Film Series: The Piano Teacher presented by Helene Greece, LCSW & Paul Doyen, LMSW
2023-11-19 14:00 - 18:00 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
2023-2024 Film Series: Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Horror, Pathology and Reframing Perversion
Our screening series will introduce mental health professionals to psychoanalytic concepts and research around sexuality, trauma, and uncanny experiences. Participants will watch psychosexually themed films and participate in professional-led discussions analyzing the material in terms of psychopathology and treatment.
Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC
Discussion begins at 4:20pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
“The Piano Teacher” presents us with a film that is a looking glass/perverse version of a classic Hollywood fairytale romance: the protagonist, Erika, is a repressed middle-aged woman trapped in a suffocating relationship with her mother. The young hero arrives on the scene, rescues Erika from her mother and brings her to erotic life so that love can triumph. Except that is not at all what happens.
Our discussion of the “The Piano Teacher” centers on Erika’s erotic perversion and the intra-psychic conflicts from which it springs. We will explore Erika’s perversion as both a compromise formation managing the conflict between id and superego demands and a result of the inescapable chains of maternal dominance and jouissance described by Lacan.
Participants will learn about Freud’s account of perversions as “abnormal” sexual impulses that escape repression and sublimation, transformations of Freud’s concept of perversion into an erotically gratifying defense, and Lacan’s developmental theory of perversion as an incomplete separation from the “mOther” aided by the absence of “father as Law.” Together we will consider the roles of fantasy, compromise formation, jouissance, desire and lack in the film and the actions of its central characters: Erika, the mother and Walter.
Learning Objectives:
• Summarize Freud’s theory of perversion as “the negative of neurosis”
• Describe revisions of Freud’s theory and the recasting of perversion as an erotically gratifying defense following sexual prohibition
• Describe Lacan’s concepts of jouissance, desire and lack and how they are represented within the film
• Assess Erika’s intrapsychic conflicts and perversion by applying both classical and Lacanian theories of the perverse
Helene Greece, LCSW, SEP is in private practice in New Orleans. She has completed the Studies in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program at NOBPC and is credentialed as a Somatic Experience Practitioner. She is excited to have begun learning about Lacan.
Paul Doyen, LMSW, is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist based in New Orleans. He has pursued psychoanalytic supervision and coursework at the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center and the Academy of Clinical and Applied Psychoanalysis.

**If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining**

If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 4:15pm or join the Zoom link.
The film is available on most streaming services.
Attendance is free but pre-register by emailing nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.
1.5 CME credits is $10 for NOBPC members and $15 for non-members.

CME Fee

NOBPC Member $10.00 USDNon-Member $15.00 USD

Attendee’s Name and Degree

Email Address

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
-Updated July 2021-
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Film Series: Lady in a Cage presented by Jon Dimond, PhD--new date January 14
2024-01-14 14:00 - 17:15 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
2023-2024 Film Series: Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Horror, Pathology and Reframing Perversion
Our screening series will introduce mental health professionals to psychoanalytic concepts and research around sexuality, trauma, and uncanny experiences. Participants will watch psychosexually themed films and participate in professional-led discussions analyzing the material in terms of psychopathology and treatment.
Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC
Discussion begins at 3:45pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
In what many consider to be the first film in the home invasion horror genre, “Lady In A Cage” (1964) is an audacious and prescient exploration of whether one can ever feel truly at home in a society unraveling at the seams. We are introduced to the privileged world of Cornelia Hilyard, “safely” ensconced in tranquil surroundings following an unusual farewell to her son. This domestic scene is soon interrupted by a rogue’s gallery of archetypal villains, but the audience is invited to consider what can happen when one learns a monster may already be inside.
While Oedipal themes are manifest, our discussion will read this film utilizing two specific conceptual perspectives. We will consider the symbolism of the home itself utilizing Freud’s conceptualization of the uncanny, which stands in opposition to the German word “heimlich” (“familiar,” “belonging to the home”). We will apply elements of the uncanny to this film, how the characters go about their business, and consider how these dynamics affect work with our patients when they feel their reality or very selves being invaded.
We will also consider the proposition of feminist psychologist Dorothy Dinnerstein who argues in her seminal work The Mermaid and the Minotaur (1976) that historical divisions of gender roles, and the compartmentalization that is required to sustain these arrangements, create a relentless “suicidal” dehumanization process.
Learning Objectives:
• Understand Freud’s concept of the uncanny and how that affects patient experiences and sense of self
• Understand Dinnerstein’s argument about historical divisions of gender roles and how these arrangements relate to conscious and unconscious dehumanization processes
• Assess Cornelia’s intrapsychic conflicts and shift in self-states utilizing Freud’s Oedipus Complex
Jon Dimond, Ph.D. received his doctorate in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research in New York City. Prior to moving to New Orleans, he held an Assistant Professor appointment in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland from 2017-2020 where he taught courses in abnormal psychology and human behavior. Dr. Dimond is a licensed clinical psychologist in the District of Columbia and the states of New York, Virginia, and Louisiana. Although his practice is broadly oriented toward general adult psychotherapy, he has specialized training in treatments for severe personality disorders and trauma. Dr. Dimond additionally has an extensive research and clinical background working with individuals who identify as transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary.
**If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining**

If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 3:40pm or join the Zoom link.
The film is available to rent on several streaming services.
Attendance is free but pre-register by emailing nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.
1.5 CME credits is $10 for NOBPC members and $15 for non-members.

CME Fee

NOBPC Member $10.00 USDNon-Member $15.00 USD

Attendee’s Name and Degree

Email Address

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

Psychoanalytic Explorations: The Digital Third: Expansions of Oedipal Triads in the Interpersonal Age of Digital Objects presented by Rachel Hammer, MD
2024-02-24 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
This single case presentation will explore how emerging artificial intelligence (AI) chat technology should be considered as a self-object and regarded as a potential player in object relations for patients who rely heavily on the use of AI. Using clinical material, the presenter will demonstrate how a transferential oedipal dynamic can emerge in treatment, with AI functioning as the digital third. Specific countertransference experiences including feeling competitive with the AI third will be discussed.
The presenter will summarize literature reviewing the “interpersonal age of digital objects” as discussed by Kahoud (2023). Additional clinical material examining narcissistic transference will be discussed alongside queer psychoanalytic themes discussing liquidness of self. Bion’s work in “Container and Contained” will be discussed as we consider for this patient the symbolic function of holes and tunnels, which in all bodies contain and discharge many elements: mother’s milk, blood, ejaculate.
Together we will consider the case’s context of rigid sociocultural “hard” boundaries as source of childhood shame related to sexual orientation, continuing as internalized adult shame while harboring a stigmatized diagnosis as secret, and appreciate how the patient seeks compromise formations which favor liquidity. Finally, we will discuss the therapist’s work as the process of seeking to be a flexible Bionian container, a good-enough circle.
Learning Objectives:
• Identify the clinical utility of screening for the presence of nontraditional “digital” object relations in clinical material and consider the relevance of these “relationships” to formulations which involve difficulties with oedipalization and digital rivals.
• Describe how narcissistic transference involving fantasies of infection serve multiple defensive functions.
• Link imagery as poets might to consider what Bionic beta-elements, or unthought thoughts, are alive in presented clinical material.
Rachel Hammer, MD completed a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction during medical school at Mayo Clinic, and completed combined training in 2020. She has joined the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Affairs division of Primary Care, and serves as Psychiatry Clerkship Director for the Tulane School of Medicine. Her professional interests include narrative medicine, psychosomatic symptoms and illness, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and integrative primary care. Her current scholarly work focuses on Post-ICU Care Syndrome, Death Cafes for ICU worker burnout, and COVID-related family and caregiver psychological stress. Dr. Hammer is completing Adult Psychoanalytic Training, currently in her third year, at NOBPC.
Attendance is free. Pre-register by emailing nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.
1.5 CME credits is $15 for NOBPC members and $25 for non-members.

