45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today: Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference Workshops:

Thursday, October 24, 2024
Session 1: 9:00 – 11:30am
Session 2: 12:00 – 2:30pm
Registrants to choose one workshop in each session

For a description of the session, its learning objectives, presenter bios and other details,
please click on the session letter. (PRE-CON X)

Session 1 Selections:
PRE-CON A:

Therapeutic Process and the Uniqueness of the Dyad: An Integration of Theory and Practice (Part 1)
Presenters: Christina Connell, RP, Jill Gardner, PhD, Daniel Perlitz, MD, Estelle Shane, PhD

PRE-CON B:

From Tragic Man to Joyous Selfhood – The Path of Selfobject Psychology (Part 1)
Presenters: Ranaan Kulka, MA, Iris Gavrieli-Rahabi ,MA, Rona Kuperboim, MSW, Orly Shoshani, PhD, Osnat Schwartz
Stav, PhD, Talya Pogrund-Miller, MA, Tirza Bar Hanin, MA, Andrea Shalom Kornhauser, PhD

PRE-CON C:

Introduction to Self Psychology (note: this presentation will be presented in Italian)
Presenter: Mariangelo Tempestini, PhD
Interlocutor: Paolo Stramba-Badiale, PhD

PRE-CON D:

Non-tragic Dialogues: Global Voices Speak Up Presented by the Global Advisory Committee
Presenters: Gudrun Prinz,PhD, Xin Li, MA, Karina Goldberg, PhD, Kim de la Harpe,MA, Liling Lin, LCSW, Sibel Mercan,
MD, Koichi Togashi, PhD, LP

PRE-CON E:

Couple Therapy and Adult Family Therapy in a Troubled World: How Concepts from Self Psychology Can Help
Presenter: Carla Leone, PhD

PRE-CON F:

Revolutionary Listening: Empathic Responsiveness in a Global Frame
Presenter: Lynn Preston, MA, MS

Session 2 Selections:
PRE-CON G:

Therapeutic Process and the Uniqueness of the Dyad: An Integration of Theory and Practice (Part 2)
Presenters: Christina Connell, RP, Jill Gardner, PhD, Daniel Perlitz, MD, Estelle Shane, PhD

PRE-CON H:

From Tragic Man to Joyous Selfhood – The Path of Selfobject Psychology (Part 2)
Presenters: Presenters: Karina Goldberg, Ranaan Kulka, Iris Gavrieli-Rahabi, Rona Kuperboim, Orly Shoshani, Osnat
Schwartz Stav, Talya Pogrund-Miller, Tirza Bar Hanin, Andrea Shalom Kornhauser

PRE-CON I:

Transforming Tragedy into Vitality: Intersubjective Self Psychology in Action
Presenters: George Hagman, LCSW, Peter Zimmermann, PhD, Aviva Rohde, PhD, Harry Paul, PhD

PRE-CON J:

The Tragic Citizen and Human Existence: “The Psycho-Social Citizenship Dream Group” as a Generative Pathway toReflective and Deliberative Citizenship
Presenter: George Bermúdez, PhD, PsyD

PRE-CON K:

Tragedy and Survival in Literature: Macbeth, Dante and the Ancient Greeks
Presenters: David Shaddock, PhD, MFT, Jeffrey Stern, PhD, Marcia Dobson, PhD

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference A&G: Therapeutic Process and the Uniqueness of the Dyad: An Integration of Theory andPractice
Presenters: Christina Connell, RP, Jill Gardner, PhD, Daniel Perlitz, MD, Estelle Shane, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am (part 1) and 12:00 – 2:30pm (part 2)
Although it is not absolutely essential, the presenters recommend that participants attend both Part 1 and Part 2.

Abstract:
As our theories have developed, we have increasingly moved away from a focus on specific mental contents andstructure toward a focus on the therapeutic process as it emerges between the two participants in the clinicalexchange. Developments from infant studies, neuroscience, intersubjectivity and non-linear dynamic systems
theory have led us to appreciate bidirectional, mutual influence in ways that underscore the uniqueness of any
given therapeutic pair.
In this two-part, full day program we will explore the micro-process in two interviews, one with Estelle Shane as
the therapist and one with Jill Gardner as the therapist, each conducting a 30-minute session with the same
volunteer patient presenting the same problem to each. In the morning session, written copies of the complete
transcripts of these interviews will be distributed to the participants for use in our discussion. The panelists will
read aloud selected segments of the interviews, after which the participants will be encouraged to share theirperceptions and reactions. Please note: The clinical material and format we’ll use in the morning session will
largely repeat what we offered in a similar program last year at the pre-conference in Chicago, giving us theopportunity to immerse ourselves again in a live clinical process that forms the basis for the theoretical discussionin our afternoon session. We believe this addition of a discussion on theory and how to best understand what we
observe is an essential part of our ongoing development as clinicians.
In the afternoon session, we will move into a more explicit focus on theory by adding presentations and discussion
about several concepts and processes that can be illustrated in these two interviews. Each synopsis of our thinking
on a specific concept or process will be offered via a brief didactic overview, followed by a group discussion as we
explore together how the concept is manifested in the clinical exchanges. Among the topics we will seek to
describe and illustrate are the following:
•
•
•
•
•

therapy as process rather than content and structurecommitment to mutuality, asymmetry, and trust in the therapeutic relationshipbelief in attitudes of care, affection, and respect
the intersubjective, co-created nature of therapeutic process
the essential uniqueness of any therapeutic dyad

We believe that these fundamental principles form the foundation of a relational self psychology. Our focus on
empathy and selfobject experience, in all their manifestations, derives from these foundational principles. The
clinical material we’ll explore in this preconference offers a particularly good opportunity to expand ourunderstanding of these ideas, as we explore them together. We look forward to discovering what we all can learn
by doing so.

Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Describe the distinction between a structure theory of psychoanalysis and a process theory.
Name three concepts that underlie a relational self psychology.
Describe what is meant by and encompassed in a bi-directional process in the dyad.
Describe how the uniqueness of the dyad impacts therapeutic process.

Presenter Bios:
Christina Connell, RP is a child, adolescent, adult and couple psychoanalyst/psychotherapist working in private
practice in Toronto, Canada. A graduate of both the Toronto Child Psychoanalytic Program as well as the Institutefor the Advancement of Self Psychology in Toronto, Christina serves as an elected member for Canada on the
IAPSP Membership Council, and also represents the IAPSP Council on the IAPSP Executive Board. Christina isfaculty and supervisor at the Toronto Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, board member at The Institutefor the Advancement of Self Psychology in Toronto, and supervisor and faculty at the Canadian Institute for Childand Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
Jill R. Gardner, PhD maintains a private practice in clinical and consulting psychology. She spent 20 years managing
the adult outpatient services of a hospital-based community mental health center, gaining extensive
administrative, managerial, program planning, and supervisory experience, before entering full time private
practice. She is a frequent presenter of inservice and continuing education programs for mental healthprofessionals and has made numerous professional presentations at national and international meetings. Jill has
published a variety of articles in self psychology and has taught graduate level courses on the subject in the social
work school of the University of Chicago. She is currently writing a book on how self psychology theory istranslated into practice.
Daniel Perlitz, MD is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Toronto, Canada. He completed his psychoanalytic
training at IASP (Institute for the Advancement of Self-Psychology) in Toronto, Canada in 2014, Perlitz is on theboard of directors and faculty of IASP, an Adjunct Lecturer at University of Toronto, and a supervisor of psychiatricresidents in psychotherapy at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Toronto. He is also on the board of directors and is treasurerof IAPSP (International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology). His first published article, “Beyond Kohut from Empathy to Affection,” appeared in the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self-Psychology in 2016.
Subsequently he has published four more articles in the same journal in 2017, 2019, and 2021.
Estelle Shane, PhD is a Founding Member, Member of the Board of Directors, Faculty member and Training andSupervising Analyst, The Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles; Faculty Member and Training
and Supervising Analyst, The New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles; Past President and Council Member,International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP); Advisory Board Member, International
Association for Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (IARRP); Adjunct Faculty, UCLA Department of
Psychiatry, Los Angeles; Consulting Editor, Psychoanalytic Inquiry; Editorial Board, Psychoanalysis, Self & Context;
author of numerous publications; and co-author (with M. Shane and M. Gales) of: Intimate Attachments: A
Developmental Systems Self Psychology, Routledge, 1997.
References:
Kaplan, A. (2014). Recalibrating a Psychoanalytic Compass: Searching for Flexibility in the Midst of Grief and
Loss. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 11(3), 229-242.
Altimir, C. & Jimenez, J. P. (2020). Walking the middle ground between hermeneutics and science: A research
proposal on psychoanalytic process. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 101(3), 496-522.
Magid, B., Fosshage, J., & Shane, E. (2021). The emerging paradigm of relational self psychology: A historicalperspective. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 16(1), 1–23.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference B&H: From Tragic Man to Joyous Selfhood: The Path of Selfobject Psychology
Presenters: Karina Goldberg, PhD, Raanan Kulka, MA, Iris Gavrieli-Rahabi, MA, Rona Kuperboim, MSW,
Orly Shoshani, PhD, Osnat Schwartz Stav, PhD, Talya Pogrund Miller, MA, Tirza Hanin, MA, Andrea Shalom
Kornhauser, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am (part 1) and 12:00 – 2:30pm (part 2)
Participants are able to attend one or both sessions. It is not required to attend both.

