Five Fridays 2026-2027
Our 2026-2027 Five Friday topics and presenters are listed below. Please note that for 2026-2027, four of the Five Friday seminars will be in person, at the BCC Service Center in Bethesda, MD. Our virtual webinar will be held via zoom, with zoom links sent to all registrants on the Monday before the seminar.
Everything, Everywhere, Undiagnosed: Psychoanalytic Considerations for Navigating Diagnosis and Identification With Neurodivergent Patients
Friday, September 18, 2026, 11:30am – 2:30pm at the BCC Service Center
Benjamin Morsa, PsyD
This seminar earns 3 CE’s in Cultural Competence
The autism diagnosis is a story of profound changes in short periods of time. It was founded and expanded after the second world war – a time when psychoanalysis was also expanding. These two histories are related and entangled, particularly in the school of British Object Relations. Initially conceptualized psychoanalytically, autism became the province of behaviorists and neuroscientists in the late 20th century – what Sergio Benvenuto calls “a battle lost by psychoanalysis.” Now in the era of neurodiversity affirmation, autism has changed yet again – from a clinical diagnostic category rendered as pathology, to a form of identity, sometimes self-proclaimed, rendered as natural variations and differences. This poses unique dilemmas for psychoanalysts and assessors alike. One option is to lean into a conflict about science and authority. Another option is to notice how science and the social are deeply entangled, the ethical and practical questions this raises, and what this means for psychoanalysis in the era of neurodiversity. Dr. Benjamin Morsa will discuss these topics and his forthcoming book Farewell, Diagnosis: Diffracting Psychoanalysis, Autism, and Assessment.
This will include:
- The history of the autism diagnosis and its relationship to the history of psychoanalysis.
- Key contributions from the British Object Relations School (Klein, Tustin, Meltzer, Alvarez).
- Tensions and affordances between neurodiversity affirmation and psychoanalysis.
- The shared reflexive bias of clinical / self-diagnosis.
- Tools for facilitating a psychoanalytic process with patients around autism, neurodiversity, and assessment.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Identify at least three tenets of neurodiversity affirming practice as established in the research and two related standards from the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct to guide ethical decision-making in work with this population.
- Describe three criticisms and methodological challenges related to existing research into neurodiversity community terms including masking, the double empathy problem, and pathological demand avoidance. Consider how to hold these criticisms in mind when working with patients who identify with these terms.
- Analyze differences between autism / autistic defenses as theorized in the British Object Relations tradition of psychoanalysis and the contemporary diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder and consider the impact of these differences on psychoanalytic practice with individual patients.
Registration
I Was So Much Older Then, I’m Younger Than That Now: Learning and Unlearning in the Course of an Analytic Career
Friday, December 11, 2026, 11:30am – 2:30pm at the BCC Service Center
David Cooper, PhD
Dr. Cooper will share his evolving conception of the task and process of analytic psychotherapy. Sharing reflections on his own work over the years and utilizing clinical examples from attendees, he will discuss the importance of a relational stance which includes an appreciation of developmental factors, a dynamic systems view of causation and change, understanding in terms of transferences of both patient and therapist, mentalization and its failures in both participants, and a stress on facilitating curiosity. These issues are reflected in how we listen, what we say (and don’t say) , and what changes in the process.
Learning Objectives:
- Students will be able to define the task of analytic psychotherapies.
- Students will be able to cite advantages of non-linear thinking in accounting for the unfolding of psychoanalytic clinical work and will be able to integrate this thinking into definitions of the task of analytic work.
- Students will be able to describe different modes of listening and will be able to cite an example from their own practice when they took, or could have taken, their patient’s mentalization capacity into consideration when formulating an intervention.
Presenter Bio:
David E. Cooper, Ph.D. has an undergraduate philosophy degree from Yale and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from GWU. He did his psychoanalytic training at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute (currently the Washington Baltimore Institute), where he has been on the faculty for the past 30 years. He spent 10 years (1991-2001) on the medical staff at Chestnut Lodge Hospital, where he developed and directed a day program for severe personality disorders. Since 2001, he has been in full-time private practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
Everybody Hurts (Differently): Distinguishing Grief, Depression, Masochism, and Personality Disorders
Friday, January 8th, 2027, 10:00am – 1:00pm via Zoom
Nancy McWilliams, PhD
Therapists struggle to help patients for whom situational stressors interact with personality patterns in complicated combinations of grief, mourning, and depressive and masochistic dynamics. Because neither “Depressive Personality Disorder” nor “Self-Defeating Personality Disorder” is found in the DSM or ICD, official taxonomies offer clinicians little help in distinguishing among various painful self-states and framing therapy accordingly. Dr. McWilliams will differentiate conceptually between (1) grief and depression, (2) anaclitic and introjective depression, (3) relational self-sabotage and “moral masochism” (Reik, 1941), and (4) depressive and self-defeating personality patterns. She will give clinical examples of treatment implications of these different presentations of sadness, despair, and malignant self-regard.
