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November 2011

Note from the Director and Co-Director

Roger Segalla and Maxine Ellenberg Arnsdorf

Next time you are at an ICP&P event look around you. You may seem to be surrounded by a bunch of mild-mannered ordinary clinicians who are probably deep into empathy. They may not look like scientists, philosophers, researchers and theoreticians. And, they may not appear to be breaking new ground as part of a movement to expand our understanding of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, but then, looks can be deceiving. As members of ICP&P you are among a group that defies expectations and produces the kinds of papers and presentations that are literally defining the cutting edge in psychoanalytic thinking. Every two years ICP&P sends out an invitation to those of you who are quietly working away on research projects, new therapeutic modalities, new perspectives on treatment, new ways to understand those that seek our help. We want you to come forward, out of your dark offices and into the light. We want to showcase your good work, celebrate your innovation and recognize your contributions. Every two years ICP&P puts together a Scientific Day designed to highlight your work, your new ideas, your breakthroughs. For those of you who doubt we have this caliber among us, doubt no more! Here is sampling of the terrific presentations just from the last three Scientific Days:

  • When a Child Dies: Making Meaning Out of Loss
    Presented by Martha Blechar Gibbons, PhD, RN, CPNP, CS
  • Love Strengthens the Self
    Presented by Fonya Helm, PhD
  • The Role of Wounded Self/Other Statements in Threat Assessment Issues: A Case of Cyber Attack, Attempted Extortion and Violence Risk
    Presented by Eric D Shaw, PhD
  • Combat and Human Existence: Toward an Intersubjective Approach to Combat- Related PTSD
    Presented by Russell Carr, MD
  • Addressing States of Mind: Reflections on the Clinical Consequences of Relational Therapy and the Theoretical Turn from Repression to Dissociation
    Presented by Sheila M. Cahill, JD, MSW
  • A Mind Avoiding Itself: What Really Happens in Dissociation?
    Presented by Richard A. Chefetz, MD
  • Pathways of Growth in the Mother/Daughter Relationship
    Presented by Sandra Hershberg, MD
  • From Attachment to Meaning
    Presented by Mauricio Cortina, MD
  • The Platonic Marriage: Treatment of Sexual Issues in Couples from a Self Psychological Perspective
    Presented by Michael Wannon, PhD
  • Unconscious and Non-conscious Communication in Psychotherapy: the Implicit Memory System of Priming
    Presented by Fonya Helm, PhD
  • Shame and Abuse: A Contemporary Self Psychological and Relational Perspective
    Presented by Elizabeth Carr, MSN
  • A Brief Survey of the Economic Recession's Impact on Therapists
    Presented by Jeffrey Jay, PhD

These wonderful presentations were all very well recieved by the membership and the presenters all reported how much they enjoyed presenting to such a warm and receptive audience of their friends and collegues. If you've got a paper or presentation that you've been quietly working on, or even an idea the you've been meaning to flesh out and turn into a presentation or a paper, this is your chance! The next ICP&P's Scientific Day is scheduled for Saturday, March 3, 2012. This is a half day event and presentations are limited to 35 minutes with 25 additional minutes reserved for discussion. If you are interested in learning more about presenting at Scientific Day, please contact Rick Ogden, this year's Chair of the Scientific Day Committee, at rlogden@hotmail.com or (301) 986-5499.


Note from the Secretary

Leslie Westbrook

In an effort to keep the membership informed about issues that are being discussed by the ICP&P Board, a brief summary of each meeting is published in the Newsletter. If there are items about which you have questions, opinions or concerns, please feel free to contact a Board member. We welcome your input. All Board members are listed in the front of the ICP&P Directory and on the website. Here are some highlights from the October 17th meeting:

  • Guest attorney Benjamin Hahn came to the Board meeting to address questions around ICP&P's 501-(3)(c) status and the way the Low Fee Referral Service is structured. The Board wishes to retain the 501-(3)(c) status because in the future it can be used to help raise funds for ICP&P's work. The Board was reassured that the work ICP&P does is definitely within the confines of 501-(3)(c) requirements.
  • The issue of how copyrighted articles are distributed in training programs and to conference participants was discussed. Further study of this topic is necessary.
  • Susan Gorman reported that the December 10th conference After the Affair will include an afternoon meeting of Members in Training with two members of the faculty of the Couples Training Program.
  • As of the Board Meeting, 212 members had paid their 2011-12 membership fees, and an additional 55 still need to pay. Our membership could jump as high as 267 this year.
  • The Study Group lists need to be reviewed to make sure the members of the groups are also members of ICP&P.
  • ICP&P will be a co-sponsor of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Conference next fall to be held in Washington, D.C. Volunteers will be sought to work on that conference and on the Bruce Wine Memorial Conference to be held in December 2012.
  • The next Board meeting will be November 21, 2011.