Abstract:
This proposed special full day pre-conference workshop is an organic continuation of previous stages of thislongitudinal research of the unique role of self psychology in bridging Buddhism and psychoanalysis: 1. A
preliminary pre-conference workshop, and a presentation to the IAPSP International Council at Chicago
Conference in 2013; 2. A pre-conference workshop in Jerusalem Conference in 2014; 3. The Kohut Memorial
Lecture at Vancouver Conference in 2019.
The link between psychoanalysis and Buddhism is one of the miraculous linkages within human civilization during
the last century, and we strongly believe that psychoanalytic self psychology is the historical missing link between
these two inspiring twin-contemplative-disciplines.
This time we propose an intensive full day workshop that encompasses two points of view that portray andsubstantiate the unique endeavor of selfobject psychology Buddhist-based psychoanalysis:
A. Exploring theoretically and experientially the longitudinal action research project of 90 formal analyses
that have been given during the last whole decade as altruistic offering to ordinary people of weakened
population in an underprivileged multi-ethnic Jewish-Arab city in the center of Israel.
B. The contemporary implementation of this research project as a unique resource for psychoanalytic
emergency intervention in responding to the devastating tragic catastrophe of October 7th and the IsraelHamas War.
The twofold facets of the workshop will enable us to propose a founded faith in the psychoanalytic endeavor ofself psychology: The precious privilege to create new paths towards mind transformation for suffering individuals
and communities, and in spite of the unbelievable challenges of existential burden of the Tragic Man of our time,
to foster a subjective and collective psychic freedom towards the horizon of Joyous Selfhood.
The two-half day workshop will comprise:
1. Meta-theoretical introduction.
2. Two clinical presentations, of a formal analysis and of crisis intervention of trauma. Each of the presentations
will be discussed separately by two discussants.
3. Two group-multi-dialogues.
4. Concluding ethical proposal for a new horizon of Selfobject Psychology.
* Participants may take either both parts of the full day workshop or any half section of it.

Learning objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1. Assess how selfobject psychology is the future phase of self psychology.
2. Analyze Buddhist tenets as guiding organizing principles for the psychoanalytic thinking and practice ofthe psychoanalyst.
3. Use the interwoven linkages between Selfobject Psychology and Buddhism as a new matrix forconceptualizing mind transformation and psychic freedom.
Presenter Bios:
Karina Goldberg, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist and Training Psychoanalyst in the Tel Aviv Institute forContemporary Psychoanalysis. Member of the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity.
Leading Committee Human Spirit: Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program of the IASPS.
Raanan Kulka, MA is a Clinical psychologist; Training psychoanalyst, The Israel Psychoanalytic Society, and theIsrael Institute for Psychoanalysis; Founding member and former chairperson of the Israel Association for Self
Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity, IASPS; Head, Human Spirit: Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Programof the IASPS. Kohut`s Memorial Lecture, 42nd IAPSP Conference, Vancouver 2019. Author of two books’
introductory chapters: a) Tragedy and Transformation: Israel`s Contribution to Psychoanalysis; b) The Solution of
an Historical Riddle: Self Psychology and Child Psychoanalysis (in press). Two writing projects in preparation: a)Meditating Kohut: Revisiting the Chicago lectures. B) The Future Shore: Selfobject Psychology.
Rona Kuperboim, MSW is a Clinical social worker, graduate of Bar Ilan University. Psychotherapist. Candidate in"Human Spirit", a psychoanalytic-Buddhist training program. Formerly worked as a therapist at the community
mental health center in Lod. Member of the Israeli Association for Self Psychology and Subjectivity Research.
Currently providing therapy for adults in private practice in Givatayim, Israel.
Orly Shoshani, PhD, is a psychotherapist and a graduate of the Hermeneutics and Psychoanalysis program from
Bar-Ilan University. Candidate in Human Spirit Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program. Member of theteaching committee and faculty member in the Postgraduate Studies in ‘Self Psychology and the Therapeutic Act’at the Tel Aviv University Medical School. Chair of the Education Committee of the International Association for
Self Psychology (IAPSP). Maintains a private practice in Tel Aviv.
Osnat Schwartz Stav, PhD is a Clinical Psychologist, Member of the Israel Association for Self-psychology and the
Study of Subjectivity, with a Ph.D. in psychology, Haifa University and the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya(June 2020). On October 2018 I started my psychoanalytical training in the unique psychoanalytical program'Human Spirit’. The ‘Human Spirit’ program is based on the merger of three fields of thought. Those fields deal
with the transformation of therapists’ mind in an attempt to establish an open position in relation to the world
and to every human being. The three fields are: Psychoanalysis with focus on Self Psychology, Buddhist thought
and practice of the Mahayana tradition, Humanities and the Arts- using selected treasures of human civilizationfrom Eastern and Western cultures. Theoretical studies accompany psychanalytical therapy offered by thecandidates for free to the residents of the city of Lod.
I also practice psychotherapy in my own private clinic for adolescents and adults, and teaching Self-psychology
and Buddhist seminary for expert psychotherapists.
Talya Pogrund-Miller ,MA is a Clinical psychologist. Candidate of Human Spirit Psychoanalytic Buddhist Training
Program. Member of the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity. Member of theInternational Council Committee, IAPSP. Studies at Boston Institute for Psychotherapy, USA and studies in SelfPsychology at the Medical School, Tel-Aviv University. Private practice providing psychotherapy for children,
adolescents, and adults in Kfar Ha’Oranim, Israel.
Tirza Bar Hanin, MA is a Clinical psychologist and supervisor. Candidate of Human Spirit Psychoanalytic Buddhist
Training Program. Member of the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity.