CME Fee

NOBPC Member $15.00 USD

Non-Member $25.00 USD

Attendee's Name and Degree

Email Address

TThis activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
-Updated July 2021-
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

NOBPC Virtual Open House Via Zoom
2024-03-07 17:30 - 18:00, 2024-03-15 12:30 - 13:00, 2024-03-21 16:00 - 16:30, 2024-03-25 18:30 - 19:00 UTC | Virtual Event via Zoom, LA
On behalf of the New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center (NOBPC), we’d like to invite you to a 30-minute informal informational session, led by faculty and members to learn more about becoming a member of our organization. In addition to being a vibrant community of clinicians specializing in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy, we offer opportunities for continuing education and networking.
Come hear about all the benefits of becoming a member of the most vibrant psychoanalytic community in the South.
If you are interested in learning more, please register below. Can’t make it to an open house? You can contact our Membership Chair, Janell Kalifey (jkalifey@gmail.com), for more information. We look forward to connecting with you!
REGISTER HERE
All NOBPC events are Central Time Zone.

Nancy McWilliams, PhD and Michael Garrett, MD Spring 2024 Scientific Conference In-person or Zoom
2024-03-09 08:30 - 16:00 UTC | Tulane University School of Medicine, Murphy Building, 131 S. Robertson St., 14th floor, Room 1439, New Orleans, LA, 70112, United States
NOBPC in collaboration with EPIC NOLA
Attendees will receive a 5-hour CME certificate for attending both sessions. This is a hybrid event. Please choose to join us at Tulane Medical School Murphy Building (details below) or via Zoom. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Vital Signs of Clinical Progress and Psychological Wellness by Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Morning Session – 9am – 12pm Central Time 3 CME credits
Mental health professionals try to alleviate specific symptoms, but at the same time we try to help our patients solve general problems in living, pursue overall life goals, and mature in the areas of love, work, and play. In the absence of a DSM definition of mental health, both therapists and patients need to evaluate progress not only in terms of symptom reduction but also in terms of a general construct of psychological wellness by which they can assess how treatment is going. Patients often cannot conceptualize these areas themselves until they make progress in them and can see the difference in their lives. This presentation will explore an evidence-based conceptualization of overall psychological wellness. It will cover ten areas identified in the clinical literature as critical aspects of overall mental health, explore the empirical literature about each of these areas, and emphasize the practical clinical utility of keeping an eye on these vital signs. The presenter will give examples of how therapists and patients can pursue these goals together. Connections between concepts and clinical techniques will be made explicit.
Learning Objectives:

Describe ten areas of overall mental health relevant to psychotherapy and clinical supervision
Define the term “mentalization” and apply it to clinical work
Identify eight qualities in psychotherapists that correlate with patient satisfaction about clinical outcome

Disguised Memories of Traumatic Experiences in Childhood and Adolescence that Appear in Psychotic Symptoms by Michael Garrett, MD
Afternoon Session – 2pm – 4pm Central Time 2 CME credits
Research has shown that childhood trauma increases the risk for psychosis in adolescence and adulthood. Disguised memories of trauma appear in psychotic symptoms. Despite mounting evidence that childhood adversity increases the risk of psychosis, the prevailing treatment of psychotic patients consists of neuroleptic medication. The high incidence of child abuse in patients with a psychosis diagnosis suggests that ambitious trauma-informed psychotherapy is an essential treatment modality in the treatment of psychosis, however, there is a widespread failure to implement such an approach. Most psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health disciplines are taught that “schizophrenia” is a genetically-determined brain disease, rather than a bio-psycho-social stress disorder requiring both medication and psychotherapy. This presentation will provide clinicians with tools to change the way they listen to psychotic symptoms. Learners will attempt to discern the meaning that underlies psychotic symptoms. Instead of regarding them as the meaningless byproducts of a diseased brain, learners will instead regard them as meaningful communications about the patient’s life history and current state of mind. This change will improve the capacity of clinicians to deliver trauma-informed care to psychotic patients.
Learning Objectives:

Explain why traumatic experiences cannot be entirely forgotten, but can only be remembered in de-contextualized fragmented recollections.
Give one example of a delusion the content of which appears as a trauma memory in disguise.

Nancy McWilliams, PhD, is Visiting Professor Emerita at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and has a private practice in Lambertville, NJ. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (1994; rev. ed. 2011), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (2004), and Psychoanalytic Supervision (2021). She has taught in thirty countries, and her writings have been translated into twenty languages. She has been featured by the American Psychological Association as a master clinician. Dr. McWilliams specializes in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and supervision; the relationship between diagnosis and treatment; alternatives to DSM and ICD diagnostic conventions; integration of feminist theory and psychoanalytic knowledge; the application of psychoanalytic understanding to the problems of diverse clinical populations; altruism; narcissism; and trauma and dissociative disorders.
Michael Garrett, MD, is Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and author of Psychotherapy for Psychosis: Integrating Cognitive-Behavioral and Psychodynamic Treatment (Guilford, 2019). Most of his professional career has been spent in public psychiatry. His time is divided among patient care, supervision of psychotherapy, teaching, and clinical research. He has an abiding concern for the problems clinicians confront when trying to develop relationships with psychotic individuals who have a fundamentally different view of reality than that of the therapist. Trained in both psychoanalysis and CBT for psychosis, he combines these approaches in treating psychotic patients.
In person at Tulane University School of Medicine, Murphy Building, 14th floor, Room 1439, 131 S. Robertson St., New Orleans, LA 70112 Campus Map Parking lots near Murphy Building
Registration Information (includes up to 5 CME credits)
Advance registration is required. Please click here to register online. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Early Registration Discount by March 1, 2024:
NOBPC Members: $85 Non-members: $135 Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) No CME $25
AFTER March 1, 2024 and at the door (if space allows):
NOBPC Members: $100 Non-members: $150 Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) No CME $25
VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, March 8 at Noon Central Time.

