ONLINE | Book Talk with Donnel B. Stern, PhD: On Coming Into Possession of Oneself – Transformations of the Interpersonal Field
Presents
On Coming Into Possession of Oneself
Transformations of the Interpersonal Field
A Book Talk with Donnel B. Stern, PhD
moderated by
CJ Healy, M.A.
Sunday
March 23, 2025
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Eastern Time
Online via Zoom
Tickets available HERE
Direct link: https://event.newschool.edu/donnelbstern
General Admission: $30
New School students and current institute candidates: Free (please email NSSRFerencziCenter@gmail.com to reserve)
CE Credits (2 hours) available for
New York Psychologists, Social Workers, and MHCs
APA CE credits also available for Psychologists
Participants must the attend the seminar in its entirety to receive CE credits. Attendance will be recorded to track each participant’s entry and exit time.
* For students and practitioners of all levels *
This seminar introduces Dr. Stern’s latest contribution to the understanding of psychotherapeutic and psychoanalytic processes in his newest book, On Coming Into Possession of Oneself: Transformations of the Interpersonal Field. Through theory and clinical vignettes, Stern explores how the analyst’s interventions emerge from their own emotional involvement in the clinical process. In this presentation, Dr. Stern will explore with participants his understanding of therapeutic action, which, as he will demonstrate, can be enriched by adopting the conceptual framework offered by field theory.
About the book, from the publisher
Stern anchors his understanding of therapeutic action in the freedom of both patient and analyst to create a meaningful experience with minimum inhibition. The field’s capacity to generate meaning—and thus to make possible fully realized human living—rows from its freedom to respond spontaneously to the feelings, wants, and needs of its participants. To whatever extent this spontaneity is diminished, as it is in unconscious mutual enactment, we can be sure that some part of the field is frozen or otherwise rigidified. This position serves as the foundation of the psychoanalysis that Stern practices. The analyst aims to feel their way into compromises in the field, and then do whatever they can to grasp and dissolve them, knowing that they will have to be visited repeatedly, and dissolved again. These insights into interpersonal and relational field theory lead to descriptions of clinical interventions that are focused on the moment-to-moment emotional experience of both the patient and the analyst.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- Understand and apply to their clinical practice the analyst’s witnessing of the patient.
- Understand and apply to their clinical practice the concept of unformulated experience.
- Understand and apply to their clinical practice the conception of psychoanalysis anchored in the idea of the interpersonal field.
Donnel B Stern, PhD. is a Training and Supervising Analyst and Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute in New York City; and Adjunct Clinical Professor and Clinical Consultant, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He is Founder and Editor of the “Psychoanalysis in a New Key” book series from Routledge, which has 90 titles in print. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Psychoanalysis. He has published five books, the most recent of which, On Coming into Possession of Oneself: Transformations of the Interpersonal Field, is the occasion for this presentation. He has also co-edited four books about the theory and practice of interpersonal psychoanalysis. He is in private practice in New York City.
In discussion with
CJ Healy, M.A. is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at the New School for Social Research in New York. CJ is a member of the Advisory Board and Organizing Committee of the Sándor Ferenczi Center, a member of the Trauma and Affective Psychophysiology Lab under the mentorship of Wendy D’Andrea, Ph.D., and a member of the Trainee Editorial Board of the journal Psychedelic Medicine. CJ was also a recipient of a Fellowship from the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in 2021-2022, a recipient of a Scholars Award from the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (APA Division 39) in 2023-2024, and a recipient of the New School for Social Research Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2024 for conceptualizing, developing, and teaching the undergraduate course “Psychedelics and Psychology,” the university’s first course on psychedelic science in the field of psychology. CJ is currently a psychology intern at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Participants with physical or sensory disabilities are encouraged to contact the CE committee members at least 2 weeks in advance of the event to plan for appropriate accommodations. Please contact us via phone or email:
Nichelle Horlacher, Department Secretary: T 212.229.5727 x3223
Miriam Steele, Ph.D. steelem@newschool.edu
Howard Steele, Ph.D. steeleh@newschool.edu
Netta Keesom, MA, Student Coordinator for the Sándor Ferenczi Center. NSSRFerencziCenter@gmail.com
Participants may also contact CE committee members with any concerns. You may also share concerns when you receive your evaluation form after the event.
Tickets may be refunded up to 24 hours prior to the start of the event.
Please email NSSRFerencziCenter@gmail.com to cancel your ticket and request a refund.
The New School for Social Research, Department of Psychology SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0199.
The New School for Social Research, Department of Psychology is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0120.
The New School of Social Research, Department of Psychology is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0146.
The New School for Social Research, Department of Psychology is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.
The New School for Social Research Clinical Psychology Department maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
The sponsors of this event report no conflicts of interest or commercial support.