Worked at the Jaffa Public Mental Health Center at the Child and Adolescent Department. Directed and supervised
professional staff. Participated at the Jaffa clinic, on behalf of “lechol Nefesh” organization, in a project ofintensive long term psychoanalytic psychotherapy in public mental health centers. Worked as a Supervisor
psychologist at the Umm El Fahm Child and Adolescent mental Health Center. Studied in psychotherapy
programs. Supervisor and psychotherapist of children, adolescents and adults, Tel Aviv.
Dr. Andrea Shalom Kornhauser, PhD is a clinical psychologist and a psychoanalyst at the Israel Psychoanalytic
Society. Andrea is a faculty member in ‘Human Spirit’, Psychoanalytic-Buddhist training program in the city of Lod,and is affiliated with the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity.
She resides with her family in Jerusalem, where she has her private practice.
References:
Riker, J. H. (2020) Empathy, Compassion, and Meditation: A Vision for a Buddhist Self Psychology. Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, 40, 327-339.
Sucharov, M. (2020) The Israeli Psychoanalytic Buddhist Project: An Ethical Psychoanalysis That Dares to Dream
in a Land of Shattered Dreams. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 40,340-348.
Kulka, R. (2022) Self Psychology’s Contribution to the Spiritual Dimension of Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, 42,654-667.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference C: Introduction to Self Psychology Note: this presentation will take place in Italian
Presenter: Mariangela Tempestini, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am

Abstract:
The author illustrates how the thought of Kohut and post-Kohutian authors was introduced in Italy, thanks toFranco Paparo above all, and how this contributed to what has been defined as "the relational paradigm shift" inthis country. She then goes on to develop what she believes are the key points of the innovation introduced in
the psychoanalytic field by Kohut: a) introspection and empathy seen as the main tools and essential constituentsof psychoanalytic exploration; b) a positive vision of narcissism seen as a driving force for development; c) an
understanding of what is therapeutic based not only on insight but on the possibility of a new emotional
experience; d) focus on narcissistic transferences through which blocked developmental needs are reactivatedand finally answered. Lastly, she investigates how, especially in post-Kohutian self-psychology authors, theimportance of optimal responsivity and the specificity of the psychoanalytic process is highlighted and how there
are increasingly more contact points between them and analysts in the relational area.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1. Explain how self psychology was introduced in Italy by Franco Paparo.
2. Describe the theoretical innovations introduced by Kohut and post-Kohutian authors within
psychoanalysis.
3. Use these innovations in the clinical process in order to create a different therapeutic environment anda different management of the transference-countertransference dynamics
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Mariangela Tempestini, PhD is a psychoanalyst and has been working privately with adult patients since 1986in her practice located in Rome (licensed activity with del. cons. of the Order on 15/02/1995).
She is a member of the I.S.I.P.S.E. Institute of Specialization in Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and Relational
Psychoanalysis, of which she is currently a member with training functions for which she carries out teaching andsupervision activities. She is also a student and candidate training analyst.
Since 2011 she has been the President and Legal Representative of the I.S.I.P.S.E. School, founded in 2005 andrecognized by the MIUR on 2/11/2005.
References:
Rodini, C. (2014). I percorsi del cambiamento: evoluzioni interne del pensiero psicoanalitico e stimoli dellaricerca scientifica. Giornale italiano di psicologia, 4 (201).
Migone, P. (2015). Heinz Kohut e la psicologia del Sé. Il Ruolo terapeutico, 128 (43-50).
Ramella Benna, S. (2019). This must be the self. Il modello clinico di Heinz Kohut nel cinema di Paolo
Sorrentino. Psichiatria e Psicoterapia, 38, 2 (97-114).

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference D: Non-tragic Dialogues: Global Voices Speak Up
A presentation by the Global Advisory Committee
Presenters: Gudrun Prinz, PhD, Karina Goldberg, PhD, Kim de la Harpe, MA, Xin Li, MA, Liling Lin, LCSW,
Sibel Mercan, MD, Koichi Togashi, PhD, LP
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am

Abstract:
Members of the Global Advisory Committee from 7 different countries will share their experiences and discussthem with each other and with the audience.
The presenters come from China, Turkey, South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Japan and Austria. Their own cultural
background is consciously taken into account when talking about therapeutic work, clinical phenomena andtheoretical understanding.
Short case vignettes help to illustrate certain aspects with practical examples.
The atmosphere and spirit of the workshop are greatly influenced by the fact that the group already has ahistory of good cooperation and accepting exchanges with each other.
The diversity of cultural approaches and experiences represents a great potential within IAPSP. The presenting
group wants to make this potential tangible by speaking up with voices from different parts of the world andinviting the resonance of their colleagues.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1. Describe specific challenges that the presenters have to deal with in their countries of origin.
2. Identify certain historical, cultural or social aspects in the presenters' respective countries of origin thatare interwoven with their clinical understanding and practice.
3. Discuss certain presenters' perspectives on self-psychological/intersubjective theory that are influenced
by their specific cultural background.
Presenter Bios:
Gudrun Prinz, PhD., lives in Austria and works as a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst in private practice withadults, children and adolescents. She is a faculty member as well as a training and supervising analyst in thepsychoanalytic training and master studies program which is conducted by the Vienna Circle for Psychoanalysis
and Self Psychology (VCPSP) in cooperation with the University of Vienna. From 2018 to 2023, she was Presidentof the VCPSP. She is a member of IAPSP and chairs its Global Advisory Committee. She is on the Editorial Board of
Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. She has published articles and given presentations on topics such as creativity,
feminism and sexuality and is co-editor of a self-psychological book on the subject of identity construction andexperience. Recently, she has become particularly interested in how complex systems theory can contribute to
the understanding of psychoanalytic processes.

