to the concept of the Tragic Man.

Presenter Bios:
Gabriela Mann, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, Training and supervising Psychoanalyst, and past President of the
Tel-Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Past chair, Post-graduate Program ‘Self Psychology andTherapeutic Presence’, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University.
Faculty, Human Spirit, Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program.
Member of the Israel Association f o r Self-Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity and IAPSP.
Author of ‘Seeing Beyond Blindness’ on the Expansion of the Mind? (2022), published in Resling, Tel Aviv. The
book will be published in English by Routledge. Gabriela has published various papers: in Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, she edited an issue "Beyond the Consulting Room - Psychoanalysis Within the Social Sphere in Israel"and other papers in Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. She is in private practice in Tel Aviv.
Banu Bülbül, MA graduated in Psychology from Hacettepe University and received her Master’s Degree inClinical Psychology from Rumeli University. She started working as a psychotherapist with children andadolescents. Now she works only with late adolescents and adults. She conducts group activities for theempowerment of women. She has published many articles in psychology, art (especially cinema) and politicaljournals and online newspapers and has published a novel. She is a member of the IAPSP and the Anatolian
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies Association (APPA) affiliated to the IAPSP. Bülbül is currently in private practicein Turkey.
Sascha Schipflinger, MA born 1964 in Bregenz, Mag. phil., psychotherapist, teaching analyst and supervisor in
the Vienna Circle for Psychoanalysis and Self-Psychology (VCPS), head of the VCPS training commission,
member of the steering committee and lecturer of the university course "The Method-Specific Postgraduate
Programme, Individual Psychology and Self Psychology” at the University of Vienna.
He has been living with his family (one son) and working in private practice in Vienna. Publications, lectures andworkshops on theoretical and clinical considerations from the perspective of intersubjectivity (Intersubjective
Systems Theory) and self-psychology.
Liling Lin, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker in the States and currently has a private practice in Taipei
City, Taiwan. She received her psychoanalytic training and had practiced in New York City for over a decade. In
2015, she moved to Taiwan and continued her practice there until now. Due to realization of the difficulty inlanguage crossing, lately, she and a group of her students started a project of Self Psychology books translation.
In the process of translating, they practice empathic immersion and critical thinking. The Kohut Seminars isupon finish and will be published in 2024. Liling Lin is the current President of Taiwan Psychoanalytic Association
and Training and Supervising Analyst of Taiwan Psychoanalytic Society (Study Group). She has been an IAPSP
member since 2013 and is currently a member of Global Advisory Committee.
Having graduated in 2011, Kim de la Harpe, MA is a Clinical Psychologist, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist forindividuals and couples, and Supervisor, working in private practice in Cape Town, South Africa for the past
decade. Previously, she was Senior Clinical Psychologist at the Child and Family Unit at a State Psychiatric
Hospital in Cape Town, as well as lecturer in psychology and psychiatry at both the University of Cape Town
and University of Stellenbosch. Kim is Chair of the Cape Town Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Group, and an
Executive board member of IAPSP. She is also an International Council Member of IAPSP and a member of the
IAPSP Global Advisory Committee and Couples Therapy Interest Group. Having previously published andpresented on gender-based violence in South Africa, her current interests lie in exploring how psychoanalytic
self psychology and intersubjectivity theory can be applied, deepened, and expanded in developing contexts
such as South Africa.

References:
Jacobs, L. (2016). Racializing Kohut’s “Guilty Man” and “Tragic Man”: Serious Play in the Service of
Inclusiveness. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 11, 340-348.
Friedman, A. & Nakash, O. (2023). Repetition Compulsion and Sociopolitical Trauma: A Neoliberal Artifact.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 33, 200-213.
Kechur, R. & Haber, D. (2023). An exchange with Roman Kechur: Preserving thinking during wartime.
Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context, 18, 364-378.
Lazos, G. (2023). Transformation of psychotherapeutic relationships during the war. Psychoanalysis, Self, andContext, 18, 382-387.
Yi, K. (2023). Asian American Experience: The Illusion of Inclusion and the Model Minority Stereotypes.
Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context, 1, 45-59.