Registration Fee (includes CME) through 03/01

Member $100.00 USD

Non-Member $150.00 USD

Student $25.00 USD

Attendance

Zoom

In person at Tulane School of Medicine, Murphy Building

Name and Degree

Email Address

Scientific Conference Schedule
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients. *Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company. -Updated July 2021-
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Psychoanalytic Explorations: Ketamine +/- Therapy by Andrew Anson, MD
2024-05-18 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
With training in Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, Dr Anson presents a firsthand account of primary process material using medicalized ketamine, the conflicting medical, psycholytic and psychedelic models of treatment, and what psychedelics stands to teach psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic communities about the unconscious mind.
Dr. Anson will provide details on the research into the neuroscience behind how we think it helps, and the implications for therapy because of what ketamine research is teaching us about the unconscious mind.
Dr. Anson’s paper and information presented will dispel some suspicions about an FDA approved treatment, and help all practitioners distinguish and think critically about three different approaches to ketamine, the medical approach, the psychological/psycholytic approach and the psychedelic approach. The paper will also educate about the risks and harms of ketamine and the risk of ketamine remaining outside clinical and therapeutic settings.
Learning Objectives:
· Participants will be able to explain the difference between psycholytic psychotherapy and psychedelic psychotherapy.
· Participants will be able explain the proposed therapeutic mechanism of action of ketamine in terms of the default mode network and neurogenesis.
Andrew Anson, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and teaching faculty at Tulane University and New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center. Dr Anson will have recently (April 2024) completed 150+ hours of training in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy training through the California Institute of Integral Studies and has studied the body of literature on psychedelics and has written and lectured on Ketamine and other psychedelics.
Attendance is free. Pre-register by emailing nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.
1.5 CME credits is $15 for NOBPC members and $25 for non-members.

CME Fee

NOBPC Member $15.00 USD

Non-Member $25.00 USD

Attendee's Name and Degree

Email Address

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
-Updated July 2021-
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

NEW DATE Psychoanalytic Explorations: The Use of Countertransference to Identify Change in a Single Case Analysis by Kelly Bolger, PhD
2024-10-26 11:00 - 12:30 (Asia/Karachi) | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Psychotherapists and psychoanalysts often struggle to accurately identify and understand the developmental stages of their patients, particularly those with histories of trauma. This presentation addresses professional competencies around utilizing countertransference therapeutically and assessing changes in countertransference over time as an indicator of therapeutic change. This single case presentation will attempt to demonstrate how the shifting internal experience of the therapist’s mind, in reaction to the patient’s developmental needs, serves to signal the therapist that maturation is occurring. Using clinical material, three distinct developmental stages will be described and explored as the patient and therapist move from a psychotic-like state of organization, through an “acting out” phase, and finally into a symbolic state of mind. Theoretic concepts, linked to each stage, will further aim to expand on the understanding of the developmental process.
Learning Objectives:

Describe how to identify shifts in clinical material and how these shifts are linked to countertransference experience
Describe how to differentiate countertransference that accurately reflects the patient’s experience from countertransference that interferes with understanding the patient
Apply theoretical frameworks to understand the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship and the patient’s developmental trajectory

Dr. Bolger is a clinical psychologist with over 10 years of experience in private practice. She is in Adult Psychoanalytic training at NOBPC and has organized and contributed to our speaker series for many years. Her past presentations added enthusiasm and sparked people’s interest in countertransference ideas.
Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 2 CME credits:

NOBPC members $15
Non-members $25

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

Optional Readings:

Eshel, O. (2019). The vanished last scream: Winnicott and Bion. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 88: 111-140.
Civatarese, G. (2019). The concept of time in Bion’s “A theory of thinking.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 100: 182-205.
Hewitt, M.A. (2014). Freud and the psychoanalysis of telepathy: commentary on Claudie Massicotte’s “Psychical transmissions.” Psychoanalytic Dialogues 24: 103-108.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Psychoanalytic Explorations: Ended but Not Over: Explorations of Difficult Terminations in Psychotherapy by Jeffrey Sibrack, MD
2024-11-16 11:00 - 12:30 (Asia/Karachi) | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Psychoanalytic thinking about termination has shifted away from idealized and homogenous models and towards recognizing limitations, difference, and uncertainty. This presentation will describe common experiences like unexpected, unilateral, or forced terminations and their impact on both therapists and patients. Dr. Sibrack will summarize some ideals of a therapeutic termination phase and review common features in other types of endings that may lead to countertherapeutic activity. Case material, examining specific instances of disillusionment and limitations in therapy, will be complemented by a focused review of literature to highlight ways that therapists can anticipate issues surrounding difficult terminations, avoid defensive action, keep the patient experience in mind, and promote an experience of growth.
Learning Objectives:

Summarize different types of endings that commonly occur in psychotherapy and analysis
Discuss common expressions of transference and countertransference that may appear as treatment comes to an end, specifically when termination is forced or unilateral
Demonstrate how confrontations with limitations and disillusionment in ending a therapy can facilitate growth and/or healing in both analyst and analysand

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 2 CME credits:

NOBPC members $15
Non-members $25

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

Optional Readings:

Gabbard, G. O. (2021) The “dragons of primeval days”: Termination and the persistence of the infantile. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 102:595-602.
Flabbi, L. (2019) What Healing Has to Do with Termination: Endings and Interruptions. Division Review 19:45-49.
Doorn, K. A. & Wooldridge, T. (2018) The Complexity of Loss during a Forced Termination: A Case Illustration. British Journal of Psychotherapy 34:285-299.
Tucker, S. S. (2018) Myths of termination: What patients can teach psychoanalysts about endings. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 99:260-262.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Beyond Words: Exploring Countertransference Through Art & Sensory Expression by Robert Wolf, DPsa Scientific Conference In-person or Zoom
2024-12-07 09:30 - 12:30 (Asia/Karachi) | Imagine Recovery New Orleans, 738 Nashville Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70115, United States
Sponsored by The Svenson Lectureship Fund
NOBPC in collaboration with Imagine Recovery New Orleans presents
Beyond Words: Exploring Countertransference Through Art & Sensory Expression
An Experiential Workshop for Clinicians on Navigating Unconscious Responses
Robert Wolf, DPsa
Attendees will receive a 3-hour CME certificate. This is a hybrid event. Please choose to join us at Imagine Recovery (details below) or via Zoom. In-person space is limited so please register early. VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, December 6 at Noon Central Time.
9:30am – 12:30pm Central Time
Facing the rise of pre-neurotic patients, often presenting early developmental character disorders, dissociation, or internalized trauma, clinicians often experience intense countertransference inductions.
This experiential workshop provides a supportive environment to explore and process countertransference feelings and inductions through nonverbal, expressive modalities, and sensory motor techniques like drawing, role-playing, visualization, and somatic exploration, to help understand how our unconscious constantly collects information without our overt awareness. To prevent being completely inundated by this information, our brain selects information necessary to respond to present situations and filters out the rest, delegating it to our unconscious. We will explore how we can access this data by using a variety of non-verbal sensory and motoric forms of communication. Non-verbal experience precedes verbal development and continues to evolve throughout our life, often without our conscious awareness. Volunteers will be asked to think of a difficult patient in their current practice and present this patient to the group by imitating the posture and gait, drawing this patient, and using other forms of sensory exploration.
Volunteers will be selected from the physical audience to participate in this group and present patients for exploration through these processes. Virtual audiences will be encouraged to follow the instructions with a patient of their own.
By externalizing these inductions, participants can identify and resolve inductions, so they no longer interfere with treatment flow. The group format provides a ‘community of peers”, crucial for addressing practice isolation and encouraging deeper explorations to identify where personal issues of the clinician may intersect the inevitable inductions experienced through projective identification.
Learning Objectives:

