A new year offers a paradox. Of course, the turning of the calendar marks the birth of something fresh, unique and never before known. But it also represents a continuation of something very old indeed, advancing time's continuous flow.

Our Northern California psychoanalytic community also embodies both these qualities. Innovative scholarship, current service, and even the use of new technologies to strengthen our community cannot be separated from a thread of rich psychoanalytic history that connects more than 100 years and many continents.

In this spirit, we salute The Study Group Clearinghouse, a novel effort by the Friends of SFPI&S and the SFPI&S Extension Division that uses an inventive idea to bring new life to the long tradition of psychoanalytic consultation groups and study groups. The clearinghouse is a central place to find out about analytic study groups meeting throughout the Bay Area. Posting is free, and the project is sure to help the analytically inclined discover exciting opportunities for education and fellowship.

All of us at IMPULSE look forward to another year chronicling and serving this lively community, and we wish you the best for 2007. We hope you enjoy this month's issue, and we hope you'll join NCSPP to assist us in furthering the community that belongs to all of us.

Who are you? Are you an analyst? A psychotherapist? A student? Do you see people on the couch? In a clinic? Or a hospital? Once a week? Twice a week? Four times? Do you believe that Oedipal phantasies emerge in early infancy? Do you believe in a mirror phase? Do you interpret the leading edge of anxiety? Or work from surface to depth? Do you conduct play therapy? Do you see couples? Are you an academic? Do you supervise?

This list could easily continue, but the point is probably clear: if you are one of the psychoanalytically inclined, you belong to a remarkably diverse world. Yet the world of psychoanalysis has long suffered from conflict and competition between groups, to the detriment of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy within the wider world of clinical practice. We must continue to find ways to speak to each other across all our differences — that is, to be a community. After all, we share a commitment to the notions of the unconscious and of transference.

So, who am I? I am a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, unaffiliated with an institute. I work in private practice and in an assisted-living program for severe personality disorder and psychosis. I see adults, adolescents and couples. I am not connected to any one school, but I like Winnicott and Bion a lot, to name a few. This year, I am president of NCSPP. And I am very interested in finding out about you so that we can better support the diversity of our psychoanalytically inclined community. I hope you might help me do this by completing a brief online survey, which should take no more than 5 minutes:

Thank you in advance for your participation in this important community initiative. I look forward to discussing the results in the coming months.

Adam Kremen, Ph.D.
President, NCSPP

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California College of the Arts offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts, design, architecture, writing, and curatorial studies on campuses in Oakland and San Francisco. CCA students are eligible for ten sessions of psychodynamically oriented therapy and in some cases have the option of continuing throughout the academic year. Referrals are provided to students, faculty and staff, and the director and assistant director of the counseling service also act as consultants to the campus community.

The counseling service is staffed by the director, assistant director, and five trainees, including advanced practicum students, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral interns. Trainees accepted to the program have prior experience with psychoanalytic approaches and an interest in art. The majority of trainees are Wright Institute students, though we have also accepted applicants from CSPP (Alliant), CIIS, UCB, PGSP, and other schools.

The training program has historically been psychoanalytically oriented, due in part to the effort of former directors Dr. Bill Glover (current president of SFPI) and Dr. Lisa Koshkarian. As a former NCSPP Education Committee chair, fort da committee member, and SFPI Friends board member, I also have a deep appreciation for psychoanalysis and worked with Assistant Director Dr. Deborah Weisinger to develop the current program from an object-relations and contemporary psychoanalytic orientation. We are fortunate to include psychoanalytic community members as guest instructors and to provide talks from artists on creativity.

CCA is an amazing place to work. Art students are exceptionally introspective and curious about unconscious life. Creativity exists everywhere — in the classroom, consulting room and galleries all over campus. Artists and psychoanalytically oriented clinicians seem to share an interest in the complexities of human experience and endeavor to find meaningful ways to contact and communicate what it means to be alive.

Tara Rech, Ph.D.
Director, Counseling Services
California College of the Arts

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Many practitioners are applying psychodynamic principles to the work they do, even when treatment doesn't conform to the traditional frame. This month, Melissa Anderson, M.A., Elder Abuse Specialist at the Institute on Aging, continues exploring this topic.

Last month, we discussed working with elderly patients who've been traumatized, abused or spent lifetimes in dysfunctional relationships, and now at ages 65, 70, or even over 90, begin the work of introspection, understanding and making peace with their own processes. Our therapists support seniors by meeting them wherever they are. Most patients are seen in-home, in long-term assisted living units, SROs, or board and care facilities.

Home visits allow frail persons who can't make regular clinic visits to engage in ongoing therapy, and it expands the concept of the clinical frame. Aspects of a patient's life are often presented immediately to a therapist. This can be helpful, providing insights from examples of problematic behaviors — such as the degree of hoarding and cluttering. It can also be overwhelming and the concrete nature of this information can hinder the unconscious.

