Select Page

The Lawrence E. Lifson, MD, Conference

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy 2022

Friday and Saturday • April 29-30, 2022

To be presented this year as a Live In-Person
at Fairmont Copley Plaza or Interactive Streaming Program

COURSE DIRECTORS

Lawrence E. Lifson, MD and Martha Stark, MD

FACULTY

Steven Cooper, PhD | Nicholas Covino, PsyD | Jack Foehl, PhD | Richard Geist, EdD | James Herzog, MD | Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP | Mark O’Connell, PhD | Rafael Ornstein, MD | Elizabeth (Libby) Shapiro, PhD | Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD

Friday, April 29, 2022

Working with Dynamics of Grief, Depression, and Self-Sabotage

Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP

Registration Note: You may register for this workshop by itself or as part of a discounted package that includes the program on Saturday.

In the wake of the recent pandemic, therapists struggle to help patients with painful losses and challenges. Situational stresses interact with personality patterns, presenting therapists with complicated combinations of grief, mourning, and depressive and masochistic dynamics. Because neither “Depressive Personality Disorder” nor “Self-Defeating Personality Disorder” is found in the DSM or ICD, official taxonomies offer little clinical help in distinguishing between various painful self-states and framing therapy accordingly. Dr. McWilliams will differentiate conceptually between depression and mourning, between anaclitic and introjective depression, between relational self-sabotage and “moral masochism,” and between depressive and self-defeating personality patterns. She will use her own case material illustratively and present one self-defeating patient in depth.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Differentiate between normal grief and clinical depression;
  • Distinguish anaclitic from introjective depression;
  • Distinguish between relational (anaclitic) and moral (introjective) masochism;
  • Identify differences between predominantly depressive and predominantly self-defeating (masochistic) personality patterns;
  • Discuss the clinical implications of these overall conceptualizations;
  • Manage countertransference reactions to patients with each of these problems.

Workshop Schedule

8:30 – 8:45am

Welcome and Overview
Nicholas Covino, PsyD

8:45 – 10:45am

Dr. Nancy McWilliam’s Workshop

10:45 – 11:15am

Coffee Break

11:15am – 12:30pm

Dr. Nancy McWilliam’s Workshop continued

12:30 – 1:45pm

Lunch Break

1:45 – 3:30pm

Dr. Nancy McWilliam’s Workshop continued

3:30 – 3:45pm

Coffee Break

3:45 – 5:15pm

Dr. Nancy McWilliam’s Workshop continued

5:15pm

Adjourned

Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, is on the faculty at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Psychoanalytic Case Formulation; and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She is Associate Editor of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. She is a former president of the Division of Psychoanalysis (39) of the American Psychological Association and is on the editorial board of Psychoanalytic Psychology. 

Dr. McWilliams is the recipient of many awards including the Gradiva Award for Best Psychoanalytic Clinical Book; the Goethe Scholarship Award; the Rosalee Weiss Award for contributions to practice; the Laughlin Distinguished Teacher Award; the Hans Strupp Award for teaching, practice, and writing; and the Division 39 awards for both Leadership and Scholarship. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Psychoanalytic Case Formulation, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and Psychoanalytic Supervision. Dr. McWilliams specializes in: psychoanalytic psychotherapy and supervision; the relationship between psychodiagnosis and treatment; alternatives to DSM5 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. 

Dr. McWilliams is an honorary member of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy 2022

Our extraordinary 18th annual conference will showcase renowned faculty in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Focusing their discussions on two extended clinical vignettes, master clinicians will offer their innovative and ever-evolving reflections on the integration of theoretical constructs into clinical practice. In addition, two pre-eminent clinicians will speak to several topical issues relevant for all of us in our psychodynamic work.

Our overriding goal for the day will be to widen the scope of applicability of psychodynamic psychotherapy to a broad range of clinical situations and to deepen understanding of the curative process. Special attention will be paid to the co-creation of therapeutic impasses and the contributions of both patient and therapist to the unfolding of the “cure.”

Learning objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Define the contributions of different paradigms to therapeutic change;
  • Compare various therapeutic approaches to two compelling case presentations;
  • Determine the role of the transference in the curative process;
  • Describe the difference between the transference and the real relationship;
  • Utilize the countertransference to inform a richer understanding of the patient;
  • Examine the role of the unconscious in the patient’s actions, reactions, and interactions;
  • Summarize the importance of the patient’s dual awareness and self-reflective capacity in the face of trauma;
  • Expound upon the role of play in the repair of rupture;
  • Review the impact of racism and shame in the context of immigration;
  • Demonstrate effective ways to integrate theoretical constructs into clinical practice.