Identify countertransference reactions by using expressive modalities
Describe how a group experience helps to process countertransference material
List nonverbal, expressive techniques that can be utilized in processing countertransference inductions

Dr. Wolf received his degree, Doctor of Psychoanalytic Studies, from the Parkmore Institute after completing a course of study at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. As a member of the NPAP Neuro-Psychoanalysis Study Center Steering Committee he continues to integrate his interests in art and psychoanalysis with contemporary neuropsychological concepts. He is a Fellow at the Parkmore Institute and a Training Faculty member at NPAP. He is Professor Emeritus at the College of New Rochelle. He is a licensed psychoanalyst and creative art therapist in NY State and has conducted a private practice in Manhattan, NY since 1980.
In person at Imagine Recovery Imagine Recovery 728 Nashville Ave New Orleans, LA 70115
Registration Information (includes 3 CME credits)
Advance registration is required. Please click HERE to register online. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Early Registration Discount by November 8, 2024:
NOBPC Members: $40
Non-members: $85
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
AFTER November 8, 2024 and before November 28:
NOBPC Members: $55
Non-members: $100
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Week of Registration Fees:
NOBPC Members: $70
Non-members: $115
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Optional Readings:

Ababio, B. (2022) Nafsiyat Therapy Center: Challenges, Insights and Developments. Psychoanalysis and History 24:311-318
Abend, S. (2018) Countertransference and Psychoanalytic Technique, The Psychoanalytic Quarterly 87:497-515
Wolf, R. (2024) Synthesis of Photography, Art and Neuropsychological Concepts Within Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: an Illustrated Case Study, British Journal of Psychotherapy 40, 1 (2024) 117–142

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

Sutures to the Psyche: Weaving Contemporary Treatments and Psychoanalysis into Hospital-Based Trauma Recovery by Nathan Brown, Psy.D and Sandy Hyatt, Psy.D
2025-03-22 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
This presentation will provide an overview of trauma and its treatment among patients seeking medical care for traumatic injuries in a Level 1 Trauma Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Presenters will then provide a review of current research on “evidence-based” treatments for PTSD, specifically Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), compared with certain psychoanalytic treatments. Presenters will explore how these contrasting modalities may be integrated effectively within a hospital-based setting. Throughout this culturally informed presentation, presenters will use case examples, live demonstrations, and group discussion with the hope that attendees will be able to utilize concepts presented in their clinical practices.
Nathan H. Brown, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry for LSU Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC). He is also the dedicated Psychologist at the Burn Center at University Medical Center, New Orleans (UMCNO). He earned his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Roosevelt University in Chicago and completed internship and postdoctoral fellowship at LSUHSC. He was a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Fellow at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis from 2017-2019. He has been licensed in Louisiana since 2020. Dr. Brown provides clinical services in English and Spanish, and specializes in the psychological assessment and treatment of patients in both outpatient and integrated medical settings. Dr. Brown works in the UMCNO Behavioral Health Clinic, in general mental health and the Intensive Outpatient Program, and the UMCNO Burn Center, providing psychological care to inpatient and outpatient burn survivors. He is also a Phoenix Society SOAR Coordinator and facilitates a long-running Burn Survivor Support Group. His professional interests include health and burn psychology, psychotherapy with Latinx patients, clinical supervision, and multicultural competence in mental health treatment. Dr. Brown has presented locally and regionally on topics related to psychological care for burn patients. He also supervises predoctoral psychology interns as they rotate through the Burn Unit.

Sandy Hyatt, Psy.D. (2020, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology; 2020, Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC)): Dr. Hyatt is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at LSUHSC. She currently provides clinical services at University Medical Center (UMC) and serves as the Associate Director for UMC’s Seeds of NOLA Trauma Recovery Center. As part of her work at UMC, Dr. Hyatt is engaged in multiple staff wellness initiatives aimed at increasing trauma-informed care practices throughout the hospital and associated academic institutions. Dr. Hyatt is actively involved in the training and education of psychology trainees and psychiatry residents, concurrently assuming the role of Director of Group Supervision of Supervision within LSUHSC‘s Psychology Internship Program. In addition to these pursuits, her professional and clinical interests include health psychology, programmatic development, increasing access to treatment for underserved populations, and culturally responsive treatment and education.
Learning Objectives:

Attendees will be able to compare and contrast psychoanalytic theories and interventions for trauma with certain ”evidence-based” modalities (i.e., EMDR and PE)
Attendees will be able to identify practical ways in which they could integrate EMDR and/or PE with psychoanalytic treatments for trauma (e.g., using the language of Stricker’s 1994 article on integration in psychotherapy)
Attendees will demonstrate understanding of the ways in which trauma-focused treatments may be applied in a hospital-based clinical setting

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $15
Non-members $25

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

Optional Readings:

Charles, M. (2019). The Clinical Psychologist in an Open Inpatient Setting: A Psychoanalytic Perspective. In Clinical Psychology in the Mental Health Inpatient Setting (pp. 31-49). Routledge.
Paintain, E., & Cassidy, S. (2018). First-line therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of cognitive behavioural therapy and psychodynamic approaches. Counselling and psychotherapy research, 18(3), 237–250. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12174
Peri, T., Gofman, M., Tal, S., & Tuval-Mashiach, R. (2015). Embodied simulation in exposure-based therapies for posttraumatic stress disorder-a possible integration of cognitive behavioral theories, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis. European journal of psychotraumatology, 6, 29301. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v6.29301

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Film Series - "X" (2022 horror movie) by Franklin Worell, PhD & Paul Doyen, LMSW
2025-04-06 14:00 - 17:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: This film screening explores the pleasure and fascination we experience when consuming horror movies and true crime media. Presenters will draw from analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory to explain our attraction to what is frightening and uncertain in our world. By identifying horror genres with attempts to resolve our deepest anxieties, presenters will discuss how horror can help us understand both our clients and ourselves.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC Discussion begins at 4pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Why do we watch horror movies? Why do we listen to true crime podcasts? Why do we voluntarily expose ourselves to situations that frighten and disturb us?
Come watch Ti West’s classic 2022 horror movie “X” and join us for a discussion of what attracts us to the genre of horror.
Franklin Worell, PhD, will discuss the “paradox of horror,” or the problem of why human beings derive pleasure from negative emotions like fear and disgust. He will review theories in analytic philosophy, challenge the idea that there can be a universal theory of horror and discuss the aesthetic and philosophical pleasures of scaring ourselves.
Paul Doyen, LMSW, will review psychoanalytic explanations for why we pursue uncanny experiences, including the need to master outer dangers and resolve inner conflicts. He will also connect the horror genre to obsessive anxieties and suggest that an interest in horror media may be a hallmark of neuroticism.
Learning Objectives:

Summarize the “paradox of horror” as defined within analytic philosophy and psychoanalytic theory
Describe the reasons that people choose to pursue experiences that frighten and disgust them
Analyze the relationship between horror and mental health, including connections to neuroticism and psychosis

Dr. Franklin Worell is a former student and professor of philosophy at Tulane University, where he researched and wrote about horror as a genre. Dr. Worell is highly knowledgeable about what is known as the “paradox of horror” within analytic philosophy. His 2022 dissertation, “Peaking Through Our Fingers: Theorizing Horror and its Appeal through its Genres,” critiqued theories of horror as well as proposed its own Aristotelian theory of horror’s appeal.
Paul Doyen, LMSW, is a psychotherapist in psychoanalytic training at the Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. He works in private practice at Garden District Mental Health, where sees several clients who have obsessions and interests involving horror and crime. Paul has a longstanding interest in horror films as well as in psychoanalytic theories around horror and the uncanny.
Attendance is free but pre-register HERE
Please click HERE for registration with CME credits. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $10
Non-members $15

In-person space is limited so please register early.
If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining. If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 3:50pm or join the Zoom link.
The film is available to rent on several streaming services.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Optional Readings:

Hauke, C. (2015). Horror films and the attack on rationality. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 60(5), 736–740. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12181
Simpson, D. (2022). Life on the margins: movement between the ‘Canny’ and the ‘Uncanny’—a requirement for psychic growth. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 39(1), 232–248. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12803
Worell, F. (2022). Peeking Through Our Fingers: Theorizing Horror and Its Appeal Through Its Genres. Ph. D. Dissertation, Tulane University, 2022. 222 p. (DAI-A 84(1)(E).)

Murder-Suicide in Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Perfect Storm of Multidetermined Causes - W. Scott Griffies MD, DFAPA
2025-04-29 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalysis & Culture consists of presentations on topics exploring aspects of culture through a psychoanalytic lens. Topics will span humanities, science, as well sociocultural dynamics. The format will include a presentation by a selected speaker followed by informal group interaction between presenter and those in attendance.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Discussion begins at 7pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
This applied psychoanalytic presentation explores the phenomenon of murder-suicide in post-Katrina New Orleans, focusing on the case of Zack Bowen and Addie Hall. The aftermath of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina often leads to increased mental health issues, including violence and suicide. The author, who lived and practiced psychiatry in the New Orleans French Quarter (FQ), was involved in a documentary about the couple, providing a unique perspective on their tragic story. Zack Bowen, a veteran of Iraq and Kosovo with PTSD symptoms, and Addie Hall, an artist with a history of abuse, were star-crossed lovers in the post-apocalyptic FQ. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, with the higher socioeconomic population evacuated, the city experienced lawlessness, but also a bond between subcultural groups seeking anarchy, freedom, escapism, and avoidance of past troubles. Drawing from excerpts of the documentary and material from a book about the couple entitled Shake the Devil Off, this presentation utilizes an object relational framework to understand the multidetermined causes of the murder-suicide. It highlights how disasters can bring individuals together in desperate situations, destabilize social connections, and exacerbate avoidant defenses through increased substance abuse. Furthermore, it reveals how such traumatic events can reopen past wounds, including PTSD and experiences of abuse, creating a mental health crisis that extends far beyond the initial impact of the storm. It also underscores the significance of interpersonal containment of toxic projections in the aftermath of a disaster, particularly for individuals with intrapsychic vulnerabilities.
Dr. Scott Griffies’ is a psychodynamic psychiatrist certified in psychoanalysis from the New Orleans Psychoanalytic Institute. He is from New Orleans where he was the residency director for the LSU Department of Psychiatry for many years through Hurricane Katrina. After Katrina, he developed the New Orleans Center of Mind Body Health, a psychiatric group practice, in the upper French Quarter. In 2015 he relocated to Duke Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as an Associate Professor and the Medical Director of the Psychosomatic Service at Duke Raleigh Hospital and an attending in the Duke Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic. In 2020, he became the Medical Director for Mindpath Health, Director of the Mind-Brain-Body Center and Director of Education. He continues to have an active psychodynamic practice with a focus on patients with psychosomatic disorders. His academic and clinical interest has been in understanding how mind, brain and body interactions can result in problematic physical and somatic symptoms. He continues to teach within the psychodynamic course at Duke and has been honored with teaching awards throughout his career.
Learning Objectives:

List the four core stages of post-disaster recovery
Describe how external and internal factors of a disaster affect individuals with intrapsychic vulnerabilities
Explain the regressive defensive use of projective identification in situations of overwhelming stress
Discuss an object relational perspective of murder-suicide in the context of domestic violence

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $15
Non-members $25

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.
Optional Readings:

Griffies, W. S. (2024). Murder‐suicide in post‐Katrina New Orleans: A perfect storm of multidetermined causes. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 21(2), e1865.
Cianconi, P., Betrò, S., & Janiri, L. (2020). The impact of climate change on mental health: a systematic descriptive review. Frontiers in psychiatry, 11, 74.
Kernberg, O. F. (2015, January). Neurobiological correlates of object relations theory: The relationship between neurobiological and psychodynamic development. In International forum of psychoanalysis (Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 38-46). Routledge.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Film Series - AI and Therapeutic Action in 'HER'; Will She Replace Us? by Andrew Anson, MD
2025-05-18 14:00 - 17:45 (Asia/Karachi) | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: This film screening explores how psychotherapists and psychoanalysts are increasingly confronted with the question of whether an AI platform (ChatGPT, therapy bots, or a future operating system) can replace the therapy relationship and to what degree it can mimic it. This talk looks at the potential and limits of AI therapy from a multi-theoretical perspective of attachment, mentalization, the depressive position, and desire and fantasy.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC.
Discussion begins at 4:15pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
Can artificial intelligence (AI) satisfy our desire for meaningful relationships? Will AI eventually surpass and replace human psychotherapists?
Come watch Spike Jonze’s prophetic movie, “Her,” and join us for a discussion of the essential elements of therapeutic change and whether they require human-to-human interaction.
Dr. Andrew Anson, MD, will analyze the therapeutic relationship from a multi-theoretical perspective. He will draw on the concepts of attachment, mentalization, the depressive position, desire and fantasy in order to determine AI’s capacity for therapeutic action and interpersonal connection.
Learning Objectives:

Define attachment, mentalization, the depressive position, and desire and fantasy
Describe how attachment, mentalization, achieving the depressive position, and desire and fantasy each change how we think about therapeutic action in clinical practice
Analyze the degree which a relationship to AI facilitates and reciprocates (or not) attachment, mentalization, achieving the depressive position, and desire and fantasy, based on previous definitions

Dr Andrew Anson is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at Atlas Psychiatry and teaches psychoanalytic candidates at NOBPC. He also supervises psychiatric residents at Tulane. He has presented at the NOBPC film series in the past and currently serves on the Board.
Attendance is free but pre-register HERE
Please click HERE for registration with CME credits. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $10
Non-members $15