PLENARY II PRESENTATION:
Chasing the Tipping Point: Complexity Theory in the Clinical SurroundFriday, October 25, 2024 3:00pm – 5:00pm

Chair:

William J. Coburn, PhD, PsyD

Presenter:

Max Sucharov, MD

Presenter:

Koichi Togashi, PhD, LP

Presenter:

Valeria Pulcini, MD

Abstract:
This plenary panel explores the essential tenets of complexity theory, or nonlinear dynamic systems theory, in
relation to psychoanalytic practice. Its application to the clinical setting involves reimagining the individual
person and the origins of the intrapsychic, the intersubjective, the interpersonal, and the sociocultural domainsof discourse. The application of complexity theory to the clinical surround includes not only positioning it as a
retrospective tool—helping us understand how and why emotional life and meaning emerge—but also graspingits prospective use, and usefulness, aimed at a therapeutic action that is most profoundly revealed through theaction of our implicit and explicit attitudes.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Describe three main tenets of complexity theory.
Explain several essential characteristics of complex systems.
Identify a variety of ways in which complexity theory can be applied to the clinical setting.
Demonstrate the powerful clinical influence of implicit attitudes that are derived from a complexity
theory sensibility.

Presenter Bios:
Max Sucharov, MD has been a member of the Self Psychology Community for 35 years with numerous
presented and published papers. He is an Emeritus member IAPSP Council.
He is a Clinical Associate in the Deptartment of Psychiatry, University of British Columber, Vancouver,
Canada.
He has a private practice in Vancouver, Canada with special focus on individuals suffering from chronic,
severe, and complex trauma.
Koichi Tagashi, Ph.D., L.P., is a certified clinical psychologist and a licensed psychologist in Japan; and a licensed
psychoanalyst in the State of New York. He has a private practice in Hiroshima and Kobe, Japan. He is a memberof the faculty, and training & supervising analyst at the Training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology
Foundation (TRISP), a professor at Konan University, Kobe, Japan, a founder and faculty at the Japanese Forumfor Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (JFPSP), and a mentor of the Taiwan Self Psychology Study Group. He is amember of the Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP). He is anassociate editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, an editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry, and an editor of Journalof Japan Psycho-analytic Association. He has published numerous books and articles in Intersubjectivity,
Relational Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Self Psychology in the US, Japan, and Taiwan. He won the Gradiva
Award in Best Book Category for his book, “The Psychoanalytic Zero: A Decolonizing Study of Therapeutic
Dialogues,” in 2020, and received the Publication Prize by the Japan Psycho-analytic Association in 2022.
Valeria Pulcini, MD is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who works in private practice in Milan. She is a
Supervising, Training Analyst and Faculty Member at the Institute of Specialization in Self Psychology and
Relational Psychoanalysis (ISIPSé) Milan - Italy. The subject she taught is “Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience”.
She is a member of the Executive Committee of Institute of Self Psychology and Relational Psychoanalysis(ISIPSé) - Italy. She is a member of Council of International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology(IAPSP), Member of IAPSP Educational Committee. Member of IAPSP Editorial Board of Psychoanalysis, Self andContext Journal. Member of International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy (IARPP).
Neuroscientific research: Her interest is centered on Mirror Neurons, Emotional Procedural Memory and the
new way of relating in the New Era of Cyberspace, and Infosphere. Lately her interest is polarized on
Neurological and Psychological damage of SARS-CoV2 infection, that is, “Post-Covid-Syndrome” or Long Covid.
Master’s degree in “Prevention and Treatment of Web addictions in Adolescence”.
Author of several scientific, and clinical papers and articles. The latest is published in Psychoanalysis, Self andContext, “2020. Covid19 and its Ghosts at our Doorsteps, Transformations, Opportunities, and Limits” (Vol. 16,
N. 3, July-September 2021). Medical Scientific Consultant, and the author of books and scientific papers forchildren and adolescents about “Memory” and the “Mechanisms of Memorization” (Milan, Italy: De Agostini,
2009)
William J. Coburn, Ph.D., Psy.D. is a psychoanalyst, a licensed clinical psychologist, and a licensed marriage
and family therapist practicing in West Los Angeles and in Westlake Village, California. He is Founding Editor
Emeritus of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context (formerly the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self
Psychology), Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues, and an Editorial Board Member of Psychoanalytic
Inquiry. He is a Faculty Member and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary
Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. He is a Founding Council Member Emeritus of the International Association for
Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP), Former Chair of the IAPSP Publications Committee, and an Advisory
Board Member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP). He
is also an International Editorial Board Member of Revista Italiana Telematica Di Psicologia Psicoanalitica Del
Se Intersoggettivita Psicoanalisi Relazionale. In addition to having published articles in the areas ofintersubjectivity, complex systems, countertransference, and supervision, he co-edited (with Nancy
VanDerHeide) Self and Systems: Explorations in Contemporary Self Psychology (2009, Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences), and also co-edited (with Roger Frie) Persons In Context: The Challenge of Individuality
in Theory and Practice (2010, Routledge). His more recent book is titled Psychoanalytic Complexity: ClinicalAttitudes For Therapeutic Change (2014, Routledge).

