Stages of development always merit attention, so we're pleased to report that IMPULSE is already six months old, with an audience of nearly 1,300 subscribers every month. We appreciate the enthusiastic support of our readers, and we've been excited to see the rich traditions of the Bay Area analytic community coming alive in this brave new medium.

To celebrate, we're offering you our biggest issue yet. This month, NCSPP President Beth Steinberg continues her series on the often harrowing process of applying for analytic training. Sharon Tyson describes the rigorous training and client service taking place at California Pacific Medical Center. Louis Roussel continues to take us inside the mind of a practicing analytic candidate in his "blog," the slang term for an informal online diary. Cleopatra Victoria describes taking psychoanalysis to the streets with salutary results. And, The Boyer House Foundation spotlights an upcoming event with Paul Williams on creativity and destruction.

We hope that you enjoy this month's issue, and we hope you'll join NCSPP to assist us in fostering a vibrant psychoanalytic community in Northern California.

In this series on applying for analytic training I will highlight qualities of self on which I relied and which I believe are essential for doing analytic work. These are self-reflectiveness, non-defensive curiosity, transparency and the capacity to face pain and difficult truths. Here, I will focus on my process in writing a personal statement.

The process of applying was, for me, very profound, as it forced me to look at myself and my life very carefully. Beginning with the personal statement, the instructions were utterly vague and unstructured: to provide an autobiography, no longer than. . . Well, what did this mean? Who was I, actually? How would writing about my life be relevant to being an analyst? What are the aspects of my life that are relevant?

After some soul-searching, I started from the beginning: my birth and my parents' lives before me. I had never before told the story of my whole life, from the beginning to the present. I found myself telling a particular story, a story about my own pain, sadness and loss, and my attempts to transform these in various ways throughout my life. I also talked about my passion for relating to and becoming deeply involved with people. I think these are two core aspects of my self, consistent threads running through everything I have done and been. I think these qualities formed the basis for my interest in thinking and working psychoanalytically.

Another aspect of writing the statement (I will expand on this next month when I describe the personal interviews) is the need to feel some confidence about oneself while at the same time bear the insecurity of exposing deeply personal material. This involved, it seemed, the ability to tolerate what is unknown and uncertain about oneself. I believe that I felt I could bear this tension because I believed so strongly in those core aspects of my self. It seemed to me that I could rely and fall back on them, and that doing so helped me tolerate the more difficult, and inevitable, anxieties and insecurities.

Beth Steinberg, Ph.D.
President, NCSPP

The psychology internship program at the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic of San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center has long offered psychoanalytically grounded training and service in a hospital setting. The program's diverse aspects include psychodynamic individual, couples and group psychotherapy; close collaboration between psychology interns and psychiatry residents; intensive training in Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy; and education in psychopharmacology and crisis intervention from physicians and hospital staff.

Currently we are enthusiastically expanding our couples therapy program. The foundation of this program is Dr. Shelley Nathans' year-long course introducing trainees to a psychoanalytic point of view on couples psychopathology, health and intervention. Theories of Klein, Bion, Britton and Kernberg, as well as the work of the Tavistock Center for Couple Relationships form the basis of a depth-oriented approach to the struggles that couples bring to the consulting room. Looking at couples' individual and shared unconscious processes brings an opportunity for transformative psychoanalytic understanding to couples work.

As interns take part in the Dr. Nathans' course, they are actively treating couples, putting concepts like container/contained, the "third," and projective identification into clinical use. We are pleased to bring this sophisticated couples-therapy treatment approach to the local community and welcome your referrals. Our clinic has a generous sliding scale; lower-income couples can be seen for a low fee. All our patients are seen by advanced-level psychology interns, post-docs, and psychiatry residents. Our clinic promotes longer-term treatments with trainees who stay on as post-docs and those who can continue with patients in private practice settings. Please call (415) 600-3247 with your referrals.

Sharon Tyson, Ph.D.
Chief Psychologist/Director of Psychology Training
California Pacific Medical Center

This space is available for psychological organizations in Northern California who want to articulate their relationship to the local psychoanalytic community. Please see our submission guidelines to express interest in contributing.