In-person space is limited so please register early.
If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining. If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 4pm or join the Zoom link.
The film is available to rent on several streaming services.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Optional Readings:

Cooper, S. (2016). The analyst’s experience of the depressive position. In Routledge eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315730615
Freeman, C. (2016). What is Mentalizing? An Overview. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 32(2), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12220
Karbowa-Płowens, M. (2021). John Bowlby and Attachment Theory. In Springer eBooks (pp. 4286–4289). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3574

Film Series - DATE CHANGE -I Have to Think These Things Up: Imagination, Differentiation, and Defense at Grey Gardens by Jon Dimond, Phd
2025-06-21 14:00 - 17:15 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Elevate your clinical competence by understanding the persistent impact of fused family dynamics in adult patients. This talk addresses the gap in recognizing how defenses maintain these relationships and how cultural shifts impede separation. Learn to apply these insights to your practice, fostering deeper understanding and more effective interventions with clients navigating individuation and lifespan challenges.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Screening begins at 2pm Central Time at NOBPC.
Discussion begins at 3:45pm Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
The Maysles Brothers’ Grey Gardens (1976) is many things – a genre defining cinema verite masterpiece that inspired a Broadway musical, an HBO dramatic remake, and truly singular fashion iconography. Some call it a definitive cult classic. It is also a psychologically intense and profoundly intimate portrait of a mother/daughter struggle for dominance, independence, and love at a particularly vulnerable moment in their shared developmental trajectory. Together we will visit the real life East Hampton estate of Grey Gardens and encounter its singular inhabitants Edith “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale in media res.
We will attempt to read this documentary as a narrative representation of the imaginative world of the home’s occupants, returning to cyclical memories of loss, thwarted ambition, and an aching desire for security and love. We will also focus on the ways in which humor and intimacy create opportunities to both connect with and wound others. Participants will additionally be invited to link these observations and insights to their own work with patients contending with overly fused relationships, attempts at individuation, decay, and the precarity of the lifespan.
Learning Objectives:

Identify and describe the defenses that Big Edie and Little Edie use throughout the film
Define Jung’s concept of differentiation and determine whether Big Edie and Little Edie achieve it within their mother-daughter dyad
Assess Big and Little Edie’s respective self-concepts and how that is defended and interfered with throughout the film in the domains of seduction, loss, and decay

Dr. Jon Dimond received his doctorate in clinical psychology from The New School for Social Research in New York City. Although his practice is broadly oriented toward general adult psychotherapy, he has specialized training in treatments for severe personality disorders and trauma. Dr. Dimond additionally has an extensive research and clinical background working with individuals who identify as transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary.
Attendance is free but pre-register HERE
Please click HERE for registration with CME credits. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $10
Non-members $15

In-person space is limited so please register early.
If you wish to join only for the discussion, please watch the film prior to joining. If joining for the discussion only, please arrive at NOBPC by 3:40pm or join the Zoom link.
The film is available to rent on several streaming services.
Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event and is only available for the discussion portion.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Optional Readings:

Chodorow, N. (2020). Women, mother, daughters: The reproduction of mothering after the second wave. International Psychoanalytical Association. https://www.ipa.world/IPA/IPA_DOCS/PDFDocuments/Chodorow%202020-%20Women%20Mother%20Daughters.pdf
Golan, M., & Bachner-Melman, R. (2021). Keep it quiet: Mother–daughter parentification and difficulties in separation–individuation shaping daughters’ authentic/true self and self-silencing: A mediation model. Journal of Adolescence, 89, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.04.002
Akhtar, S. (2022). Selected papers of Salman Akhtar. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003278736

Freud vs. Jung: A Dangerous Method film screening
2025-07-26 19:00 UTC | Studio 633, 633 Carondelet Street, New Orleans, 70130, United States
In collaboration with the C.G. Jung Society of New Orleans
Freud vs. Jung: A Dangerous Method & a Historic Dialogue
Screening begins at 7pm Central Time at Studio 633 (633 Carondelet Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130).
Participation is open to all.

Psychoanalysis and Cinema: Who was the better analyst—Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung? Which father of psychoanalysis speaks more to our times in 2025? And why did these once-close allies stop speaking altogether?
Join us for a powerful night of cinema and conversation as the New Orleans Birmingham-Psychoanalytic Center and the C.G. Jung Society of New Orleans come together for the first-ever collaborative event between the Freudian and Jungian communities in our city. We’ll screen David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method (2011), which dramatizes the intense and ultimately fractured friendship between Freud and Jung—and the influence of Sabina Spielrein, one of the first female psychoanalysts. Their entangled story raises timely questions: What caused the split between these two towering minds? And why are their followers still divided today?
Following the film, join us for a live dialogue exploring the diverging theories of the unconscious—Freud’s Oedipal insights, Jung’s collective unconscious, and the very different paths their legacies took. Let’s open the conversation that Freud and Jung never finished, and bring our communities together at last.
Let’s talk—because the founders of the talking cure aren’t.
Pre-register HERE
We look forward to seeing you there!

Hurricane Katrina: 20 Years Later – Reflections and Resilience
2025-09-13 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
The New Orleans Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center invites you to join us on September 13 at 11am for a morning of reflection, remembrance, and renewal.
Led by our Emeritus Faculty, this event will feature a short documentary and discussion about the shared trauma of Katrina: how the Center came together to manage the crisis and evolved as a result, personal accounts of rebuilding, and how the storm impacted their career trajectories.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience the profound impact of the storm on NOBPC and those who dedicated their careers to healing and recovery.
Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. This presentation does not offer CME credits.
Pre-register HERE.
In-person space is limited so please register early.
To learn more about the academic research that led to the documentary, click HERE
To read Reports from the Front: The Eﬀects of Hurricane Katrina on Mental Health Professionals in New Orleans, click HERE
$15 suggested donation. If you would like to donate in advance, please use this Venmo QR code.

Psychotherapist Social Hour at Bayou Beer Garden
2025-09-18 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | Bayou Beer Garden, 326 N Norman C Francis Parkway, New Orleans, 70119, United States
Are you a psychotherapist in the New Orleans area? Do you need to build your referral network? Do you want more opportunities to connect with like-minded therapists?
We are excited to announce our second Psychotherapist Social Hour on Thursday, Sept. 18th, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the Bayou Beer Garden.
The Social Hour is a casual event for psychotherapists to relax, network and enjoy a drink together every three months. Our hope is to build community, create high quality referral networks and reduce the stress and isolation that we can experience as mental health professionals.
All counselors, social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists are welcome. Clinicians who are curious about psychoanalysis and our Center will have the opportunity to learn more from our members, but an interest in psychoanalysis is not required to attend.
Please join us and help us build community together!
RSVP, invite colleagues and spread the word using the link below.
RSVP HERE
We hope to see you there!