Many elderly clients are lonely or even wish their therapist was a friend. Meeting in-home can blur this distinction. Maintaining respect for the frame, yet occupying a professional role in the space traditionally 'owned' by the client can be tricky. Some of the containment or neutrality of the consulting room must be present in the body of the therapist. When first starting this work, my sense of abandoning clients in their homes after delving into their most painful wounds worried me considerably. After meeting with a client following a particularly difficult session, I learned that having the memory of the therapist on her sofa helped her integrate the trauma at the base of our work.

Know of an unconventional application of psychoanalytic work? You're invited to write a PSYCHOANALYSIS ON THE STREET or just contribute an idea. Contact us.

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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.

Are you a candidate in psychoanalytic training? We invite you to contribute an informal, 200 word "blog" on a monthly basis. Please contact us for details.

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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.

SFPI&S Foundations of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Wed, Jan 3 (begins) / 12 - 2:45 PM / (415) 563-5815 / 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco / $900
SFPI&S / J. Dunn, Ph.D.; S. Chase, M.D.; E. Simpson, L.C.S.W.; C. Wallis, M.D.; C. Fisher, M.D.

Student Outreach: Early Development from a Psychoanalytic Perspective
Wed, Jan 3 (begins) / 7:15 - 8:45 PM / Stanford Psych., 401 Quarry Rd., Rm. 2209 / Stanford
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Mary Jane Otte, Ph.D. / free

A Day with Robin Anderson
Sat, Jan 6 / 9 AM - 3:30 PM / UCSF Conference Center, 3333 California / San Francisco
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Robin Anderson / $55 - $140

Scientific Meeting with Gilbert Kliman, M.D.
Mon, Jan 8 / 7:30 - 9:30 PM / SFPI&S Library, 2420 Sutter St. / San Francisco
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Gilbert Kliman, M.D. / free

Student Outreach: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Case Conference
Tue, Jan 9 (begins) / 7:30 - 9 PM / Herrick Hospital, 2201 Dwight, CC Conference / Berkeley
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Alice Feller, M.D. / free

Student Outreach: Masochistic Resistances in Treatment
Wed, Jan 10 (begins) / 7:30 - 9 PM / 2420 Sutter Street / San Francisco
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Michael Bronzo, M.D.; Luke Moix, M.D. / free

SFPI&S Friends Clinical Forum (Case Presentation & Discussion)
Tue, Jan 16 / 7:30 - 9 PM / (415) 563-5815 / 2420 Sutter St. / San Francisco / free (CE $15)
Friends of SFPI&S / Milena Edwards, M.A. (presenter); Holly Gordon, DMH (discussant)

SFPI&S Extension Division: Animals in our Dreams
Sat, Jan 20 / 10 - 12 AM / Epworth UM Church, 1953 Hopkins / Berkeley
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Christina Halsey, Ph.D. / $50

A Conversation with John Gottman
Sat, Jan 27 / 9 AM - 12 PM / (510) 548-2250 / Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. / Berkeley
The Psychotherapy Institute / John Gottman, Ph.D.; intro by Daniel Wile, Ph.D. / $45 - $75

Psychoanalytic Grand Rounds at Stanford: Family Romance Denied
Wed, Jan 31 / 6 - 7:15 PM / Stanford Psych. Bldg., 401 Quarry Rd., Rm. 2209 / Stanford
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Gary Grossman, Ph.D. / free

Public Lecture Series -- Open Adoption: How to Make an Enduring Match
Wed, Jan 31 / 7:30 - 9 PM / 2420 Sutter St. / San Francisco
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Harriet Wolfe, M.D. / free

Poetry Reading and Conversation with Jane Hirshfield
Fri, Feb 2 / 7:30 - 9:30 PM / Fort Mason Center / San Francisco
C. G. Jung Institute / (415) 771-8080 / Jane Hirschfield, poet / $50

SFPI&S Extension Division: The Capacity to Tolerate Thoughts
Sat, Feb 3 / 9 AM - 1 PM / Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real / Palo Alto
SFPI&S / (415) 563-5815 / Nancy Peters, M.S.W. / $100

To submit an event, please see our submission guidelines.

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BE COUNTED: NCSPP is conducting a brief online survey to assess the needs of the Bay Area psychoanalytic community. We encourage you to take NCSPP's survey today.

PSYCHOANALYTIC CASE CONSULTATION GROUP: Mind-Body Issues, Fostering Psyche-Soma Integration. Ongoing group meets Mondays, 10:30 AM - Noon, 5845 College Avenue, Oakland, Dori Dubin, Psy.D., (510) 547-2522, $40 per meeting.

ELMWOOD THERAPY OFFICE SUBLET. Charming brown shingle w/ PhDs, MDs, analysts. By Alta Bates, near Whole Foods, Elmwood Shopping. Very private. Parking lot. Shared waiting room. Adult and child clients. Available M-F after 2pm. $130 per day / $550 week. Contact Dr. Meg Jay @ (510) 332-5480.

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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Adam Kremen, 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 1,450 psychoanalytically oriented professionals and students in Northern California.

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IMPULSE is a monthly newsletter published by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology for the purpose of connecting Northern California psychoanalytic practitioners, students, and scholars. IMPULSE aims to foster the development of psychoanalytic practice and thought in our region through collaboration and understanding.

For information on submitting event listings and other content to IMPULSE, please see our guidelines and policies page 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 contact 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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