TRAGIC PERSON EVOLVED: TRANSFORMING TRAGEDY INTO HOPE THROUGH NEW, ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

Thursday May 1, 2025

7:30pm – 10:00pm EST

Thursday May 1, 2025

7:30pm – 10:00pm EST

Event Info

Thursday May 1, 2025

7:30pm – 10:00pm EST

The LGBT Community Center

208 W 13th St

Room #310

New York, NY 10011

FREE

for Social Workers and LMHCs

IPSS EXPLORATIONS 2025

About this Event

The paper, “Tragic Person Evolved: Transforming Tragedy Into Hope Through New, Alternative Treatments” was presented at the 45th IAPSP International Conference in Rome in October of 2024. The paper explores the integration of relational psychoanalysis and alternative treatments, including ketamine assisted psychotherapy, for individuals with OCD, ADHD, and ASD. Two case studies illustrate how fostering a deeply empathetic therapeutic relationship, combined with the potential neuroplasticity-enhancing effects of psychedelics, facilitates profound transformative shifts. The authors discusses the therapeutic significance of self-disclosure and mirroring, alongside the ethical considerations inherent in utilizing mind-altering substances. The findings highlight the effectiveness of integrating self-psychology principles with alternative approaches to address complex trauma and promote self actualization in neurodivergent individuals.

DOUGLAS ZIMMERMAN, M.A. Ed., LCSW- R

Presenter

Douglas Zimmerman practices psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in New York City. He has over 25 years of experience in the mental health profession and has had a private practice for the past 20 years. Trained behaviorally and analytically, he specializes in treating adults with OCD, ADHD, and ASD: those with a neurodivergent mindset. As of late, Douglas has been implementing and utilizing alternative treatments in his practice, such as Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), and he recently presented his paper, Tragic Person Evolved: Transforming Tragedy Into Hope Through New, Alternative Treatments, at the 45th annual IAPSP International Conference in Rome, Italy. He and his wife and their 7-year-old daughter reside in New York City.

Jill Gentile, PhD

Discussant

Jill Gentile, PhD, is a clinical adjunct associate professor at NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and an associate editor for Psychoanalytic Dialogues and Studies in Gender and Sexuality. Her essays have been awarded the 2017 Gradiva Award, the 2020 Journal of the American Association (JAPA) prize, and the 2024 Maurice Burke Paper Prize. She is the author of Feminine Law: Freud, Free Speech, and the Voice of Desire (Karnac, 2016) and of numerous scholarly papers on personal agency, desire, freedom of speech, democracy, the feminine, and the uncanny strange.

Sarah Mendelsohn, LCSW

Moderator

Sarah Mendelsohn, LCSW, is a training analyst and supervisor on faculty at the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, The Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and the National Institute For the Psychotherapies, in New York. She has written and presented on enactive clinical action and the analyst’s subjectivity, and she is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology: Psychanalysis, Self and Context. She is a psychoanalyst and clinical supervisor in private practice in New York City.

Event Info

Thursday May 1, 2025

7:30pm – 10:00pm EST

The LGBT Community Center

208 W 13th St

Room #310

New York, NY 10011

FREE

for Social Workers and LMHCs

TRAGIC PERSON EVOLVED: TRANSFORMING TRAGEDY INTO HOPE THROUGH NEW, ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

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