Secrets in Psychotherapy: Clinical, Somatic, and Ethical Perspectives with Kathryn J. Zerbe MD Scientific Conference In-person or Zoom
2025-10-04 11:00 - 13:00 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Secrets in Psychotherapy: Clinical, Somatic, and Ethical Perspectives
Kathryn J. Zerbe MD
11am – 1pm Central Time
2 In-person Clinical and Ethics continuing education credits available
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Participation is open to all. Attendees will receive a 2-hour CME certificate. This is a hybrid event. In-person space is limited so please register early and use the early registration discount through September 17.
Hearing secrets is part of every clinician’s practice. The impact of keeping secrets has received little attention in psychodynamic training or the analytic literature. These disclosures can exert powerful and unanticipated reactions in the therapeutic relationship. Somatic countertransference reactions and the body/mind relationship is an entry point to more fully appreciate the importance of secrets that come to light in treatment. Ethical complications can also arise when bearing witness to others’ “ghosts” and trauma. It is essential to distinguish normative but conflictual ‘professional camouflage’ from unconscious or dissociated ‘secret identities.
This presentation (based on Kathryn Zerbe’s new book Secrets in Psychotherapy: Stories that Inform Clinical Work) brings together contemporary perspectives from psychodynamic treatment, advances in cognitive science, medicine, and neuroscience to assist practitioners in working with secrets that emerge during psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. Clinical examples will illustrate and integrate the multiple perspectives from which to understand the impactful role secret keeping has on our patients’ lives and our own.
Learning Objectives:

Distinguish between the ethical complications that may arise from ‘therapist camouflage’ or less conscious, dissociated ‘secret identities’.
Recognize multiple and unanticipated impacts on the therapist-patient relationship when a warded off secret is spoken aloud.
Use somatic countertransference as an additional guide in treatment.

Kathryn J. Zerbe, MD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at Oregon Psychoanalytic Center and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University who has written several papers and a book on the topic of secret keeping in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Her experience in treating eating disorders for over 30 years led her to undertake a deeper dive into the topic of secrets that reside on the conscious/unconscious continuum, impact the mind/body of patient and clinician, and can create complicated ethical dilemmas in the treatment.
Registration Information (includes 2 CME credits)
Advance registration is required. Please click HERE to register online. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, October 3 at Noon Central Time.
In person at NOBPC, 3624 Coliseum St , New Orleans, LA 70115
Early Registration Discount by September 17, 2025:
NOBPC Members: $40
Non-members: $85
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
AFTER September 5 and BEFORE September 27:
NOBPC Members: $55
Non-members: $100
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Week of Registration Fees:
NOBPC Members: $70
Non-members: $115
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Optional Readings:

Zerbe, K. (2019). The secret life of secrets: Deleterious psychosomatic effects on patient and analyst. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 67:1, 185 – 214.https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0003065119826624
Zerbe, K. (2022). Aches, pains, rumbles, and stumbles: Applying somatic countertransference and body reactivity in clinical work and teaching. Psychoanalytic Review, 109:2, 167 – 193.
Zerbe, K. (2022). The analyst’s self-care: Further reflections on cultivating resilience and the essential role of the body-mind relationship in clinical practice, Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 50:4, 603 – 621.

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Cases in Conversation: Reading and Study Group
2026-01-11 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | NOBPC, 3624 Coliseum Street, New Orleans, LA, 70115, United States
Registration is closed for the study group
The Cases in Conversation Study Group is for clinicians who are interested in psychoanalytic ideas and their application to psychotherapy. The group will be facilitated by Jeanne Cunningham, LCSW.
In this new study group, we will read psychoanalytic cases and discuss how to work concretely with psychoanalytic concepts. Therapists with an analytic background as well as those who are brand new to psychoanalysis are encouraged to join us to explore what it means to work within a psychoanalytic frame of mind, use of self, and the evolution from classical to relational psychoanalysis.
Together, we’ll read and discuss six short case studies from Dr. Beth I. Feldman’s 2025 book, Case Studies in Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: If I Could Turn Back Time. Dr. Feldman’s accessible, relational approach invites us to think deeply about the meaning of analytic work and how it unfolds in real therapy rooms.
Participants will also examine Feldman’s nuanced use of the analytic frame and self-disclosure, enhancing their theoretical grasp of psychoanalysis and supporting reflection on how relational techniques might inform their own clinical practice.
Learning Objectives:

Discuss the core tenants of contemporary psychoanalysis and how to apply them to clinical practice
Define the analytic concepts used by Feldman, including misattunements, ruptures, enactments and self-states
Examine Feldman’s use of relational techniques such as self-revelation and evaluate their effectiveness

This is an in-person study group meeting on the following Sundays at 3624 Coliseum Street from 4pm-5pm Central Time:
January 11, 2026
February 8, 2026
March 8, 2026
April 12, 2026
May 10, 2026
June 14, 2026
July 12, 2026
Attendance is free. Fee for semester-based CME credits: $50 NOBPC member / $75 non-member. Each session is a 1-hour CME offering. In its entirety, the course will offer 7 CME credits.
Please click HERE for online registration.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Psychologists and Social Workers may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.

The I in You by Jeffry Luria, PhD
2026-01-17 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
We think about ourselves, but how much do we think about our thinking about our selves? When we do, what is the Self we think about? If I am thinking about myself, who is the I and who is the Self? We will briefly outline the history of narcissism and the Self in western culture from biblical to present days. We will explore the pervasive narcissism of our culture and attempt to re-define the concepts of Self, Narcissism and Well-Being. By redefining we may be more open to appreciating how these concepts inform and deepen our understanding of their influence on the dynamics of transference and countertransference. How much of transference and countertransference is based on the narcissistic processes of both analyst and patient? If so, is the question below a serious one? Is the psychoanalytic relationship a therapeutically necessary narcissistic fever dream progressively disrupted by transient awakenings of the patient and analyst whose successful completion depends on an enduring awakening of both?
Dr. Jeffry Luria, a clinical psychologist/psychoanalyst, began practicing in 1975. He trained as a psychoanalyst at the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health in New York City and later served as a supervising psychoanalyst at two training institutes there. He is a member of the faculty of the New Orleans Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center He is working on a book entitled The I in You, a slightly ego-centric stroll through Self and Narcissism in culture and clinical practice.
Learning Objectives:

Describe the origin, definition, and role of Self in human experience and behavior and increase their awareness of the role of Self in human behavior
Examine the social and cultural influences that reflect and exacerbate the role of Self in individuals
Explain the role of Self in transference and countertransference and how it expands the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $25
Non-members $35

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.

Optional Readings:

Fischman, L. G. (2019). Seeing without self: Discovering new meaning with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Neuropsychoanalysis, 21(2), 53–78.
“A Neural Signature of the Bias Toward Self-Focus” by Danika Geisler et al. Journal of Neuroscience August 25, 2025
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Progress in Understanding and Treatment Am Psychiatr Publ. 2022 Oct;20(4):368-377

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program Virtual Open House and Informational Q&A
2026-02-26 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Virtual Event via Zoom, LA
We’re excited to welcome you to an engaging open house and discussion with the Chair of our Psychoanalytic Education Committee, Molly Rothenberg, PhD, about our upcoming Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program, launching in Fall 2026. The virtual event will take place on February 26, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. CST via Zoom,
An in-person event will take place at the Center on February 28, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. CST, lasting approximately 30–45 minutes.
Please click HERE for online registration.
The Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program offers a rich learning experience for mental health professionals eager to deepen their understanding of psychoanalytic principles and elevate their skills in conducting intensive psychotherapy. The curriculum features 26 classes each academic year, including psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory and clinical case presentations, meeting once a week in the evening. This is a stand-alone program and is not part of the training track for psychoanalytic candidates. Applications are due April 15, 2026, and full program details—including the application—are available on our website. Whether you are considering training now or in the future, all are welcome to attend.
We look forward to seeing you!