Note from Coordinator of Programs

Patricia Olsen

The second weekend of the Self Psychology Institute features a pre-conference session dealing with Self Psychology and couples on Friday, November 18th and a full-day Saturday program entitled Affects, Intentions and Goals: A New Look at Motivation, with our own Joseph D. Lichtenberg, MD as the main speaker. Registration information is available on the website or by contacting Morgan Theriot at icpeastadmin@att.net.

Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D., ABPP will join us on Saturday morning, December 10, 2011 to speak on how she helps couples tackle and transcend the trauma of infidelity. Even the most experienced therapists can feel overwhelmed by couples in the midst of a crisis of infidelity, when partners rage and precipitously drop out of therapy. Both the client and therapist battle feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Dr. Spring will discuss:

  • How to manage secrets in couples therapy, helping partners decide how much and what information should be shared about the affair.
  • How to help couples normalize the emotional avalanche of their experience so they don't feel so discouraged, ashamed, self-righteous, or alone.
  • How to help unfaithful and hurt partners identify yearnings, addictions, family of origin experiences, and other contributing factors that made them vulnerable to an affair.
  • How to better understand the power and illusion of romantic love, and make a thoughtful decision about whether to fight for the marriage or end it.
  • How to facilitate the re-building of trust, rekindle intimacy and connection, and earn forgiveness for couples recommitting to their relationship. The emphasis of this workshop will be on providing practical and concrete tools for helping partners take responsibility for their share of the relationship damage and grow as individuals and as a couple.

Dr. Spring has written After the Affair: Healing the Pain and Rebuilding Trust When a Partner Has Been Unfaithful, Amazon's #1 best seller in its category of couples and family therapy and How Can I Forgive You? The Courage to Forgive, The Freedom Not To. These books will be on sale at the workshop.

Note that this workshop is free to Members of ICP&P, and will be held at the National 4-H Conference Center, 7100 Connecticut Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD. Register on the website.

Finally, save the date for ICP&P's Scientific Day on March 3, 2012.


Note on Study Groups

Debra Caplowe

ICP&P Study Groups are an excellent way to learn about interesting subjects and forge relationships with colleagues. Groups generally meet once or twice a month and meeting times during the day or evenings are available. Several current groups have openings for new members (see description of one such group below). If you are interested in learning more about joining a group, please contact Debra Caplowe at 703-795-4226 or debracaplowe@gmail.com.

There are two corrections to William Harman's study group that was listed in the October Newsletter. Please read below for the correct title, meeting date and description.

William Harman has openings in his Mindfulness Meditation and Psychotherapy Study Group. The group meets the 3rd Monday of every month from 6:30pm–8pm at 2701 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 606 in Washington, DC (Across from the Woodley Park Metro). This is a new study group for clinicians interested in learning more about mindfulness meditation and how to integrate it into their therapy practices. There are many levels of integration - from just using it yourself to deepen your listening skills to using guided meditations with your clients/patients for specific purposes. Although there will be a list of suggested readings, the group will decide on readings either from the list or from other selections suggested by group members. Although primarily a study group, we may choose to practice some experiential exercises together and discuss how to apply what we're learning together to specific cases. If you are interested in learning more about this group, please contact William Harman at williamfharman@verizon.net or at 202-986-3828.

Curtis Bristol and Josepeh Lichtenberg has openings in their Psychoanalytic Self Psychology Study groups that meets at 8:00pm in Bethesda on the third Monday of every month. The group is for individuals interested in the theory and practice of contemporary self psychology. This year they are studying the original work of Joe Lichtenberg before it is published in his new volume with Frank Lachmann and Jim Fosshage. Other members include Al Taub, Alex Gorodetsky, Allison Howard, Betty Ottinger, Elizabeth Hersh, Heidi Block and Mauricio Cortina. Please call Curtis Bristol at 202-466-8690 if you are interested.


Scientific Day

Richard Ogden

ICP&P's Scientific Day happens every other year and this year it is scheduled for Saturday, March 3, 2012. It is an opportunity for members to present an original paper and to receive feedback from the audience. There are no restrictions in terms of theoretical orientation, format, and topic. Please keep in mind that the paper does not have to be a completed project but might be a discussion of ideas that you are still considering and working with.

Members are invited to submit one or more abstracts or papers for consideration. Each presentation will be 35 minutes long with 25 additional minutes reserved for discussion with the audience. The deadline for submission is January 15, 2012.

For consideration as a presenter, please submit the following:

  1. Your paper or abstract
  2. At least one educational objective
  3. A brief curriculum vitae

Please submit material to: ICP&P, Attn: Morgan Theriot, Administrator, 4601 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 8 Washington, D.C. 20008 or fax to 202-232-2565 (fax), or by email to icpeastadmin@att.net . Please contact me at (301) 986-5499 or rlogden@hotmail.com if you have any questions.


