Jun 2025

Impulse is a community newsletter produced by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) and distributed electronically to subscribers at no cost. We envision Impulse as an integrative source for local news, events, and thinking of interest to the psychoanalytically inclined. Our goal is to be your guide as you explore the Bay Area's rich array of analytic resources.

We invite you to become a member of NCSPP, if you are not already. And, we welcome you as a subscriber to Impulse. Join us as we highlight the exceptional diversity of psychoanalytic thought and practice in Northern California.

From the Editor

by Luba Palter, MFT

I find myself once again unable to write. It feels frivolous and tone-deaf to discuss my reflections on the new Joan Didion book of her analysis or the latest Thomas Ogden book without addressing the politics of our country. I notice thinking that I am supposed to have something thoughtful and sensitive to say as the Editor-in-Chief of Impulse and a Board member of NCSPP. However, whatever sensitive and thoughtful thing I might say feels like virtue signaling and therefore insincere.

Event Spotlight

by San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP)

SFCP YEARLONG: TUNING INTO THE UNSPOKEN: NAVIGATING THE LANDMARKS OF UNCONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE

Fridays, September 5, 2025 – May 29, 2026 | 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm | Zoom
Please visit our website for more information

Potential Space

by Lila Zimmerman, MFT

LYING DOWN

I recently started lying on the couch. I had to talk to my analyst for 6 months before I was able to do so. I was afraid of what, I don’t know. The feeling, without doubt, was fear. Something having to do with my insides coming out. For three months, when I imagined lying on the couch, I pictured myself in the fetal position, clutching myself, holding myself together. I felt terrified of being born right on the couch. I did this in utero, too, positioned myself in breech. We know it’s hard to give birth, but it’s also not easy to be born. I was cut out, pulled out, and I still believe I require this kind of effort from another to get things going. I kept hoping my analyst would insist I lie down, force it. But she wouldn’t.

NCSPP Corner

by Sullivan Oakley, MA

ANNOUNCING 2025-2026 NCSPP INTENSIVE STUDY GROUP INTRODUCTORY EVENT: ON PERVERSION

Sunday, July 20, 2025 | 11 am - 12:30 pm | Zoom
Register for the Introductory Event here
Click here for more information about the Introductory Event

This introductory event to NCSPP’s year-long Intensive Study Group (ISG) features the course’s four instructors — Janie Riley, Daniel Butler, Michael Levin, and Sydney Tan — each describing their own approach to this year’s theme: On Perversion.

Classifieds:

Old couches, new books, hot jobs, cool internships, office rentals? List them in Impulse's Classifieds for a modest fee. Please see our submission guidelines for details.

Appointment Book:

Community Mental Health Hike
Sat, Jun 7 / 10:00 am - 12:00 pm / 13 Pohono St. / Mill Valley
NCSPP / (415) 903-5464 / Free

About NCSPP

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 450 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.

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Luba Palter, MFT, Editor-in-Chief
Nicholas Hack, Psy.D., Managing Editor
Niki Clay, Production Manager
Christi Baker, AMFT, Claire Greenwood, MFT, Staff Writers
Lisa Koshkarian, Ph.D., Lila Zimmerman, MFT, Staff Writers
Cleopatra Victoria, M.A., MFT, Founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
June Lin-Arlow, MFT, Matthew Morrisey, MFT, Loong Kwok, Psy.D., Shlomit Gorin, Psy.D., Sydney Tan, Psy.D.,
Danni Biondini, LMFT Editors-in-Chief Emeriti
Cate Corcoran, Psy.D., Brad Falconer, M.A., Editors Emeriti

Each month, Impulse reaches over 3,000 psychoanalytically interested professionals and students in Northern California.

Article references are available upon request.

Subscription Management

Impulse is published electronically once a month by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP). 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 info@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 Safe Unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

Interested in keeping up on psychoanalytic news and events happening outside of Northern California? Subscribe to InSight, the free newsletter of Division 39.

Submission Guidelines

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 website.

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