Past Events

March 21, 2026: Love in the Plural.  A Psychoanalytic Dialogue on Polymory

Presenters:  Magdalena J. Josse, PhD, Edie Hitchcock PhD with discussants Shelley Nathans, PhD, Monica Vorchheimer

Along with other forms for consensual non-monogamy, polyamory is increasingly likely to be encountered in our work with individuals, couples, and families.  This meeting will include framing thoughts, clinical presentations, and ample opportunities for questions and discussion.

There have always been individuals and couples in unconventional partnerships with divergent attitudes towards emotional and sexual fidelity.  Queer theory has challenged the naturalness and fixity of gender and sexuality categories for more than 30 years, and by extension, the idea of monogamy.   "The representation of [the couple] as a "we" provides partners with a sense of stability and identity and serves to deny the transience of emotionality," Vorchheimer observes, adding that monogamy may not always deliver on these illusory promises.  Join us for an exploration of alternative pathways for meeting emotional and sexual needs, and the dilemmas that may be encountered along the way.

February 2026: Social Dreaming.  Exploring Our Collective Social Unconscious as a Mirror of Our Times (4 sessions)

Social Dreaming allows participants to explore anxieties and defences without needing to rush to interpret or find solutions, thus fostering negative capability and opening and deepening horizons. Participants share dreams and associations that talk to each other within the Matrixes, allowing new links and connections and the potential discovery of new thoughts. The term 'Matrix' distinguishes these meetings from task-oriented groups focused on problem-solving or decision-making. In Social Dreaming, dreams and associations belong to the Matrix and offer a view of the present social unconscious.

January 31, 2026:  Hope, Dread and the Social Unconscious:  Community Engagement in Chaotic Times

Presenter:  Harriet Wolfe-Presenter, Heribert Blass-Presenter, Francisco Gonzales-Presenter, Sue Kolod-Presenter, Maria Nardone-Moderator

January 10, 2026:  Who Are We Now?  Large Group Identity and Societal Conflict

Presenter:  M. Gerard Fromm;  Discussant: Maria Pia Conte

Large group identity, a concept developed by Vamik Volkan, has to do with highly charged identity elements shared by very large groups of people who will never meet each other. Often based in collective trauma, LGI is passed down from one generation to another and, in times of great stress, is vulnerable to destructive mobilization by political leadership. Participants in the discussion are encouraged to bring their own cases to the discussion.

February 2025: Dreaming the Landscape of the Present Social Unconscious.  Four Social Dreaming Matrixes for analysts and analysts-in-training (4 sessions)

Hosts:  Dr Maria Pia Conte, Carlos Remotti-Breton

Social Dreaming allows participants to explore anxieties and defences without needing to rush to interpret or find solutions, thus fostering negative capabilities and opening and deepening horizons. Participants share dreams and associations that talk to each other within the Matrixes, allowing new links and connections and the potential discovery of new thoughts. The term 'Matrix' distinguishes these meetings from task-oriented groups focused on problem-solving or decision-making. In Social Dreaming, dreams and associations belong to the Matrix and offer a view of the present social unconscious. The focus is not on the dreamers, who remain anonymous, or on the group's psychodynamics, which are not interpreted. Each Matrix will last an hour and will be followed by a half-hour Dream Reflection Dialogue to explore and identify emotions, themes, and thoughts that emerged during the Matrix.

November 16, 2024: Chaos Unleashed: Global Turmoil in the Consulting Room

Speakers:  Claudio Laks Eizirik, Jeanne Wolf Bernstein, Drew Tillotson, Maureen Murphy

The increasing influence of the external world--global terrorism, climate change, politics and racism--are now seeping into the consulting room, evoking some of the deepest anxieties within the internal worlds of our patients and ourselves, and inevitably impacting modern analytic work. The sense of safety that the analytic room and sessions have often offered, even in fantasy, has of late been increasingly challenged.

April 13, 2024: Mothering Alone

Presenters: Alexandra Billinghurst, Katy Bogliatto, Mary Kay O'Neil with Moderator: Susan V. Baxt

Mothering Alone comes from a study conducted by Mary Kay O’Neil who writes, “We are all aware that single motherhood is not a new phenomenon, nor is mothering restricted to women. Mothering is not gender related; men parent alone, same gender parents mother, non-binary people mother, as do parents of surrogate and in-vitro children. Our focus today is on women mothering alone (whether they are married or not). Much of what we will discuss may apply to different family constellations, however, ‘mothers’ in these different constellations have different strengths and dilemmas and are not our focus.”