Karina Goldberg PhD is a Clinical Psychologist and Training Psychoanalyst in the Tel Aviv Institute forContemporary Psychoanalysis. Member of the Israel Association for Self Psychology and the Study of Subjectivity.
Leading Committee Human Spirit: Psychoanalytic-Buddhist Training Program of the IASPS.
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 Hospitalin Cape Town, as well as lecturer in psychology and psychiatry at both the University of Cape Town and Universityof 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 and presented on genderbased violence in South Africa, her current interests lie in exploring how psychoanalytic self psychology andintersubjectivity theory can be applied, deepened, and expanded in developing contexts such as South Africa.
Xin Li, MA, studied in McGill University, China Academy of Social Sciences, Tianjin Normal University; Backgroundin basic Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Counseling psychology. In 2014, I founded Li Institute forpsychology，and has been engaged in teaching, training, consulting and supervision of psychoanalysis self &intersubjective orientation for a long time. Accept Robert Stolorow for personal supervision, to become research,teaching intersubjective field theory experts and scholars. Since 2016, we co-founded SPEP Self Psychology
educational Project with IAPSP and continues to promote self psychology and intersubjective thoughts in China.
In 2022, SIPS self intersubjective practice System was established to become the base of Chinese selfintersubjective scholars. I have been elected as an IAPSP council member; and currently as a member of theInternational Advisory Committee of IAPSP. In the future, we will continue to study and develop and promote thephenomenological intersubjective theory in China. Establish and develop intersubjective group theory researchand practice in China.
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 in language
crossing, lately, she and a group of her students started a project of Self Psychology books translation. In theprocess of translating, they practice empathic immersion and critical thinking. The Kohut Seminars is upon 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 since2013 and is currently a member of Global Advisory Committee.
Sibel Mercan, MD, is a Prof of Psychiatry, and is a Psychoanalyst with her private office in Istanbul, Turkey. She
has been working as a lecturer and supervisor in different universities and associations for many years. She
continues her work on Self Psychology in her psychotherapy practice. She has been part of the Self Psychology
Community since 1999. She was a Council Member of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self
Psychology from 2005-2007 and has been a member since 2007. She is a founding member and former presidentof the Anatolian Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies Association established by Turkish Self Psychologists. She played
an active role in organizing Self Psychology education activities in Istanbul and she had a chance to have courses
and workshops from lecturers within IAPSP during that time. She also served as a member of the organizing
committee and chair for the local committee for the first overseas 33rd IAPSP Congress in 2010, Antalya, Turkey.
Currently she is a member of IAPSP's global advisory committee and e-forum in IAPSP. Her specialized areas
include psychosomatic medicine and psychodermatology. She has published articles in national and international
journals, written book chapters, and papers at conferences. She is an International Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self
and Context. Additionally, Dr. Allen Siegel's book "Heinz Kohut and Psychology of the Self” has been published in
Turkey soon and she was one of the translators.
Koichi Togashi, PhD, LP, is a Faculty and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Training and Research inIntersubjective Self Psychology, New York; a Professor at Konan University, Kobe, Japan; and is in private practicein Hiroshima & Kobe, Japan. He is a Council Member of the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self

Psychology. He is an editor of Psychoanalytic Inquiry, and an International Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self andContext. He is also an editor of The Japanese Journal of Psycho-Analysis. He has published numerous books andarticles in the US, Japan, and Taiwan. His latest book, “The Psychoanalytic Zero: Decolonizing Study of Therapeutic
Dialogues,” won the 2020 Gradiva Award for Best Book.
References:
Gonzalez, F. (2020). Trump Cards and Klein Bottles: On the Collective of the Individual, Psychoanalytic Dialogues,
30, 383-398.
Long, C., Matee, H., Jwili, O., & Vilakazi, Z. (2020). Racial Difference, Rupture, and Repair: A View from the Couchand Back. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 30, 698-715.
Sperry, M. (2020). Living History: Responsibility and Blindness in the Therapeutic Process. Psychoanalysis, Self
and Context, 15(3), 267-275.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference E:
Couple Therapy and Adult Family Therapy in a Troubled World: How Concepts from Self Psychology can Help
Presenter: Carla Leone, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am