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The term "blog" refers to a web-based journal wherein individuals offer up their personal experiences to anyone with a web browser. The editors at IMPULSE sought out a local analytic candidate willing to "blog" his experience in training. Our intrepid volunteer is Dr. Louis Roussel, Ph.D., a 4th year candidate at SFPI who maintains a private practice in Oakland. Following is his second entry, in which he offers thoughts captured in a writing exercise that challenged candidates to write about vignettes from their analytic work without using any psychoanalytic or theoretical terms.

2006 Feb: When she arrived, I felt nervous and awkward. I was painfully self-conscious on the walk to my office. My gait was hesitant and jerky. I accidentally stubbed my foot into the base of my chair, my face turned red, the palms of my hands were wet. What the hell is this? Why am I so terrified? Come on, get it together man! You're going to be an analyst. You're a candidate at one of the best institutes in the country. You're a talented therapist. Your students love and respect you. You can do this. You're just setting a fucking fee for Christ's sake.

Ok, I can do this. I'm just going to say it. Just say it. Ok, $100. That's what I'll say. No, that feels too low now. OK, $120. Too bold. Shit. Why is this so hard? Why can't I just say it and get it over with? She seems so calm. I wish I felt more relaxed. I just have to say the words the way I rehearsed them. Something feels so heavy and impossible about saying those words, a strange feeling of paralysis covers me like a lead blanket. Shit, I can't do it. Retreat, run away, abort mission. I'll do it next week. I'll feel stronger then. Yeah, next week would be better. More time to think about it. I feel resigned and calmer, fighting off powerful feelings of defeat and impotence. It's not a failure. I need more time to reflect and build up the courage to do it. Suddenly, she said she'd done some research and thought about setting the fee at $120. I felt rescued by some divine intervention. I quickly replied that that would be fine in as neutral a tone as I could muster. Inside, I was jumping for joy. It's done and I didn't even have to say anything. I didn't have to say anything. A slightly sinking feeling ensued. I didn't have to do anything. A feeling of sadness washed over me.

Louis Roussel, Ph.D

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Can you work psychoanalytically without a couch or loads of time? It is possible! I was asked to help employees of a violent Richmond housing project whose coworker had been shot to death on the job several months prior.

I was not the first therapist to be called in. The previous group session had been prematurely terminated due to a splash of gunfire. Everyone jumped under the table except for the therapist who quickly ended the session. My fears of annihilation and bodily disintegration were superseded only by my narcissism, which insisted that this therapist would successfully compete the session!

The atmosphere in the conference room was as gooey as the brownies placed on the table by the HR manager. The employees spoke of life in this gang-terrorized area. Witnessing shootings, dead bodies, and drug dealers was routine. Gathering the bits and pieces of their experiences, I used my reverie to convert the raw, undigested beta into alpha. The session slowly became a container for their unnamed dread. Starting to feel held, they became less black-and-white in their thinking. They could talk about good things, such as attachments to co-workers, and said that that lately, "things have been more quiet."

I asked what had happened. "The gate," said one, to which others agreed. A high metal fence with a locked gate had been erected around the project's perimeter. Now, inner and outer were defined. "We know who belongs here and who doesn't," said another. The fence made it difficult for criminals to slip in. The gate's boundaries promoted safety, allowing for the development of "me and not-me." Fragmentation was eased and they now had a skin. "The gate helps you feel strong and united as a group," I explained. Someone reached for a brownie. Finally, there was something good to take in.

Cleopatra Victoria, M.F.T.

POTENTIAL SPACE is a place within IMPULSE for play — a home for a creative, unconventional, or otherwise novel contributions. Please see our submission guidelines to express interest in contributing.

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What is creativity? How is it destroyed in the mind?


Paul Williams raises questions about the origins of generative thought and how it can be destroyed, especially by psychotic ways of thinking. Jointly sponsored by SFPI&S Post Graduate Program and The Boyer House Foundation. Offered on Wednesday, March 15 from 7:30 to 9:30 PM. Get the details.

Want EVENT SPOTLIGHT to shine on your upcoming analytic happening? You'll find our submission guidelines illuminating.

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Appointment Book offers a sampling of the psychoanalytically oriented events taking place in Northern California over the coming month. Where available, simply click an event title to view details on the sponsoring organization's web site.

