16-332c Relational Psychodynamic Theory and Therapy– 6 Hour Seminar
David Levit, Ph.D., A.B.P.P.
Saturday, July 23, 2016 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Course Description
This course will center upon relational perspectives on psychotherapy with emphasis on the evolution and
expansion in our understanding of therapeutic process, therapeutic options, and therapeutic action. We will
address relational revisions in basic concepts such as transference and countertransference. The foundations of
relational perspectives will be presented, drawing upon the contributions of seminal theorists, such as Mitchell,
Greenberg, Davies, Hoffman, Bromberg, Aron, Benjamin, etc. We will not only outline and discuss the central
ideas about psychotherapy within the relational paradigm, but also examine them in light of more traditional
psychodynamic perspectives. For example, the relational emphasis on the therapist’s expressive participation
will be considered in light of a more traditional emphasis on analytic restraint.
Faculty: David Levit, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. is a Diplomate in Psychoanalysis and in Clinical Psychology and a
Fellow at the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis. He is an SEP (Somatic Experiencing
Practitioner). He is in private practice in Amherst, MA where he provides individual therapy and
psychoanalysis, and consultation for colleagues. His current faculty positions are: Faculty, Massachusetts
Institute for Psychoanalysis (MIP); Co-founder, Co-chair, MIP Postgraduate Fellowship Program-West;
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts Medical School; Adjunct Associate Professor, Smith College
School for Social Work.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand the relational turn in psychoanalysis and the emergence of Relational Psychoanalysis.
2. Deepen an understanding of relational perspectives and concepts and their application to the understanding of
individual psychological functioning.
3. Deepen an understanding of relational perspectives and concepts and their application to the understanding of the
therapeutic relationship and clinical process.
4. Apply relational perspectives and concepts in developing greater breadth and depth in thinking about clinical choices.
Bibliography
• Aron, L. (1996). Enactment, interaction, and projective identification: The interpersonalization of psychoanalysis.
In L. Aron, A meeting of minds: mutuality in psychoanalysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, pp. 189-220.
• Bromberg, P. (1996). Standing in the spaces: The multiplicity of self and the psychoanalytic relationship.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 32: 509-535
• Davies, J. M. (1996). Linking the “pre-analytic” with the postclassical: Integration, dissociation, and the multiplicity
of unconscious process. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 32, 553-576.
• Davies, J. M. (2004). Whose bad objects are we anyway: Repetition and our elusive love affair with evil.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 14, 711-732.
• Mitchell, S. A. (1988). Penelope’s loom: Psychopathology and the analytic process. In S. A. Mitchell, Relational
concepts in psychoanalysis: An integration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 271-306.
• Mitchell S. A. (1997). Introduction: From heresy to reformation. In S. A. Mitchell, Influence and autonomy in
psychoanalysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, pp. 1-32.