This year

  • Two thought-provoking presentations will feature pre-eminent leaders in the field of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  • Two compelling case presentations will be followed by two discussions demonstrating the integration of theory and practice.
  • The various presentations throughout the day will represent a variety of treatment approaches designed to widen the scope of applicability of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  • The case discussions will represent different clinical perspectives intended to deepen understanding of the therapeutic action.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

  Saturday, April 30, 2022

8:30 am – 8:45 am

Welcoming Remarks
Jack Foehl, PhD

8:45 am – 9:00 am

Overview by Moderator
Alan Pollack, MD

9:00 am – 9:45 am

Case Presentation:
“I Don’t Want to Sound Racist, But…”: Racism and Shame in the Immigrant Context
Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD

9:45am – 10:30 am

Case Discussants
Martha Stark, MD Richard Geist, EdD

10:30 am – 11:00 am

Coffee Break

11:00 am – 11:45 am

The Play of Mourning: Finding Play in Relation to Attachment to Frustrating Objects
Steven Cooper, PhD

11:45 am – 12:30 pm

Panel and Audience Discussion of Presentations:
Alan Pollack, MD, Steven Cooper, PhD, Richard Geist, EdD, Martha Stark, MD, Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD

12:30 pm – 1:45 pm

Lunch Break (on your own)

1:45 pm – 2:30 pm

Case Presentation:
Making Perspective: Building Self Reflexivity in Traumatically Collapsed Minds
Mark O’Connell, PhD

2:30 pm – 3:15 pm

Case Discussants:
James Herzog, MD, Rafael Ornstein, MD

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm

Coffee Break

3:30pm – 4:15 pm

Connie the Serial Killer:
Welcoming the Unwelcome
Elizabeth (Libby) Shapiro, PhD

4:15 pm – 5:00 pm

Panel and Audience Discussion of Presentations:Alan Pollack, MD

James Herzog, MD, Mark O’Connell, PhD, Rafael Ornstein, MD

5:00 pm

Adjourn

Co-Directors

Lawrence E. Lifson, MD is a Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Director, Continuing Education Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; Co-Chair, Continuing Education, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Distinguished Life Fellow, American Psychiatric Association; Recipient, Massachusetts Psychiatric Society’s 2012 Outstanding Psychiatrist in Education Award; 2016 Recipient, Tufts Medical Alumni Association Dean’s Award; 2018 recipient American Psychoanalytic Association Edith Sabshin Teaching Award; Editor, Understanding Therapeutic Action: Current Concepts of Cure and The Mental Health Practitioner and the Law; and Psychology of Investing.

Martha Stark, MD is a Lecturer on Psychiatry (part-time), Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance; Co-Director/Faculty, Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, William James College; Faculty, Psychiatry Redefined; Adjunct Faculty, Smith College School for Social Work; Former Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute and Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Author, Working with Resistance; A Primer on Working with Resistance; Modes of Therapeutic Action; The Transformative Power of Optimal Stress; Psychotherapeutic Moments; How Does Psychotherapy Work?; Relentless Hope; A Heart Shattered, The Private Self, and A Life Unlived; and Understanding Life Backward but Living Life Forward.

Distinguished Faculty

Steven Cooper, PhD Training and Supervising Analyst, The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute; Faculty, Chief Editor Emeritus, Psychoanalytic Dialogues; Faculty, The Stephen Mitchell Center; Author, Objects of Hope: Exploring Possibility and Limit in Psychoanalysis; A Disturbance in the Field: Essays on Transference-Countertransference; The Analyst’s Experience of the Depressive Position; Playing and Becoming in Psychoanalysis.

Nicholas Covino, PsyD President, William James College; Member, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute.

Jack Foehl, PhD President, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Training and Supervising Analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Supervisor and Faculty Member at Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Instructor of Psychology in Psychiatry (part-time), Harvard Medical School; Clinical Associate Professor (part-time) at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; Joint Editor in Chief Psychoanalytic Dialogues.

Richard Geist, EdD Founder, Teaching and Supervising Analyst, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Executive Board, International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology; Author, Investor Therapy; Co-Editor, Psychology of Investing; Associate Editor, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology.

James Herzog, MD Training and Supervising Analyst, Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Supervisory Analyst, Sigmund Freud Institute, Zurich, Switzerland; Author, Father Hunger and “Deep” Play with Another; Child Analysis and Adult Analysis.

Mark O’Connell, PhD Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Faculty, Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Institute of New England; Faculty, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Author, The Good Father, On Men, Masculinity and The Life in the Family and The Marriage Benefit.

Rafael Ornstein, MD Instructor in Psychiatry (part-time), Harvard Medical School; Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute; Supervisor, Psychiatry Residency, Massachusetts General Hospital.