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program In-Person Open House and Informational Q&A
2026-02-28 10:00 - 10:45 UTC | NOBPC, 3624 Coliseum Street, New Orleans, LA, 70115, United States

Rehabilitating the Heart: A Jungian Psychoanalytic Exploration of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale The Snow Queen by Elizabeth Colistra, PhD
2026-02-28 11:00 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Psychoanalytic Explorations is a series in which faculty members and students of the NOBPC, as well as interested members of the community, present and discuss issues of current concern to them. The focus will be on clinical practice, theoretical challenges, and non-clinical applications of psychoanalytic theory; all presentations are intended to deepen attendees’ ability to think psychoanalytically. Each session will begin with a presentation followed by questions and answers and open discussion, with the intention of facilitating relaxed, informal peer exchange.
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Discussion begins at 11am Central Time at NOBPC or Zoom
According to Bruno Bettelheim, “Psychoanalysis was created to enable man to accept the problematic nature of life without being defeated by it, or giving in to escapism. Freud’s prescription is that only be struggling courageously against what seem like overwhelming odds can man succeed in wringing meaning out of his existence.” This is also the message that fairy tales deliver: that a struggle against severe difficulties in life is unavoidable, archetypal, and an intrinsic part of human existence. However, if one engages consciously in the struggle, one may discover that it is a meaningful suffering, not simply a meaningless one.
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Snow Queen, follows the story of a young girl and boy and the trouble they both get into regarding their hearts. It is the heart which allows us to experience feeling values of love, empathy, compassion, and relatedness. In Jungian psychology, is is the realm of the archetypal feminine principle. The Snow Queen teaches us the dangers of being too one-sided, either too naively in the heart, or too cooly in the mind. Separated and eventually conjoined, the heart and mind both require distillation and refinement. If we can submit to his process, not only does it lead to the rehabilitation of the heart, but a chance for love and insight to reign together equally and powerfully in the psyche of individuals and the larger collective consciousness
Elizabeth Colistra, PhD is a certified Jungian psychoanalyst in New Orleans who offers a unique perspective on psychoanalytic discourse given her Jungian training and clinical practice.
Learning Objectives:

Describe the clinical relevance for use of fairy tales in psychoanalytic practice
Demonstrate the ways in which fairy tales help make internal processes more comprehensible and meaningful by externalizing these processes in the figures of the story and its events
Describe the process of development out of an original undifferentiated state into one of integration of opposites within the personality through the use of the fairy tale

Please join us at NOBPC or via Zoom. Participation is open to all. In-person space is limited so please register early.
Please click HERE for online registration. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
Fee for 1.5 CME credits:

NOBPC members $25
Non-members $35
Students $10

Zoom registration ends 24 hours before the event.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Optional Readings:

Cunha, I. (2021). The Jaguar, The Fire, The Man: A Jungian Interpretation of a Brazilian Indigenous Tale. Psychological Perspectives, Vol. 64, issue 3, (pp. 369-382).
Newton, L. (2019). Resolving a Split in Feminine Development: The Pretty and the Ugly Maidens. Psychological Perspectives, Vol. 62, issue 1, (pp. 79-88).
Takenaka, N. (2016). The Realization of Absolute Beauty: an interpretation of the fairytale Snow White. Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol 61, issue 4, (pp. 497-514).

Language Strangeness at the Core of Psychoanalysis: The Educator, The Artist, and The Hiker Scientific Conference In-person or Zoom by John Rosegrant, PhD
2026-03-21 10:30 - 12:30 UTC | NOBPC or Zoom, 3624 Coliseum St., New Orleans, 70115, United States
Language Strangeness at the Core of Psychoanalysis: The Educator, The Artist, and The Hiker
John Rosegrant, PhD
10:30am – 12:30pm Central Time
2 In-person Clinical continuing education credits available
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Licensed Professional Counselors may also receive continuing education credit for this activity if their accredited associations or boards recognize CME credits.
Participation is open to all. Attendees will receive a 2-hour CME certificate. This is a hybrid event. In-person space is limited so please register early and use the early registration discount through March 4.
The “talking” part of the talking cure is strange. Often we encounter patients who want to hear from us but don’t like what we say, or want us to stop talking when they seem most in need of our help. And often patients wish we would understand them but don’t want to say anything, or at least not anything about what they most want us to understand.
We will look at clinical material with the help of an imaginary educator, an imaginary artist, and an imaginary hiker, to explore how Freud, infant researchers, and Lacan understand this strangeness. We will identify a fundamental uneasiness and alienation between language and nonverbal parts of the mind, and think about how to address clinically the problems this creates.
Learning Objectives:

Examine the fears that make it difficult for patients to talk about what is most important to them
Examine what makes patients afraid to hear from their therapists about what is most important to them
Summarize how Freud, infant researchers, and Lacan understand these fears

John Rosegrant, Ph.D. trained in Adult and Child & Adolescent Psychoanalysis at the Contemporary Freudian Society in New York City and is on the Faculty and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the New Orleans-Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center. He is a highly experienced clinician who has published and presented on psychoanalytic technique, psychoanalytic theory, play therapy, dreams, fairy tales, and fantasy literature, including a psychoanalytic investigation of the life and works of J.R.R. Tolkien, “Tolkien, Enchantment, and Loss”. Dr. Rosegrant is on the Editorial Boards of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Psychanalytic Psychology, and The Journal of Ursula K. LeGuin Studies, and is the Reviews Editor of Mythlore, a journal of fantasy literature.
Registration Information (includes 2 CME credits)
Advance registration is required. Please click HERE to register online. If you prefer to pay by check, please email nobpcenter@gmail.com.
VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, March 20 at Noon Central Time.
In person at NOBPC, 3624 Coliseum St , New Orleans, LA 70115
Early Registration Discount by March 4, 2026:
NOBPC Members: $40
Non-members: $85
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
AFTER March 4 and BEFORE March 14:
NOBPC Members: $55
Non-members: $100
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Week of Registration Fees:
NOBPC Members: $70
Non-members: $115
Students (enrolled in a formal academic or training program) $25 (No CME)
Optional Readings:

Bucci, W. (2018) The Primary Process as a Transitional Concept: New Perspectives from Cognitive Psychology and Affective Neuroscience. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 38:198-209
Busch, F. (2016) Methods of Understanding: Revisions to a Freudian Method. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 36:548-557
Fink, B. (2019) On the value of the Lacanian approach to analytic practice. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 100:315-332

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