Treating Adolescent Disturbance
Wed, Mar 1 (begins) / 7 - 8:30 PM / 2252 Fillmore St. / San Francisco
NCSPP / Paul Alexander, Ph.D. / $105 - $170

Case Seminar of Psychotherapy with Neurodevelopmentally Atypical Children
Thu, Mar 2 (begins) / 11:15 AM - 12:45 PM / 5330 College Ave., Suite 220 / Oakland
Individual Sponsor (Teresa Doyle, Ph.D.) / (510) 594-1926 / $960

"I Can't Believe I Said That": Mistakes, Enactments in the Therapeutic Process
Fri, Mar 3 (begins) / 12:30 - 2 PM / 401 Quarry Road / Stanford
SFPI&S / Dena Sorbo, L.C.S.W. and Lee Grossman, M.D. / $275

Cinematic Dreams
Sat, Mar 4 (begins) / 10 AM - 1 PM / 2727 College Ave. / Berkeley
NCSPP / Reyna Cowan, L.C.S.W. / $280 - $320

Dialogues in Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Bob Dylan and Misogyny
Sat, Mar 4 / 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter St. / San Francisco
SFPI&S / Christopher Ricks, Ph.D.; Alice Jones, M.D.; Stephen Seligman, D.M.H. / $35 - $45

Our Patients, Ourselves: Infant Observation & Primitive Mental States
Sat, Mar 4 / 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM / 1953 Hopkins Street / Berkeley
SFPI&S / Jan Baeuerlen, M.D. and Marsha Silverstein, Ph.D. / $75

Configurational Analysis: An Integrated Approach to Case Formulation
Sat, Mar 4 / 9 AM - 4 PM / Guzman Hall, Dominican University / San Rafael
Community Inst. for Psychotherapy / Mardi Horowitz, M.D.; Adam Goldyne, M.D. / $120 - $140

Film: Young Dr. Freud
Tue, Mar 7 / 7 PM / 1835 Ellis St. near Scott St. / San Francisco
Bureau of Jewish Education / (415) 567-3327 / free

Special Program: Pluralism & Evidence in Psychoanalysis
Sat, Mar 11 / 10 AM - 3 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
SFPI&S / Steven Cooper, Ph.D. / $80

Lacanian Primer: What Lies Beyond and the Relational Matrix
Sat, Mar 11 / 8:45 AM - 12:30 PM / 203 E. Fourteenth Street / Davis
NCSPP / Mitchell Wilson, M.D. / $35 - $50

Scientific Meeting with Paul Williams
Mon, Mar 13 / 7:30 - 9:30 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
SFPI&S / Paul Williams / free

The Worm that Flies in the Night: A Consideration of Creativity and Destruction
Wed, Mar 15 / 7:30 - 9:30 PM / SFPI Library, 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
Boyer House & SFPI&S / Paul Williams / $80

Child Colloquia
Sat, Mar 18 / 10 AM - 12 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
SFPI&S / Jill Miller, Ph.D. / free

Seminar on Pathological Organization
Sat, Mar 18 (begins) / 10 AM - 12 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
SFPI&S / Margo Chapin, M.F.T. / $150

Building Lasting Relationships in Foster Care: One Hour at a Time
Sat, Mar 18 / 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM / 600 Palm Drive / Novato
A Home Within / Toni Heineman, D.M.H. and Wendy von Wiederhld, Ph.D. / $60 - $130

Literature & Psychoanalysis: A Conference
Wed, Mar 22 - Thu, Mar 23 / 8 AM - 6 PM / University of California, Berkeley / Berkeley
Multiple Sponsors / Plenary: Dr. Maire Jaanus, Ph.D. / free

Attachment: Six Week Study/Consultation Group
Wed, Mar 22 (begins) / 11 AM - 1 PM / 1330 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 201 / San Rafael
Community Institute for Psychotherapy / Linda Graham, MFT / $180 - $240

Viewing and Discussing Empathy, a Film by Amie Siege
Fri, Mar 24 / 6:30 - 10 PM / 42 Oak Ridge Road / San Rafael
Community Institute for Psychotherapy / Steven Frankel, M.D. / $40 - $55