Alan Pollack, MD Faculty and Former Director of Psychotherapy Training, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Elizabeth (Libby) Shapiro, PhD Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry (part-time), Harvard Medical School; Supervisor and Teaching Faculty, Cambridge Health Alliance.

Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD Director of Community-Based Education, Danielsen Institute; Research Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University; Associate Editor, the Asian American Journal of Psychology and Psychoanalytic Dialogues; Author, Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy, Editor, Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance.

Target Audience

Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Psychoanalysts, Marriage and Family Therapists, Mental Health Counselors, Psychiatric Nurses, Students in Mental Health Fields (students are encouraged to attend, and discounted student rates are available. See the registration form.

Accreditation

Physicians: 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 (name of nonaccredited provider). 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 13 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. –July 2021–

• Nancy McWilliams, PhD Friday workshop, April 29, 2022: A maximum of 6.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)

• Saturday, April 30, 2022 program: A maximum of 6.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada recognizes conferences and workshops held outside of Canada that are developed by a university, academy, hospital, specialty society or college as accredited grouplearning activities.

Through an agreement between the American Medical Association and the European Union of Medical Specialists, physicians may convert AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ to an equivalent number of European CME Credits® (ECMECs®). Information on the process of converting AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ to ECMECs® can be found at: www.eaccme.eu.

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.

Psychologists: The Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer Continuing education for psychologists. The Continuing Education Program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, maintains responsibility for this program and its contents. The Nancy McWilliams, PhD workshop offers 6.50 CE credits. April 30, 2022 program offers 6.50 CE credits.

Social Workers: Application for social work continuing education credits has been submitted. Please contact Jean-Marie Flynn at 617-754-1265 or by email at jean – jflynn2@bidmc.harvard.edu for the status of social work CE accreditation.

State of New York Social Workers: The Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an Approved Provider of continuing education for licensed social workers. The Nancy McWilliams, PhD workshop is approved for a 6.50 CE hours and April 30, 2022 program is approved for 6.50 CE Hours.

Nurses: These programs meet the specifications of the Board of Registration in Nursing (244 CMR).

Mental Health Counselors: The Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a major teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP™) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for events that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP™ solely is responsible for all aspects of the program. The Nancy McWilliams, PhD workshop is approved for a 6.50 CE clock hours and April 30, 2022 program is approved for 6.50 CE clock hours.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists: Application for FDA/CE continuing education credits has been submitted. Please contact Jean-Marie Flynn at 617-754-1265 or by email at jean – jflynn2@bidmc.harvard.edu for the status of FDA/CE accreditation.

Registration Information

Nancy McWilliams, PhD Workshop tuition (April 29, 2022): $275 after March 16, 2022$225 before March 16, 2022

Full Conference tuition (April 29-30, 2022): $445 after March 16, 2022$395 before March 16, 2022

Note: Students, interns, and fellows may register at the following discounted rates: Full-course: $245, Workshop: $150

The tuition fee is the same if you attend virtually or in person at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. All course participants receive a link to a website where they can download all of the course materials.


Inquiries

By email at jflynn2@bidmc.harvard.edu or by phone 941-932-2671, 10am- 5pm (EST) Monday-Friday.

Refund Policy

A handling fee of $75 is deducted for cancellation. Refund requests must be received by mail or emailjflynn2@bidmc.harvard.edu one week prior to the conference. No refunds will be made thereafter.

Course Location for In-Person Registrants

The Conference will be at the Fairmont Copley Plaza,
138 St. James Ave, Boston, MA. (Telephone: 617-267-5300)

Accommodations/Travel

A limited number of guest rooms have been reserved at a special discounted rate and will be allotted on a first-come, first-served basis until April 5, 2022. Please register and reserve your hotel rooms as early as possible, using the discount code below. Please note that you can cancel your room reservation 3 days prior to your arrival if we need to switch to a virtual only conference.

For a reduced room rate go to https://book.passkey.com/go/LAWR0422

DISCOUNT CODE: Psychotherapy 2022

Covid Guidelines

If you are attending the conference in person at the Fairmont Copley Plaza:

1. All participants must present proof of being fully vaccinated which includes two doses along with a booster. If you do not have your vaccination card, you will not be let into the conference

2. Screening Questions – If a participant answers yes to any of the below, they will have to leave the in-person conference and participate virtually.

a. Have you been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the last 10 days?

b. Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms:  fever (>100.3 deg F) or feverish feeling; chills; body aches; sore throat; cough (new or worsening); shortness of breath (new or worsening); diarrhea (new or worsening); or loss of smell or taste?

c. Have you been in contact with anyone who has confirmed COVID-19 in the last 10 days?

3. MASKS MUST BE WORN AT ALL TIMES