Low Fee Referral Service

Susan Gorman

Thank you for your referrals to the Reduced Fee Referral Service. Please continue to keep us in mind. We offer low fee psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and couples therapy. A number of Members-in-Training are still in need of patients to complete their clinical requirements. For more information, please contact Susan Gorman at 703-356-8839 or susanlgorman@gmail.com. We appreciate your support.

Thoughts on Being a Therapist

Lauren Brandt and Jeffrey Jay

Feelings, thoughts, reflections, moments of humor, moments of insight, moments of relief, joy, victory, or defeat in being a therapist?

"Thoughts on Being A Therapist," as a space for ICP&P members to share reflections relating to this audacious, humbling and poignant work of being a therapist. The notes should be no longer than 400 words, but can also be much shorter. In addition to small lessons learned, we welcome personal writing to complement the theory, training, and hard work of treatment. Haikus and less formal expressions are welcome, but no identifying information of clients or breaches of confidentiality, please. Submit your writing for this column to Lauren Brandt or Jeffrey Jay at LBJLS@rcn.com or jeffjayphd@aol.com.

ICP&P member Katherine Williams is a multiply talented psychologist, poet and art therapist who has generously shared her poetry in a prior Thoughts on Being a Therapist column. This month, she agreed to allow us to share her thoughtful introduction to a recent exhibition of her collage pieces. The exhibit was the outgrowth of a small group of artists who meet to encourage, inspire, and support one another.

POSSIBILITIES

—A Collage Show—

Artist's Statement

For me, everything is collage — scraps of memories, pieces of nearly forgotten hurt, bits of happiness torn from mixed experiences, unexpected patterns emerging. In my work as a therapist I listen for rhythms, patterns, hidden bits, and am witness to something fresh when areas of familiar darkness are ripped away. As a poet, I search for tight images that, when combined, create a crisp truth composed of newly relating parts. So it makes sense that in art I enjoy interacting with my materials: handwriting from my parents' letters, slips of paper torn from one image to create another, words in one context that gather heft in a new setting. In all of these endeavors, what might seem old, broken, plain, or lost may be reborn -- surely a testimony to possibility.


News and Notes

ICP&P Yahoo Member Listserv - ICP&P maintains a member listserv which is intended as a place for members to post information (like conferences sponsored by other organizations that would be of interest to ICP&P members) or to ask for information regarding professional issues or resources. As new members join the organization or at any time after that up on request, the ICP&P Administrator will initiate an invitation to join the listserv from Yahoo. The method of posting items on the listserv is as follows: go to Yahoo groups on the Yahoo website and find the group "ICP-Info" under "My Groups". Click that group name. You will enter the ICP&P Yahoo group for members. To send a message, click on "Messages" then click "Post". If you are interested in joining the Yahoo Listserv, please contact Morgan Theriot at icpeastadmin@att.net so that she can send you an invitation.


UPCOMING EVENTS


BULLETIN BOARD

The Policy for Bulletin Board items is: Members can place items three months a year. Items can be up to eight lines in length. Longer items or additional months are available for a fee. Please contact the administrator for the fee schedule.

  • Mixed Gender Psychotherapy Group - looking for new members. The group, co-led by Steve Stein and Peggy Miller, meets Wednesday evenings from 5-6:30pm at 3000 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. For more information, contact Peggy Miller at 202-265-5071 or by email at pegmill21@msn.com
  • Mixed Therapy Group – is forming for adults in the 40 to 60 year old range. The group is seeking a few more members to fill the group, which will start (tentatively) in January. If you have a client that you think may be appropriate, or if you'd like more information, please get in touch with Ben or Pamela Forman at 301-657-3475 or e-mail Pamela at forman.pamela@gmail.com
  • Seeking Office Space - Looking for office space to rent part-time (not on weekends), preferably in the Bethesda/ Chevy Chase area. Please contact Brigitte Ladisch at 301-652-6250 or 301-651-7592.
  • Office Space Available - in private office with kitchenette and bath in Dupont Circle. Residential building, open 24-hours, with lobby desk monitored. Great place to build a practice -- so far three of my tenants have moved on to their own offices following start-up in my office. Available for whatever time blocks needed mornings Mon - Wed and all day Thursday. Contact Sheila Cahill at sheilacahill@mac.com or call 202-656-2415.
  • Office Space Available - part-time in downtown Bethesda on St. Elmo Ave. Friendly suite with waiting room, kitchenette, fish tank, and more. Half-time to 4/5 time negotiable. Metro accessible. For more information, contact Monica L. Callahan at Callahanml@erols.com or call 301-587-6211.

The deadline for submitting items for the December 2011 Newsletter is November 25, 2011