References:
Coburn, W. J. (2014). Psychoanalytic Complexity: Clinical Attitudes for Therapeutic Change. New York:
Routledge.
Bram, A. D. & Yalof, J. (2015). Quantifying Complexity: Personality Assessment and Its Relationship with
Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 35:74-97.
Kleinerman, S. (2021). Nonlinear Psychoanalysis: Notes From Forty Years of Chaos and Complexity Theory, By
Robert M. Galatzer-Levy. Abingdon, UK/New York: Routledge, 2017. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 90:644-653.

PLENARY III PRESENTATION:
The Challenge of Being Adolescents and Young Adults in a World Pervaded
by Digital / Virtual Communication
Saturday, October 26, 2024 9:15am – 11:15pm

Chair:

Simona Caprilli, PhD

Presenter:

Sara Biondi, PsyD

Presenter:

Jackie Gotthold, PhD

Presenter:

Alejandro Ávila Espada, PhD

Presenter:

Christa Paulinz, MA

Abstract:
This panel will develop the influence of digital and virtual communication in adolescents and young adults inthe light of Self Psychology. As clinicians, we struggle to keep up with and understand the influence oftechnology on our patients of all ages. Digital/Virtual communication have changed the ways adolescents andyoung adults interact with one another, so it is inevitable that they would manifest themselves inside thetherapy room. Particular emphasis is given to the technical changes and to the deep meaning that theseevolutions have had in reference to the analytic relationship. In this plenary four presenters will share clinicalmaterial and their personal experience.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the implications of Digital and Virtual Communication in the light of Self Psychology.
2. Identify the influence of Digital and Virtual communication in adolescents and young adults.

