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

Psychoanalytic Treatment Incandescent in Winter

The AP wire from mid-November carried a story, in which we can take heart. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, First Lady of France, came out to the world about the critical importance of her own analysis. Even more encouraging is the context in which Bruni-Sarkozy spoke. She was featured in the French documentary La Premire Sance (The First Session), which recently aired on French television and was directed by psychoanalyst Grard Miller.

How fitting that psychoanalysis has a moment in the spotlight as the days grow darker. How fitting that Bruni-Sarcozy commented to the world press that her analytic contact was incandescent. What wonderful timing for me that, as I write my last President's Remarks, I can recount a success for a wider cultural appreciation of psychoanalysis.

Certainly there is no lack of appreciation for analytic theory here in the Bay Area. Id like for us all to have more chances to engage with each other. I hope succeeding issues of IMPULSE will have news closer to home. I invite you to have someone from your organization tell us about your programs current achievements, new directions, honors, etc. NCSPP wants to develop a forum for keeping us all au courant, not just with news from France, but with news from our local, analytically oriented neighbors. For guidelines, please email us.

It has been an honor to serve such a vibrant organization. Our Holiday bash is in just a few days. I look forward to sharing a delightful celebration and hope to see you there.

Warm regards,

Melissa Holub, Ph.D.
NCSPP President


back to top

Misfortune at Fort Hood

The subject header was marked URGENT. The first email asked if I could, as a military/family life consultant, leave immediately for a 30-day rotation at Fort Hood. Much as I wanted to go, a month away from patients might severely test the reliability of the object. The second email, from a crisis response agency, asked if I could leave immediately for a 5-day rotation, to which I agreed. As of this writing, we are in stand down mode, as opposed to "standby."

I wondered what it would be like to minister to the survivors, families and their comrades. As a mental health professional with military affiliations, just like the shooter, I considered that the boundaries between external and internal might feel blurry, a conscious or unconscious confusion as to whether dangers were without or within. I imagined the rage towards the perpetrator that might simmer below consciousness and, perhaps, erupt, ricocheting towards the therapists now administering psychological first aid and symbolizing the shooter. The psychiatrist had violated their trust as a doctor, dedicated to their care, who instead had destroyed them. From that day forward, on military bases everywhere, people would walk in fear, unsure whether the sergeant in the mess hall, the psychiatric nurse at the infirmary, or the private in the next bunk might be, not a colleague, but an enemy with a terrible, dark streak.

How could no one have known about his pathology? Why didn't someone intervene? How could this have been prevented? These would be the angry and tearful questions asked. There would be guilt, conscious or unconscious, for having seen or heard something and failing to take action to corral him before he exploded. People would brush up against the hard edges of their own grandiosity and omnipotence. There are some things beyond our control. This awful, sad, shocking carnage may or may not have been preventable.

And so it is that every day we do our best, for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for our patients. Sometimes, it's enough. And, sometimes, it isn't. I'm thinking of a souvenir ceramic ashtray my parents picked up in Rome many years ago. It's a charming piece of artisan pottery, painted with a shattering aphorism in Italian: The errors of doctors are covered by earth.

Cleopatra Victoria, MFT
IMPULSE Editor

In November 2006 Col. Kauer was mentioned with regards to the Coming Home Project. He has since written and asks that his name not be associated with the organization.


back to top

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.

Child Development Program: Loss and Mourning in Early Childhood
Wed, Dec 2 / 7 PM - 9:30 PM / 2340 Jackson, 4th floor / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / J. Baeuerlen, M.D., E. Keller, Ph.D., et. al. / $25-$60

SFCP: Countertransference with the Eating Disordered Patient
Sat, Dec 5 / 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM / 2340 Jackson, 4th floor / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / Jeanne Harasemovitch, L.C.S.W., Mirta Oelsner, Psy. A. / $75

Public Lecture Series: the Subversion of Love
Mon, Dec 7 / 7:30 PM - 9 PM / 2340 Jackson, 4th floor / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / E. Victor Wolfenstein, Ph.D. / free