Abstract:
The enormous stresses of today’s world – multiple wars and their sequelae, the climate crisis, the Covid-19
pandemic, major political division, and, for too many, various forms of other-ing, discrimination and oppression,
among others - have taken a significant toll on individual mental health and on the healthy functioning of many
intimate relationships. Kohut’s “Tragic Man” – a reference to problems of depression, depletion, unmet needs
and trouble with self-actualization, rather than problems related to repression of forbidden desires – aptly reflects
the difficulties many people struggle with today, both individually and in their relationships with significant others.
His suggestions for addressing these kinds of difficulties have contributed to revolutionizing individual
psychoanalysis and are enormously useful when applied to couple and family therapy as well.
Using detailed clinical examples to bring theory to life, this workshop will begin by summarizing the major tenetsof the self-psychological approach to couple and family therapy, as detailed in two papers by the presenter which
will be sent to registrants before the presentation. The primary focus will be on couple therapy, but the major
points to be discussed apply equally well to work with adult family members who are having relationshipdifficulties (adult children and their parents, adult siblings, adult in-laws, etc.), so a secondary focus will include
applying the concepts presented to these relationships as well.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1. List at least three basic tenets of the self psychological approach to couple therapy and adult family
therapy.
2. Explain why stressors, threats and losses affecting both parties can negatively affect intimate
relationships.
3. List three ways self psychological couple or family therapists might adapt their usual approach toaddress these difficulties.
Presenter Bio:
Carla Leone, PhD, is an adjunct faculty member of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and on the faculty of theInstitute for Clinical Social Work, where she is the Director of the certificate program in Integrative Psychoanalytic
Couple Therapy, a couple therapy training program offered virtually. She is the founder and director of a groupprivate practice in the Chicago suburbs, where she works with individuals, couples and families and provides
individual and group consultation. She is co-chair of the Membership Committee of the International Association
for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP), an elected member of the organization’s International Council, cofounder and co-chair of its Writing Interest Group, co-founder and former chair of its Couples Therapy Interest
Group, and formerly served on its Executive Board. She is the author of several published papers on theapplication of self psychology to couple and family therapy and one on the “unseen spouse” of patients inindividual therapy, has presented nationally and internationally on these topics, and is currently working on abook on self psychology-informed couple therapy.
References:
Leone, C. (2018). Response to MacIntosh’s review and discussion of the psychoanalytic couple therapy journal
literature: A self psychological, intersubjective perspective. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38 (5), 387–398.
Leone, C. (2021). The application of contemporary self psychology to couple therapy. Couple and Family
Psychoanalysis, 11 (2), 170-186.
Leone, C. (2023). Individual sessions as part of couple therapy? How concepts from self psychology can help us
decide. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 18 (2), 218-233.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference F: Revolutionary Listening: Empathic Responsiveness in a Global Frame
Presenter: Lynn Preston, MA, MS
Thursday, October 24, 9:00 – 11:30am

Abstract:
The fragmentation, polarization and narcissistic rage permeating current community life calls upon us as relational
psychoanalysts to broaden and complexify our empathic expertise to include the social/political sphere in new
ways. In this workshop, we will consider some of the issues involved in facilitating systems-informed empathic
connectedness in groups and communities. We will first consider some of the theoretical framework that can help
us with this challenge and then we will engage in our own live experience of dialogue across difference.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1. Describe some of the issues involved in translating bi-directional modes of empathic attunement into
the multi-directional complexities of group interactions.
2. Identify some of the features of systems-oriented empathic attunement in groups and communities.
3. Demonstrate an experience of connecting across differences in the workshop setting.
Presenter Bios:
Lynn Preston, MA, MS, LP, is a New York City-based relational psychoanalyst and supervisor. She is the founding
director of the Community Empowerment Project and Help for Helpers, an online covid-inspired international
support group for therapists. She has written on the subjects of implicit experience and the use of the analyst’s
subjectivity. She has a special interest in applying self-psychological principles to groups and communities.
References:
Brothers, D. (2014). War, Peace, and Promise-Making: Becoming a Late-Life Activist. Psychoanalytic Inquiry
34:766-7
Porta Caballé, A. (2023). The Deconstructive Effects of Combining Discourses. A Case Study: Marxism andPsychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis Culture and Society 28:411-429.
Gardner, J. (2024). Forms and Transformations of Emathy: Subtleties and Complexities of Empathic
Communication. Psychoanalysis, Self, and Context 19(1), 80-93.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference I: Transforming Tragedy into Vitality: Intersubjective Self Psychology in Action
Presenters: George Hagman, LCSW, Peter Zimmermann, PhD, Aviva Rohde, PhD, Harry Paul, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 12:00 – 2:30pm

Abstract:
Patients enter treatment suffering from the aftermath of tragedy. Whether old or new, catastrophic or justdisappointing, they struggle helplessly to free themselves from the beliefs, patterns and emotions of these trailingedges, structures of meaning which have come to organize their sense of self and self with others. The humantragedy of blighted hopes and unfulfilled yearnings, which haunts us all at times, has paralyzed the leading edge
ambitions and potentials from which a person’s unique drive for selfhood springs. Intersubjective Self Psychology
is a clinical model designed to offer the opportunity for the patient to be freed from the crippling selfprotectiveness which confines them (the trailing edge) and grasp the opportunity for a generative selfobject
experience (the leading edge), which makes new organizations of meaning and being possible. With its emphasison the analytic relationship as an intersubjective field, ISP illuminates the dynamics of the clinical relationshipwhich makes this personal liberation and vitalization possible.
This workshop “Transforming Tragedy into Vitality: Intersubjective Self Psychology in Action” presents anintroduction to the ISP model accompanied by two detailed clinical reports, which the participants will findtheoretically enlightening and clinically useful. They will learn how the tragic lives of the persons whom we treat
can be compensated for, or perhaps transcended, through a new self psychological approach.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, the participants will be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Recognize and explain the concepts of leading and trailing edge.
Develop and implement interventions that strengthen the leading edge of the treatment process.
Evaluate the patient’s level of trust and connection to the analyst in the course of extended treatment.
Describe how working on the leading can transform a patient’s preoccupation with tragedy into a senseof vitality.