Presenter Bios:
Sara Biondi, PsyD is a Psychoanalyst and a Sport Psychologist. She is an ISIPSÈ (Institute of Self Psychology
and Relational Psychoanalysis) member, IAPSP and IARPP member; she is also a member of the IARPP
Child, Adolescent and Parent Committee. She is the regional reference of AIPS (Italian Association of Sport
Psychology) and a CONI Olympic trainer. She works in private practice in Rome with adolescents and adults
and as Sport Psychologist with athletes and coaches; she collaborates with the Italian VolleyballFederation on training projects.
Jackie Gotthold, PhD is on the Executive Committee at the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of
Subjectivity in New York City, in addition to being a supervisor, faculty member and training analyst. Jackie
has been a faculty member and supervisor for the Minnesota Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy
and Psychoanalysis, as well as having taught for various institutes in the US and abroad.
A longtime member of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP), Jackie
established the Child and Adolescent Initiative at IAPSP and has served on the International Council of
IAPSP. Also, a member of the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy(IARPP), Jackie continues to serve on the IARPP Child and Adolescent interest group committee. In
addition to these affiliations, Jackie served as a board member of the American Psychology Association’s
Division 39, Section II (Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis) for 15 years. Jackie continues to present atconferences in the US and abroad.
Jackie recently completed the editing and writing for Psychoanalytic Inquiry: “The Balancing Act: The
Psychotherapeutic Process with Children and Adolescents in Covid Times and Beyond”. In addition toediting various journals, Jackie published numerous chapters and articles on child, adolescent and adultclinical theory. Jackie practices in New York City, working with children, adolescents and adults.
Alejandro Ávila-Espada, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist & Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. Full Professor &Chair of Psychotherapy (currently retired) at Madrid Complutense University (1984-1990 / 2004-2020)
and University of Salamanca (1990-2004), both in Spain. Founder and Honor President of IARPP-Spain
chapter (2005-2023). Member of the Board of Directors de IARPP (2011-2018). Member of IAPSP. Honor
President and Training-Faculty Member of the Instituto de Psicoterapia Relacional (Madrid, Spain). Editorof the e-journal Clínica e Investigación Relacional, founded 2007. Between his books: "La tradición
interpersonal. Perspectiva social y cultural del psicoanálisis" (Ágora Relacional, Madrid, 2013) [TheInterpersonal Tradition. A Social and Cultural Perspective of Psychoanalysis]; "Relational Horizons:
Mediterranean voices bring passion and reason to relational psychoanalysis" (Astoria, NY: International
Psychoanalytic Books, 2018); and "Relacionalidad, nuestra esperanza (Escritos Escogidos)" (Madrid: Ágora
Relacional, Col.Pensamiento Relacional nº 27, 2023) [Relationality, our hope. Selected writings]
Christa Paulinz, MA born in 1960 in Austria (as the eldest of three), married to Werner Paulinz, lawyer.
Teacher training college, teacher/counselling teacher in compulsory school; numerous projects in the field of“children at risk”, parent support, and teacher supervision within the school system.
University Studies of Philosophy. Training as Psychoanalyst at the Training Institute of the Viennese Circle for
Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology. Member of the Board of the Viennese Circle for Psychoanalysis and Self
Psychology.
Simona Caprilli, PhD is a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist specialized in Clinical Psychology at University of
Florence and in Relational Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology in ISIPSè in Rome. She is ISIPSè associated. She isan IARPP and IAPSP member. She exercises private practice as Psychology and Psychotherapist in Florence,
Italy.
From 2000 until 2015 she has worked at Pediatric Hospital of Florence. She participated in many national andinternational meetings on psychoanalysis and she has publications on international journals on psychoanalysis
and pediatric psychology.

References:
Goetz C. (2017). Securing Home Base: Separation-Individuation, Attachment Theory, and the “Virtual Worlds”
Paradigm in Video Games. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 70 (1), 101-116.
Nayar-Akhtar M. (2021). Digital Technology and the Third Reality: Its Ubiquitous Presence in the Analytic
Space. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 74 (1), 335-348.
Smolen A. G. (2021). The Use of Digital Devices in Child Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: A Clinical
Exploration of Pros and Cons. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 74 (1), 308-324.

PLENARY IV PRESENTATION:
Anima Mundi. Environment and the Psyche:
Their Unity and Close Connection with Change
Sunday, October 27, 2024 11:00am – 1:00pm

Chair:

Neslihan Ruganci, PhD

Presenter:

Susanna Federici, PhD

Presenter:

Paola Stramba-Badiale, PhD

Presenter:

Penelope Starr-Karlin, PsyD, MFT

Abstract:
Susanna Federici will open with a brief introduction to the idea of 'Anima Mundi' [the soul of the world] asformulated in classical philosophy, the Neo-Platonic Renaissance, and more recently explored in Hillman's
Jungian perspective is presented. Comments on the contributions of psychoanalysis to the themes of therelationship with the non-human environment (Searles), the climate crisis (Orange), and the recent formulation- oriented to self-psychology - of the permeability of the self to the more-than-human (Kassouf). The focus of
the presentation is to support a phenomenological attitude that overcomes Cartesian dualisms and promotes
the dialectic between the assumption of responsibility towards the drama of climate change and a sense of
belonging to the 'Anima Mundi.’ In the current historical-cultural context, the specific responsibility of mental
health professionals is to highlight how people's 'well-being' cannot be based only on economic andmaterialistic aspects. The ‘beyond’ we are looking for is to restore a sense of unity with environment and nature(Anima Mundi) and to delve deeper into the meaning of what we are experiencing in order to restore a senseof agency, motivation, and creativity towards a profoundly transformative perspective that holds together
complexity and vitality in the clinical encounter.
Paolo Stramba-Badiale will address the issues arising from the climate crisis and discuss the emerging
awareness of the human condition and the ethical stance of psychoanalysts. In one year, more than threehundred thousand people lost their lives to diseases caused by excessive air pollution in Europe. This leads us
to think of the Freudian theme of transience. It follows that comparing humans to the natural world puts us
before a radical change in our understanding of their destinies. Our existences are deeply inscribed within theframework of nature's upheavals. Then, we are called to realize that we are not at the top of the hierarchy ofliving beings but one of the possible outcomes of the evolution of life on our planet. All of this can result infeelings of disorientation, vulnerability, and climate anxiety. At the same time, as Freud claims, we canexperience wonder and gratitude for the possibility of existing and contemplating nature and imaginative
human-made constructions. Life stands on unstable balances, and the awareness of this precariousness canlead us to think ethically and ecologically as psychoanalysts.
Penelope Starr-Karlin will portray the transformation “From “Anima Mundi to Amor Mundi: A Phoenix on my
Couch.” It is the hour of Climate Change. What does it mean to self-experience to face an increasingly
precarious future rather than one of unlimited progress? And, why do we imagine the end of the world rather
than imagine changing our relationship to the living planet? What role does time play as both the ground of
our existence and the ticking bomb of broken climate treaties? In contrast to patients that leave the emergency
unsymbolized in sessions where it hovers like a liminal ghost, the end of the world is intrusively present for the
climate scientist and activist in this case, along with alienation and isolation from a society that looks away. He
sought a psychoanalysis for the end of the world, one which asks if and when will we establish a redeeming
love for a planet we have negligently set on fire?
Finally, R. Neslihan Rugancı will interlock the three-panel presentations by emphasizing: A rich and detailed
sense of self depends on belonging to different types of internal “landscapes” within our “familiar
configurations” (Sally Weintrobe, 2013). In this way, humans achieve complexity. Complexity is essential to thehuman self's diversity, versatility, creativity, and health. Unfortunately, our "familiar configurations" that would
establish belonging have been torn apart, our "waking screens" (Akhtar, S. & Hooke, M. T. S., 2007) have been
destroyed, and we have become immigrants where we are. The change is only possible if a fundamental
structural change occurs in the human character, which requires severe economic and social changes. The
contribution of psychoanalysis and psychology to this process will result from relational psychoanalysis
encompassing the non-human environment and its relationship with the world as a “selfobject.”Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Explain the idea of ‘Anima Mundi’ in philosophy and psychoanalysis.
Discuss the psychoanalytic debate about climate change.
Discuss a clinical approach that supports the search for meaning in the context of global uncertainty.
Recognize at least three implications of climate change for the psychoanalytic process.
Summarize changing aspects of counter-transference.
Discuss how contemporary psychoanalytic practice is called to consider historical meta-contexts as
the changing stage on which subjective and relational worlds ground.