Community Members North Bay Clinical Forum
Tue, Dec 8 / 7 PM - 9 PM / 4340 Redwood Highway / San Rafael
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / Tracy Schmidt, Ph.D., Mark Swoiskin, M.D. / free

Community Members East Bay Clinical Forum
Wed, Dec 9 / 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM / Herrick Hospital, Conf. Rm CC, 2001 Dwight Way / Berkeley
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 /Jessica Michaelson, Psy.D., Audrey Kavka, M.D. / free

Scientific Meeting: The Resilience of Illusion: Theatre and Analysis
Mon, Dec 14 / 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM / 2340 Jackson, 4th floor / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / Phillip Freeman, M.D. / free

Community Members San Francisco Clinical Forum
Tue, Dec 15 / 7:15 PM - 9 PM / 2340 Jackson, 4th floor / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-5815 / Christina Papansestor, L.C.S.W., Holly Gordon, D.M.H. / free

To submit an event, please see our submission guidelines.

back to top

CLINICAL WORK GROUP for psychoanalytic psychotherapists. This study group is offered to help participants think and work psychoanalytically to promote depth in their treatments regardless of frequency of meetings or level of disturbance or type of population of their patients. In the context of a collaborative and supportive environment, we will listen to case presentations with an eye to listening analytically, working with transference and countertransference and thinking practically about how to intervene to deepen the treatments. Mondays 12:50 - 2:15 pm, 3321 Sacramento Street, San Francisco. $45 per meeting; CE credit available. Beth Steinberg, (415) 441-5302

LEFT BEHIND? - GET ONLINE! Create Your Presence on the Web. Need a good website but dont know where to start? What about Twitter. Wiki. Blog. Facebook. Social Network. Demystify web terms and processes in a supportive environment and create your own position on the Internet. The key to a comfortable and effective web presence comes with understanding the choices and creating a fit thats right for you. If you are new to it, or if its just been awhile, Im here to help. Websites. Computer and Internet Basics and Beyond. Customized Individual Tutoring. sherri.ortegren@yahoo.com, 415-250-1034, www.sherriortegren.com.

CASE CONSULTATION AND STUDY with Eileen Keller, psychologist/psychoanalyst. Case presentation in a safe and creative environment improves our work with patients. In this group, we alternate doses of theory with case presentation as we work together to build our understanding of deep clinical work. We are currently reading Winnicotts Playing and Reality, alternating with case presentation. Thursdays, 12:30-1:45pm. $50 per session, twelve week commitment. Three spaces open. Oakland. Contact Eileen Keller at kellerphd@gmail.com or 510-654-2420. See also www.kellerphd.com.

TREATMENT OF EATING DISORDERS: Psychoanalytic Approaches - A Fifteen Week Consultation Group. Eating disordered patients are among the most difficult to treat. We will explore primitive bodily communication, transference/countertransference and practical issues regarding patients' safety through readings and case presentations. Fridays 1/8/10 - 4/16/10, 9:15-10:30 a.m.. 2116 Sutter St., San Francisco. $50/mtg., CE credits available. Mary Brady, Ph.D., (415)776-3174, mbrady66@earthlink.net.

PSYCHOANALYTIC ORIENTED CONSULTATION GROUP forming, Mondays 1:45-3:00, Palo Alto. Reading plus case material. For information contact: Carol Harrus, M.D., 650-328-8935 or Diane Strongwater, MFT, 408-737-1337.


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.

back to top

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. Join us.

back to top

Andrew Harlem, Ph.D., NCSPP President
Cleopatra Victoria, M.A., MFT, Editor-in-Chief
Bruce Weitzman, MFT, Managing Editor
Meg Earls, M.A., Features Editor
Terra Morais, M.A., Appointment Book Editor
Michele McGuinness, Production Manager
Matthew Morrissey, Technical Editor
Cate Corcoran, Psy.D., Brad Falconer, M. A., Editors Emeritus

Each month, IMPULSE reaches over 1,830 psychoanalytically interested professionals and students in Northern California.

back to top

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.

back to top

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.

back to top