Presenter Bios:
George Hagman, LCSW is a clinical social worker and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City andStamford, Connecticut. He is on faculty of the Training and Research in Intersubjective Self Psychology, and is a
training analyst, supervisor, and faculty member of the Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis andPsychotherapy. He is one of the three editors of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. George is co-editor with Peter
Zimmermann and Harry Paul of Intersubjective Self Psychology: A Primer (Routledge, 2019). He is also the General
Editor of the Art, Creativity and Psychoanalysis book series and New Directions in Self Psychology book series bothpublished by Routledge.
Peter Zimmermann, PhD, LP, Founding Member and Member of the Board of Directors of TRISP; Senior Faculty,
Training and Supervising Analyst of TRISP since 1987. Former President of the Training Institute of NPAP (20162021), and Member of the Board of Directors of NPAP since 2012; Senior Member, Training and Supervising
Analyst and Faculty Member at NPAP since 1984. Member of the Editorial Board of the Psychoanalytic Review.
Co-editor and contributing author of Intersubjective Self Psychology, A Primer (Routledge 2019). In private
practice in New York City since 1982.

Aviva Rohde, PhD is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City where she treats adults
and couples, and supervises clinicians. Trained at Columbia University and Training and Research inIntersubjective Self Psychology (TRISP), she is a senior faculty member and member of the training committee at
TRISP and supervises at TRISP and National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP). An author of several chapters
in Intersubjective Self Psychology: A Primer (2019), she has presented papers at TRISP and IAPSP on topics related
to Intersubjective Self Psychology.
Harry Paul, PhD is a founding member, past president, faculty and supervising and training analyst at the Training
and Research Institute in Self Psychology in New York City. He is a board and faculty member at the Training andResearch Intersubjective Self Psychology Foundation and a member of the International Council of IAPSP. He is
the co-author of The Self Psychology of Addiction and Its Treatment: Narcissus in Wonderland and most recently
co-edited and contributed to Intersubjective Self Psychology: A Primer, Hagman, Paul, and Zimmermann,Routledge, 2019. He has authored numerous articles on intersubjective self psychology, and addiction. He is in
private practice in New York City and in Chappaqua, New York.
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.
Zimmermann, P. (2019) On Leading and Trailing Edge: Toward a New Conceptualization of What is Curative in
Psychoanalysis. The Psychoanalytic Review, 106(4), 291-303.
Hagman, G. (2021) Empathy: Expanding the Capacity for Humanness and Freedom. The Psychoanalytic Review.
108(2),155-168.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference J: The Tragic Citizen and Human Existence: The “Psycho-Social Citizenship Dream Group” as a
Generative Pathway to Reflective and Deliberative Citizenship
Presenter: George Bermúdez, PhD, PsyD
Thursday, October 24, 12:00 – 2:30pm

Abstract:
Contemporary citizens around the world live in nations that they increasingly cannot recognize as their own:
Tragically, Citizens everywhere are searching for a communal home. Kohut in his late career (1976) began todevelop the concept of the “group self”, which seemed to reflect his emergent but nascent focus on the social
trauma of his youth: the Nazi oppression and murder of Jews. He suggested that “…The basic patterns of a nuclear
group self (the group's central ambitions and ideals) account not only for the continuity and the cohesion of thegroup but also determines its most important actions." (Kohut, 1976, pp. 801-802). Furthermore, Kohut, alluding
to Freud’s courage in his self-analysis, rhetorically inquires: “Could it be that the analogous step in grouppsychology, the decisive advance toward a valid depth psychological understanding of the experiences and actionsof the group, will be the result of a similarly courageous self-scrutiny of the psychoanalytic community by itself?”(Kohut, 1976, p. 838). This workshop will attempt to take up Kohut’s challenge to the psychoanalytic community—with a “Psycho-social Citizenship Dream Group”. The workshop will focus, through the exploration andillumination of dreams, on the group self and unconscious citizenship of psychoanalytic citizens in thecontemporary tumultuous world. Participants will co-create a dream group process, generating new ideas for
optimal citizenship. The entire process has three steps: Psycho-social Citizenship Dream Exploration; Reflection
and Insight concerning Unconscious Citizenship; and Social Application for Optimal Citizenship.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of our workshop participants will be able to:
1. Explain the difference between the conventional approach to working with dreams and the psychosocial citizenship dream group paradigm.
2. Describe the self-object function of the dream group as a relational home.
3. Identify the isomorphism among individual, family, institutional and social levels.
Presenter Bio:
Dr. George Bermúdez, PhD, PsyD, Psychologist-Psychoanalyst, Training & Supervising Psychoanalyst at The
Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis Los Angeles, and 2020-21 Visiting Scholar at the Psychoanalytic Instituteof Northern California (PINC), has developed pioneering scholarship and practice –an expansion toward a social
psychoanalysis–exploring the “social unconscious” through “social dreaming”. The author of “The Social
Dreaming Matrix as a Container for the Processing of Implicit Racial Bias and Collective Racial
Trauma” (International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 2018) and “Community Psychoanalysis: A Contribution
to an Emerging Paradigm” (Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 2019), he has focused on numerous contemporary sociopolitical concerns: American Xenophobia; Whiteness and Psychoanalysis; Black Reparations; The LGBTQ
Unconscious in the Trumpian Era; and The Global Unconscious in the Time of Pandemic. Dr. Bermúdez’ mostrecent work focuses on the applications of social dreaming to the discovery of potential solutions to our climate
crisis and the development of “deliberative democracy”.