PINC Graduation Paper: Sharon Karp-Lewis, "Transformations in the Key of Life"
PINCSF Sat, Mar 25 / 9 -10:30 AM / UCSF Laurel Heights, 3333 California St. / San Francisco
PINC / Discussant: Roberto Oelsner / free

Special Program: The Phases/Faces of Oedipus in Contemporary Culture
Sat, Mar 25 / 9 AM - 1 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter Str. / San Francisco
Lacanian School & SFPI&S / M. Katz, M.D.; R. Moncayo, Ph.D.; B. Patsalides, Ph.D.; A. Bronstein, Ph.D. / $70

Building Lasting Relationships in Foster Care: One Hour at a Time
Sat, Mar 25 / 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM / West Coast Children's Center / El Cerrito
A Home Within / Toni Heineman, D.M.H., Wendy von Wiederhold, Ph.D. / $60 - $130

South Bay Symposium: Generations of Meaning: The Family's New Baby
Sun, Mar 26 / 9 AM - 1:30 PM / Menlo College, 1000 El Camino Real / Atherton
NCSPP / Angela Sowa, Psy.D., MFT; Janis Baeuerlen, M.D.; Mardy S. Ireland, Ph.D. / $35 - $90

Grand Rounds: Reading Development Backwards
Wed, Mar 29 / 6 - 7:15 PM / 401 Quarry Road, Room 2209 / Stanford
SFPI&S / Charles Fisher, M.D. / free

Sausalito Salon: Thoughts on the Use of the Couch
Fri, Mar 31 / 6:30 - 8:45 PM / Fairfax
NCSPP / Mary Margaret McClure, DMH / $15 - $20

Supervision in an Analytic Field
Sat, Apr 1 & Apr 8 / 1 - 4 PM / CPMC, Pacific Campus, Clay Conf. Rm. 121 / San Francisco
NCSPP / Vivian Dent, Ph.D. / $85 - $150

Why The Therapist Needs To Change
Sat, Apr 1 / 9:30 AM - 4 PM / Veterans' Memorial Center Theater, 203 E. Fourteenth St. / Davis
NCSPP / Malcolm Owen Slavin, Ph.D. / $45 - $130

Ongoing Psychoanalytic Case Conference
Weds (ongoing) / 10:30 AM - 12 PM / Albany, Ca.
Individual Sponsor (Maureen Franey, Ph.D. / (510) 527-6141 / $45 per meeting

Psychoanlytic/Psychodynamic Case Consultation Group in the South Bay
Fri (ongoing) / 10:30 AM - 12 PM / 20688 Fourth Street / Saratoga
Individual Sponsor (Alan Kessler, Ph.D.) / $45 per meeting

Building a Child Psychotherapy Practice: Case Consultation and Reading
Thu (ongoing) / 12 - 1 PM / 550 Hamilton Ave. #240 / Palo Alto
Individual Sponsor (Mary Jane Otte, Ph.D.) / (650) 326-6663 / $60 per meeting

Psychoanalytic Impasses: Case Consultation and Reading
Tue (ongoing) / 1:10 - 2:15 PM / 550 Hamilton Ave. #240 / Palo Alto
Individual Sponsor (Mary Jane Otte, Ph.D.) / (650) 326-6663 / $60 per meeting

Current Views on Psychoanalytic Core Concepts: Transference
Wed (ongoing) / 11:20 AM - 12:50 PM / 550 Hamilton Ave. #240 / Palo Alto
Individual Sponsor (Lynn Alexander, Psy.D.) / (650) 328-8505 / $45 per meeting

Collaborative Group Consultation — Independent Psychoanalytic Perspective
Wed (ongoing) / 11:40 AM - 1:05 PM / 301 B Saratoga Road / Los Gatos
Individual Sponsor (Hugh Grubb, M.A.) / $45 per meeting

To submit an event, please see our submission guidelines.

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INTERNS NEEDED: California Pacific Medical Center is accepting applications for internship and postdoctoral positions. Psychoanalytic seminars and intensive supervision are offered. Contact Sharon Tyson, Ph.D., Chief Psychologist/Director of Training at tysons@sutterhealth.org.

PSYCHOTHERAPIST NEEDED: The Boyer House Foundation seeks a part-time psychotherapist to work intensively with seriously disturbed patients in a team treatment setting. Fax CV to Beth Steinberg, Ph.D. (415) 456-9965. More info.