Presenter Bios:
Susanna Federici, PhD is a Founding member, Faculty, Supervising analyst of ISIPSÉ (Institute for Self Psychology
and Relational Psychoanalysis – Italy). She is the Past-President of IARPP (International Association for
Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy) and a Past Member of the International Council of IAPSP(International Association Psychoanalytic Self Psychology).
She has presented her works at the IARPP conferences and Symposium; at the IAPSP conferences; at MIP
Institute in Boston; at ICP in Toronto; at the Tel Aviv Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalyis; at ABEPPS
Associacao Brasileira para o Estudo da Psicologia Psicanalitica do Self – Sociedade Psicanalitica di Rio de Janeiro;
at the 6° Reunion Anual de IARPP Espana (Valencia 2015). She was co-chair of the IARPP 13th Annual
Conference “The Arts of Time: Relational Psychoanalysis and Forms of Vitality in Clinical Process” held in Rome
June 9-12, 2016. She was Chair (2021) of the 2nd Symposium online IARPP “The Enemy within and without.
Exclusion and belonging in intrapsychic, interpersonal, and socio-cultural experience”. She has published inPsychoanalytic Dialogues, Psychoanalytic Inquiry and other international journals.
Paolo Stramba-Badiale, PhD Graduated in Philosophy and Specialized in Clinical Psychology at the Universityof Milan, Italy. PhD in Experimental Psychology. Psychoanalyst. Faculty and Training Analyst of ISIPSE’(Institute of Specialization in Self Psychology and Relational Psychoanalysis), Rome and Milan, Italy.
Coordinator of ISIPSE’ Institute in Milan. Member Emeritus of the International Council of IAPSP. Member of
IARPP. Presenter of many papers in the International Conferences of IAPSP and IARPP. More than fifty papers
published, in Italian and International Reviews. Private practice in psychoanalysis in Milan, Italy.
Penelope Starr-Karlin, PsyD.: She is a contemporary relational psychoanalyst and a supervising and training
analyst at The Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles (ICP/LA), where she teaches
intersubjective-systems theory. She has been mentored by Robert Stolorow and George Atwood, and she hasa background in architecture, analytical psychology, continental philosophy, and climate psychology. A memberof the Climate Psychology Alliance North America and the United Kingdom, she facilitates a ‘climate and worldnews linking conversations’ group for members, climate cafes, and a climate writers’ group. She has presented
at IAPSP, P&O (Psychology and the Other), APA Division 32, and IFPE (International Federation of Psychoanalytic
Educators) conferences and published in Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, andInternational Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, has a chapter on intersubjective-systems theory in The
Sage Encyclopedia of Theory in Counseling and Psychotherapy, and in press, a chapter in a monograph on
Climate Psychology by Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Penelope is in private practice in West Los
Angeles, California, USA.
R. Neslihan Rugancı, PhD.: She took her Clinical Psychology PhD. degree from the Psychology Department of
the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey and certified from the Distant Education Program ofChicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. She participated in and contributed to the International Association for
Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP) conferences as a presenter, a discussant, and a member of an overseasorganizing committee (Israel, 2014; Italy, 2024). She had publications in IJPSP (PSC) and several otherinternational and national psychology journals. She is an international consulting editor of Psychoanalytic
Inquiry. She is affiliated with IAPSP and a founding member of and affiliated with Ankara Contemporary
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies Association, Anatolian Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies Association: A learningplace of Self Psychology (APPA, Affiliated with IAPSP as an Institute). Ruganci is currently in private practice inTurkey and Teaching at APPA and is one of the advisors of Amy Joelson (current IAPSP President) on the
Executive Board.
References:
Stolorow, R. D. (2020). Planet Earth: Crumbling Metaphysical Illusion. American Imago 77:105-107.
Weintrobe, S. (2021). Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis: Neoliberal Exceptionalism and the Culture ofUncare. Bloomsbury Academic.
Holloway W., Hoggett P., Robertson G., Weintrobe, S. (2022) Climate Psychology. A matter of life and death.
Phoenix Publ. House.
Anderson, J., Staunton, T., O'Gorman, J., and Hickman, C. (2024). Being a Therapist in a Time of Climate
Breakdown. Routledge.
Kassouf, S. (2024). Human among the more-than-human. Retrofitting Kohut for the Anthropocene.
Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 19(1), 7–27.
Weintrobe, S. (2024) Silencing is the Real Crime: Youth and Elders Talk About Climate. Psychoanalytic Study of
the Child 77:341-355.