References:
Bermúdez, G. (2018). The social dreaming matrix as a container for the processing of implicit racial bias andcollective trauma. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68, 538-560.
Bermúdez, G. (2019). Community psychoanalysis: A contribution to an emerging paradigm. Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, 39, 297-304.
Bermúdez, G. (2022). Towards a Socio-centric Psychoanalysis Contributing to Deliberative Democracy: Social
Dreaming, Community Psychoanalysis, and Reflective Citizenship. Division/Review: A Quarterly Psychoanalytic
Forum, 28, 31-34.

45th Annual IAPSP International Conference
The Tragic Person Today:
Existence and Meaning in Life and in Clinical Practice
October 24-27, 2024
Pre-Conference K: Tragedy and Survival in Literature: Macbeth, Dante and the Ancient Greeks
Presenters: David Shaddock PhD, MFT, Jeffrey Stern, PhD., Marcia Dobson, PhD
Thursday, October 24, 12:00 – 2:30pm

Abstract:
Psychoanalysis has traditionally looked to literature for inspiration and guidance. In this workshop three self
psychologists who are also scholars will extend and update this tradition. Marcia Dobson PhD will examine theshift that occurs between the Homeric hero stories and the Greek tragedies, with special attention to the way thisshift parallels the development of Kohut’s own thinking. Jeff Stern, PhD will present a paper on Shakespeare’s
Macbeth that considers his murderous actions from a self psychological point of view, focusing on his sense of
emptiness and his terror of women. And David Shaddock PhD will read and discuss “A New Life in Love,” a workthat through prose and poetry compares Dante’s idealization of Beatrice to the vicissitudes of his own marriage.
Throughout this presentation and in discussions that follow, we will pay particular attention to the way these
literary sources can inform clinical work with patients who have endured or face their own tragic losses.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Explain the way defenses against loss underly adult relationships.
2. Assess our clinical work and what is involved in moving from fatedness to destiny.
3. Identify the client’s sense of their destiny, including their existential fatedness which can evoke Kohut’sidea of what constitutes “tragic man”.
Presenter Bios:David Shaddock, PhD, MFT is associate editor Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, Leader, IAPSP Couples Therapy
Interest Group, Clinical Supervisor, The Wright Institute, Adjunct Faculty, Chicago Institute of Social Work. He is
the author of From Impasse to Intimacy, Contexts and Connections, and Poetry and Psychoanalysis: The Openingof the Field, as well as four books of poetry. He maintains a private practice in Berkeley.
Jeffrey Stern, PhD is a research and clinical graduate of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute where he is a training
and supervising analyst and faculty member and past President of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society. Dr. Stern
received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in English Literature, where his dissertation on Shakespeare's lateromances won the Humanities Prize. He has been a lecturer in Psychiatry at Rush University and the Universityof Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, where he won the teaching award. He has also lectured at the Universityof Chicago in the Committee on General Studies in the Humanities. Dr. Stern is in addition Visiting Professor of
Psychoanalysis at Wuhan University in Wuhan China. In 2017 he was the keynote speaker at the annual meetingof the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. Dr. Stern writes on clinical psychoanalysis,
literature and film and is the associate editor of The Annual of Psychoanalysis. His work including papers on clinicalcases, Shakespeare’s King Lear, The Wizard of Oz and Alomodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
has appeared in Shakespeare Quarterly, The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Psychoanalysis,
Self and Context, and The Annual of Psychoanalysis, among others. A volume of his papers from Routledge isscheduled for publication next year. He maintains a private practice in Chicago and throughout the world online.

Marcia D-S. Dobson, PhD is an AE of the IJPSP. She co-edited an issue representing Cultural Perspectives in Self
Psychology with Amy Eldridge (April, 2012). She also compiled a memorial volume for IJPSP on the work and lifeof Marian Tolpin (Vol. 4, Supplement 1, 2009). She has published papers in the IJPSP over the past five years,
including “Freud, Kohut, Sophocles, Did Oedipus Do Wrong,” (Vol 2, no. 1 2007), “Marian Tolpin: A Latter Day
Athena,” (Vol.4, Supplement 1, 2009) Commentary on Frank Summers’ “Kohut’s Vision and the Nuclear Programof the Self,” (Vol. 6, no. 3, 2011) and has recently published a paper with OUP, part of a collection of papers on a
Seminar on Myth and Psychoanalysis, on self-psychological perspectives on the Aristophanes’ myth in Plato’s
Symposium (2013), as well as both presenting and responding at the 2013 IAPSP conference in Chicago, Illinois.
Dobson is a professor of Classics and chairs the Psychoanalysis minor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs,
where she maintains a private practice in psychoanalytic self psychology.
References:
Federici, S. (2019). Tragic Greek Wisdom and Young Kohut’s Empathic Understanding. Psychoanalysis, Self andContext 15(1),94-99.
Dobson, M. (2020). Young Kohut and the Ancient Greek Satyr Play. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context 15(1), 8793.
Kulka, R. (2020). Self Object Psychology for a Troubled World. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context 15(4), 324-337.