Learning Objectives:
- To articulate three differences between normal grief and clinical depression
- To differentiate between introjective and anaclitic depressive experiences
- To distinguish between predominantly depressive and predominantly self-defeating (masochistic) personality patterns
- to state two clinical implications of a diagnosis of self-defeating personality disorder.
Presenter Bio:
Nancy McWilliams is Visiting Professor Emerita of clinical psychology at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology and practices in Lambertville, New Jersey. She is author of Psychoanalytic Diagnosis (1994, rev. ed. 2011), Psychoanalytic Case Formulation (1999), Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (2004) and Psychoanalytic Supervision (2021) and is associate editor of all three editions of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (2006, 2017, 2026). A former president of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association, she has been featured in three APA videos of master clinicians. She is on the Board of Trustees of the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA. Her books are available in over 20 languages, and she has taught in more than 30 countries.
Someone to Watch Over Me: The Transformative Power of Infant Observation for Clinical Work
March 12, 2027, 11:30am – 2:30pm
Deborah Blessing, MSW, LICSW and and Shari Matray, PhD
What is Infant Observation? What is it about infant observation that compels students in 50 countries to seek this training, a methodology pioneered by Esther Bick at the Tavistock Clinic in London in 1948? As our presentation delves into the hows and whys of it, we will arrive at the heart of the matter: the transformative power of infant observation for clinical work across all ages and diagnostic groups. This training sharpens a therapist’s ability to focus on nonverbal behaviors, primitive anxieties and providing a containing environment — capacities essential to deepening our work. “Showing” always trumps “telling.” There will be an in-depth opportunity to participate in hearing and thinking about case material from an actual observation of a baby in a family.
Ketamine Assisted Therapy and Psychoanalytic Openings: A Different Way of Being on the Couch
May 7, 2027, 10:00am – 1:00pm
Lisa Smith, LPC, CST
Liz March, LICSW, ATR, CGP
There is a lot of talk in our profession right now about psychedelics and their applications for psychotherapy. In this workshop, two experienced therapists will explore what Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) actually looks like in practice. KAP is a rich complement to psychodynamic work, bringing up attachment patterns, dream-like imagery and metaphors, and actual growth and change on the neurobiological level. It can create openings that deepen regular ongoing therapy and transference processes. Through case studies, dialogue, video, and demonstration, you will gain a rich understanding of why KAP can be such a powerful tool and complement to the deep therapeutic work you are already doing with individuals, couples, and groups. You will also learn which clients in your practice could be good candidates for this treatment modality.
Learning objectives:
- Describe the core principles and clinical components of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and its integration with psychodynamic and psychoanalytic treatment approaches.
- Identify at least three ways KAP can illuminate attachment patterns, unconscious material, and transference dynamics in psychotherapy.
- Analyze clinical case examples to gain an understanding of how KAP can deepen therapeutic processes and support ongoing therapy.
- Assess client presentations and treatment goals to determine appropriate candidates for referral to or participation in Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy.
Presenter Bios:
Lisa Smith, LPC, CST. Lisa is a psychotherapist who provides KAP to individuals,
couples, and groups. She specializes in trauma therapy, couples therapy, and sex
therapy for people who identify as queer, heterosexual, and a wide range of other
identities. Lisa’s background in psychedelic assisted therapy includes KAP training with
Polaris Insight Center, KAP/IFS training with the Ketamine Training Center, MDMA
Assisted Therapy training with MAPS, and Psilocybin Assisted Therapy training
through Horizons NY. She holds an MS in Counseling from Johns Hopkins University
and is an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist. Lisa is a former Board member of the Mid-
Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society.
Liz Marsh, LICSW, ATR, CGP. Liz is a Clinical Social Worker and Art Therapist with
over fifteen years of clinical experience. She provides KAP to individuals and groups.
Liz works with a wonderful mix of clients who are diverse in their experiences and
identities. She combines relational therapy and expressive arts to give clients the tools
and space to create joyful and fulfilling lives for themselves. Liz strives to help each of
her clients find their personal agency through understanding the dynamics in their
families of origin and our society as a whole. In this way, Liz sees mental healthcare as
a tool for social justice. Liz’s background in Ketamine-Assisted Therapy includes
training with Polaris Insight Center. She is a Certified Group Psychotherapist and is the
immediate past President of the Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society.