This presentation is about exploring the trajectory of therapists from the very beginning days of seeing patients through those analysts who are considered outstanding and “seasoned”. It will delineate common features that all outstanding analysts share in common, regardless of orientation. The multi-decade research program of Anders Ericsson and colleagues, which is the leading research on outstanding performance in the world, will be applied in examining what knowledge and skills contribute to developing into an outstanding clinician. Understanding what and how a therapist becomes outstanding has many important implications for our field. First, it helps beginners to have a clearer understanding of how to best learn to become excellent. It also gives supervisors and instructors fresh ideas on how to help supervisees achieve greatness. Finally, it gives outstanding analysts ideas about how they  can continue to hone and enhance their practices.

Michael C. Klein, Ph.D is senior psychologist and founder of Downtown Psychological Services. Dr. Klein holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University – Brooklyn.  After completing his degree in 2006, he was a post-doctoral fellow, then staff psychologist at NYU’s Counseling and Behavioral Health Center. During this time, he was founding faculty and co-director of a national project aimed at improving depression care on college campuses (www.ncdp.nyu.edu). Dr. Klein has a special interest in working with young adults in his private practice. He is currently finishing up his candidacy at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (IPSS).

Frank M. Lachmann, Ph.D. is a member of the Founding Faculty of the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York and Clinical Assistant Professor, in the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis., and of NPAP.  He is author or co-author of more than 150 publications on topics ranging from self psychology, narcissism, music and creativity to aggression and serial killers. He is co-author with Joseph Lichtenberg and James Fosshage of four books, including, Psychoanalysis and Motivation: A New Look (Francis and Taylor, 2010). He is co-author of two books with Beatrice Beebe, Infant Research and Adult Treatment: Co-Constructing Interactions (Analytic Press, 2002) and their recently published joint work The Origins of Attachment, (Routledge 2013). He is sole author of Transforming Aggression: Psychotherapy with the Difficult-to-Treat Patient (Aronson, 2000) and Transforming Narcissism: Reflections on Empathy, Humor, and Expectations  (Analytic Press, 2008). He is a member of the Council of the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and an honorary member of the Vienna Circle for Self Psychology (Austria), The William A. White Society, and the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Location: NIP Conference Room, 250 West 57th Street, #501, NYC, NY

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