Home > Conference > Archives > 2007 Conference

Annual Conference

The International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology presents

The 30th Annual International Conference on
The Psychology of the Self:
"Self and Systems"

Wednesday, October 10 - Saturday, October 13, 2007
Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza
Los Angeles, California

2007 Post-Conference Resources:
· Attendee List (PDF, 80 KB)

2007 General Information:
· Target Audience
· Educational Objectives
· Brochure
· Additional Conference Events

2007 Program Details:
· Program
· Faculty
· Pre-conference Workshops
· Paper Workshops
· Panels

Annual Conference Information:
· Conference Archives

The program for this 30th Annual International Conference on The Psychology of The Self, Self and Systems, offers a rich and varied array of psychoanalytic presentations that you will not want to miss. The Main Conference features an exploration of a systems sensibility as it may be applied to the theoretical and clinical world of self psychology. A variety of systems perspectives will be presented in a series of four panels, each of which features and is organized around clinical material. Conference participants will be assigned to a Post Panel Discussion Group that will meet at the close of all four panels. Each Group will be led by a well-established International Council Member of IAPSP who, over coffee, will address questions and facilitate conversation about topics addressed. These leaders include: Shelley Doctors; James Fisch; Jill Gardner; Steven Knoblauch; Gianni Nebbiosi; Anna Ornstein; Paul Ornstein; and Dorienne Sorter.

In Panel One, entitled Emergence and Specificity in Therapeutic Efficacy, we are pleased to announce that Robert Galatzer-Levy will be a guest participant, presenting his systems theory of Emergence. Also presenting on Panel One is Howard Bacal, who will talk on Specificity Theory and Therapeutic Process. Both Galatzer-Levy and Bacal will apply their individual systems approaches to the clinical case material presented by Leslie Smith.

Panel Two, entitled Complexity Theory and Self Psychology, will include William Coburn who will present his discussion of Complexity Theory Made Simple: Exploring A Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Theory. There will be two case discussions. Joye Weisel-Barth will present clinical material elucidating complexity theory, and Amy Eldridge will present case material elucidating self psychology. Estelle Shane will discuss and integrate Coburn's, Weisel-Barth's, and Eldridge's presentations.

Panel Three, entitled Motivational Regulatory Systems, will include Joseph Lichtenberg and Frank Lachmann, both of whom will explicate their different systems approaches, Lichtenberg speaking of his Dyadic Systems: Motives and Influences, and Lachmann his Fitting the System to the Self. They will then apply their respective perspectives to the clinical case material presented by Hazel Ipp.

Panel Four, entitled Existential Views on Loss, will include both Robert Stolorow presenting The Contextuality and Existentiality of Emotional Trauma, and Malcolm Slavin presenting Meaning, Its Ongoing Creation and Loss: An Evolutionary Biological-Existential View. Peter Schou will serve as discussant, and Jeffrey Trop as Commentator on this final panel.

Lucyann Carlton will deliver the final integrative summary of the panels entitled Making Sense of Self and Systems in Psychoanalysis.

The Main Program of the Conference also includes twenty-four individual paper and meet-the-author sessions selected from an unusually large number of fine paper submissions. The three Meet the Author Workshops present books by Joseph Lichtenberg, Robert Stolorow, and David Wallin. The Kohut Memorial Lecture, entitled Attitudes, Ideals, and Intersubjective Vulnerability, will be delivered by Donna Orange.

Preceding the Main Conference we are offering an extensive Pre-Conference Program, which includes choices of presentations on Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday morning. On Wednesday morning we have scheduled an Academic Institute that includes two introductory courses, one, an Introduction to Self Psychology, presented by Shelley Doctors and Alan Kindler; and the other, an Introduction to Systems Theory, presented by Lucyann Carlton and Joye Weisel-Barth. On Wednesday afternoon we offer five pre-conference presentations to choose from, including Eloquence in the Non-Verbal Realm with Jacqueline Gotthold, Rosalind Chaplin Kindler, and Dorienne Sorter; The Parenting Process, offered by Eileen Paris; Between the 'Doer and the Done-to' and the 'Context Made Me Do It': A Comparison of Relational Psychoanalysis and Intersubjective Systems Theory presented by Philip Ringstrom, and discussed by Hazel Ipp and Lynne Jacobs; Self Psychology and Relational Theory, presented by Judith Pickles and Estelle Shane, and discussed by James Fosshage; and Part 1: Forms and Transformations of Monogamy, Intimacy, and Sexuality with Katherine Frank, Rosalind Chaplin Kindler, Alan Kindler, and Joseph Lichtenberg.

On Thursday morning, you may select from among the following Pre-Conference opportunities: Group Therapy, presented by Rosemary Segalla, Walter Stone, and Gil Spielberg; The Relevance of Heidegger's Existential Analytic for Psychoanalysis, offered by Robert Stolorow and Donna Orange; Creativity, Art, and Self Psychology, with George Hagman, Carol Press, David Shaddock, Philip Ringstrom, Karen Schwartz, and Leslie Hogan; Applying Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Attachment Theory to Couples Therapy, presented by Marion Solomon and David Shaddock; and Part 2: Forms and Transformations of Monogamy, Intimacy, and Sexuality.

We are offering this extensive array of educational opportunities at the Omni Hotel sitting atop historic Bunker Hill in the heart of a now culturally sophisticated downtown Los Angeles. Among the numerous attractions just blocks away are the Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Mark Taper Theater Complex where special arrangements are being made for events occurring during the Conference period.

2007 Planning Committee Members: Howard Bacal and Estelle Shane, Conference Co-Chairs; Bernard Brickman; Lucyann Carlton; William Coburn; Amy Eldridge; Alan Kindler; Gianni Nebbiosi; Judith Pickles; Philip Ringstrom; and Joye Weisel-Barth.

This conference is intended for psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, and clinical professional counselors.

At the conclusion of this conference, participants will be able to:

• Describe and illustrate theoretical plurality from Self and Systems perspectives.
• Compare and contrast Relational and Self Psychological perspectives.
• Describe group therapy, child and family therapy, and couples therapy from a Self Psychological perspective.
• Identify ways in which Self Psychology enhances understanding of dissociation and multiple self states.
• Identify varieties of learning disability from a Self Psychological perspective.
• Apply introductory concepts in Self Psychology and Systems Theory to clinical understanding of given case material.

Click here (PDF, 1.2 MB) to download the conference brochure.