POST PLENARY I DISCUSSION GROUPS
Friday, October 25, 2024 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Abstract:
The small group setting of the post-plenary discussion groups offers participants the opportunity to
discuss reactions to the panels in a smaller, more intimate setting. Led by a senior clinician, conference
participants will be able to ask questions to further their understanding of the content presented in theplenary programs.
Learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the effects of context, including the social, cultural, political, and geographic, on the individualand group in relation to the concept of the Tragic Man.
References:
Jacobs, L. (2016). Racializing Kohut’s “Guilty Man” and “Tragic Man”: Serious Play in the Service of
Inclusiveness. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 11(4), 340–348.
Slavin, M. O. (2016). Relational Psychoanalysis and the Tragic-Existential Aspect of the Human Condition.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 26(5), 537–548.
Federici, S. (2020). Tragic Greek Wisdom and Young Kohut’s Empathic Understanding. Psychoanalysis, Self andContext, 15(1), 94–99.

POST PLENARY III DISCUSSION GROUPS
Saturday, October 26, 2024 11:45am – 12:45pm

Abstract:
The small group setting of the post-plenary discussion groups offers participants the opportunity to
discuss reactions to the panels in a smaller, more intimate setting. Led by a senior clinician, conference
participants will be able to ask questions to further their understanding of the content presented in theplenary programs.
Learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the impact how Digital and Virtual Communication is affecting adolescents and young adults
today.
References:
Snethen, G., & Zook, P. (2016). Utilizing social media to support community integration. American Journal of
Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 19(2), 160–174.
Shane, E. (2018). A Relational Self Psychological Approach to the Clinical Situation. Psychoanalytic Dialogues,
28(6), 687–695.
Käcko, E., Hemberg, J., & Nyman-Kurkiala, P. (2024). The double-sided coin of loneliness and social media –young adults’ experiences and perceptions. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1).

KOHUT MEMORIAL LUNCHEON:The Shadows of our Smiles:
Kohut’s Tragic Man and its Legacy to the Contemporary World
Saturday, October 26, 2024 1:00 – 2:15pm

Presenter: Gianni Nebbiosi, PhD
Introduction by: Elizabeth Carr, APRN
Abstract:
I will take the idea of Tragic and what it meant when it was created (a few words about the 5th BC when all thetragedies were written). The basic issue of that moment is that the tragic man does not give answers, but puts
– to himself and to everybody - questions. This figure is naturally connected to Kohut thinking as he himself
recognized. In all tragedies the basic question is: “what will I do” [ti draso]. Kohut found this very fitting withthe major difficulties in life that contemporary human being has to face. Kohut also compared the Tragic man
to the Guilty man as conceived by Freud in which the major problem to bear is the guilt of your oedipal
phantasies. The tragic situation instead is trying to know what the meaning of your life is.
Tragedy was created to make you aware of the difficulties of life, and was part of Paideia, a Greek word meaningeducation. Along this concept I will explore: a polarized, versus a dialogic, way of thinking; the tragic situationof our contemporary climate issues; the dangers we face against democracy, equality and diversity.
I will give some brief examples of this issues in my clinical practice.
As a final reference I will talk about a tragic trilogy Oresteia as an extraordinary example of how to face polarized
thinking transforming it in a creative and dialogic way of existence.
Learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Discuss the psychological meaning of Tragic in the ancient and contemporary worlds.
2. Describe Kohut’s conceptualization of the “Tragic Man”.

Presenter Bio:
President, founding member, supervising and training analyst, of ISIPSÉ - Institute for Self Psychology and
Relational Psychoanalysis – Italy.
Founding and Board Member of IARPP – International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis andPsychotherapy.
Member International Council of IAPSP - International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology.
Member Editorial Board of the journal Psychoanalytic Dialogues.
Member Editorial Board of the journal Psychoanalytic Inquiry.
Corresponding Editor of the journal Contemporary Psychoanalysis.
References:
Dobson, M. D. S. (2020). Young Kohut and the Ancient Greek Satyr Play. Psychoanalysis, Self andContext, 15(1), 87–93.
Strozier C., et al. (2022) The New World of Self: Heinz Kohut's Transformation of Psychoanalysis andPsychotherapy. Oxford University Press
Dobson, M. D. S. (2024). Metamorphoses of psyche in psychoanalysis and ancient Greek thought: Frommourning to creativity. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 19(1), 110–112.