POST DOCS: Two 20 hour a week post doctoral positions available at The Boyer House Foundation. Contact Paul Alexander, Ph.D. (415) 456-9958, ext. 328. More info.

ART TEA: A psychoanalytic perspective on the relationship between Van Gogh & Gauguin during the 6 weeks they spent together.  Suzanne Pallak, Ph.D., Sat., Apr.29, 1 - 4 PM, Fort Mason, $40-80.  To enroll, contact Michele McGuinness, (415) 457-9949.

Old couches, new books, hot jobs, cool internships? Post classified ads on NCSPP's online bulletin board at no charge. We will also feature your listing in IMPULSE for a modest fee. Please see our submission guidelines for details.

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The Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) is committed to the study of psychoanalytic psychology and the encouragement of its interest in the professional and general communities. We are a multi-disciplinary, non-profit membership organization open to mental health professionals and all others interested in the study of psychoanalytic psychology.

Our more than 650 members form a community that spans the greater Bay Area and Northern California. NCSPP is a local affiliate of Division 39 (psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association. Our vast array of lectures, intensive study groups, scientific meetings, courses, our journal fort da, and numerous special events and projects are all brought to you by scores of volunteers who work to support NCSPP's mission. Our educational programs include continuing education credit for psychologists, marriage and family therapists, and licensed clinical social workers. We welcome you into the psychoanalytic community in Northern California. Please join us.

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Beth Steinberg, Ph.D., NCSPP President
Cleopatra Victoria, M.A., MFT, Editor
Cate Corcoran, M.A., Features Editor
Brad Falconer, M.A., Managing Editor

Each month, IMPULSE reaches over 1,280 psychoanalytically oriented professionals and students in Northern California.

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Event listings in APPOINTMENT BOOK are available for your psychoanalytically oriented educational or professional event. To submit your event for consideration, please use our online form.

Contributions to PIECE OF MIND, our feature profiling Northern California psychoanalytic organizations, will be assigned on a monthly basis. If you'd like to suggest an organization to be featured in this space, please send an email via our online form with the subject PIECE OF MIND. Please do not send attachments or files.

EVENT SPOTLIGHT lets you promote your upcoming analytic event in more depth and detail than is possible in APPOINTMENT BOOK. The cost is $100 per month for up to 150 words describing your event. A maximum of one EVENT SPOTLIGHT will run each month. Please begin by expressing interest in EVENT SPOTLIGHT in an email via our online form. Once approved, send payment to NCSPP, c/o Michele McGuinness, 12 Hampton Ave., San Anselmo, CA 94960, and send your copy via our online form. Please do not send attachments or files.

POTENTIAL SPACE is a place within IMPULSE for play — a home for a creative, unconventional, or otherwise novel contributions. Submissions should be emailed via our online form. Due to length restrictions and thematic constraints, we cannot guarantee that your submission will be published. However, we encourage you to express yourself and help us open the space. Please note that you must be the copyright owner of anything you submit, and your submission constitutes permission for IMPULSE to publish your submission via email and on the web in perpetuity without any compensation.

You can list your psychoanalytically oriented jobs, internships, for sale items, announcements, etc. in CLASSIFIEDS. The cost is $20 per month for a 30-word ad. Please send payment to NCSPP, c/o Michele McGuinness, 12 Hampton Ave., San Anselmo, CA 94960. Email your ad copy as a text-only email via our online form with the subject CLASSIFIEDS.

DEADLINES: To be considered for publication, submissions must be received by the 15th of the month prior to publication. (For example, September 15 for the October issue.) NCSPP and IMPULSE staff reserve the right to decline any submission at our sole discretion.

IMPULSE's complete submission guidelines can be found on the NCSPP web site.

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IMPULSE is published electronically once a month by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology. Comments are welcome and should be sent via our online form.

You are receiving this monthly newsletter from the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) because of your interest in psychoanalysis. Any mental health professional or student interested in psychoanalytic thought may subscribe free to IMPULSE, regardless of organizational affiliation. To ensure that IMPULSE isn't misidentified as junk mail, we recommend adding impulse@ncspp.org to your email program's address book. If you haven't done so already, click to confirm your interest in subscribing. To unsubscribe, click the SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

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