206: Technique III: Midphase
Instructors
Howard Bliwise, M.D.
Alla Sheynkin, Psy.D.
December 3, 2025 – February 25, 2026
Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:20 pm
No class: 12/24, 12/31, 1/28
If you are joining the class remotely, please click here
Co-requisites
Candidates must have at least one case in supervised psychoanalysis to be eligible for second year courses
Course Description
This course will address core topics in clinical theory and technique: Transference, Countertransference, Therapeutic Alliance, Neutrality, Interpretation, Reconstruction, Resistance, and Insight. The readings and discussions will take up beginning and middle phases and use clinical material from the students’ cases and cases provided by other instructors.
Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:
- describe, demonstrate, and apply psychoanalytic technical principles (such as transference, countertransference, insight, interpretation, etc.) to their clinical work.
- compare, assess, and analyze different theoretical approaches to psychoanalytic technical principles in order to expand and enrich their clinical work.
Evaluation Method
Each student’s participation in class discussion and his or her demonstration of understanding of the course objectives and reading material is assessed in a written evaluation by the instructor(s).
Continuing Education
Psychologists
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute 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 – 0073.
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education programs for psychologists. New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content. DISCLOSURE: None of the planners and presenters of this CE program has any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Social Workers
New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute 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 #SW – 0317.
These articles are protected under relevant copyright regulations. They are available in the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Electronic Reserve for your convenience, and for your personal use.
If you would like to join the course remotely, click here
READINGS FOR 2025-26 CLASS ARE CONFIRMED.
I. Transference
CLASS 1: December 3, 2025
REQUIRED READINGS
Bird, B. (1972). Notes on Transference: Universal Phenomenon and the Hardest Part of Analysis. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 20:267-301
Stein, M. (1981), The Unobjectionable Part of the Transference. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 29:869-892
Joseph, B. (1985). Transference: The Total Situation. Int. J. Psychoanal. 66:447-454
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Blass, R. B. (2023). On the nature of transference interpretation and why only it can bring about analytic change. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 104(4), 701–721.
Abend, S.M. (1993). Inquiry into the Fate of the Transference in Psychoanalysis. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 41:627-625
II. Transference and Countertransference
CLASS 2: December 10, 2025
REQUIRED READINGS
Jacobs, T.J. (1983). The Analyst’s and the Patient’s Object World: An Aspect of Countertransference. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 31:619-642
Reich, A. (1973). Empathy and Countertransference. In: Psychoanalytic Contributions. New York: Int. Univ. Press, pp. 344-360
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Abend, S.M. (1985). Countertransference and Psychoanalytic Technique. Psychoanal Q. 58:374-395.
III. Countertransference
CLASS 3: December 17, 2025
REQUIRED READINGS
Brenner, C. (1985). Countertransference as Compromise Formation. Psychoanal Q. 54:155-163
Ogden, T.H. (1995). Aliveness and Deadness of the Transference-Countertransference. Int J. Psychoanal. 76:695-710
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Ogden, T. H. (2024). Ontological Psychoanalysis in Clinical Practice. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 93(1), 13–31.
IV. Neutrality and Therapeutic Alliance
CLASS 4: January 7, 2026
REQUIRED READINGS
Brenner, C. (1979). Working Alliance, Therapeutic Alliance and Transference. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 27(S):137-158
Greenson, R. (1965). The Working Alliance and the Transference Neurosis. Psychoanal. Q. 34:155-181
Renik, O. (1996). The Perils of Neutrality. Psychoanal. Q 65:496-517
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Blum, H.P. (2016). Interpretation and Contemporary Reinterpretation. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 36:40-51.
V. Case Presentation
CLASS 5: January 14, 2026
Case Presentation
VI. Resistance and Defense
CLASS 6: January 21, 2026
REQUIRED READINGS
Kris, E. (1956). The Personal Myth. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 4:653-681
Gray, P. (1973). Psychoanalytic Technique: the Ego’s Capacity to view Intrapsychic Activity. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 21:474-494
VII. Resistance and Interpretation
CLASS 7: February 4, 2026
REQUIRED READINGS
Gray, P. (1992). Memory as Resistance, and the Telling of a Dream. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 40:307-326
Kris, E. (1951). Ego Psychology and Interpretation in Psychoanalytic Therapy. Psychoanal Q. 20:15-30
Schafer, R. (1983). The Analysis of Resisting. Chapter 10 In: The Analytic Attitude. New York: Basic Books, pp 164-182
VIII. Reconstruction
CLASS 8: February 11, 2026
REQUIRED READINGS
Arlow, J.A. (1991). Methodology and Reconstruction. Psychoanal. Q. 60:539-563
Schafer, R. (1983). Psychoanalytic Reconstruction. Chapter 12, In: The Analytic Attitude. New York: Basic Books, pp 193-203
Reider, N. (1953). Reconstruction and Screen Function. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 1:389-405
IX. Case Presentation
CLASS 9: February 18, 2026
Case Presentation with Navah Kaplan, Ph.D.
REQUIRED READINGS
Rosen, V. (1955). Reconstruction of Traumatic Childhood Event: Case of Derealization. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn. 3:211-221
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Gottlieb, R. M. (2017). Reconstruction in A Two-Person World May Be More About The Present Than The Past: Freud and The Wolf Man, an Illustration. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 65(2), 305-316.
X. Insight
CLASS 10: Insight: March 4, 2026
REQUIRED READINGS
Horowitz, M.H. (1987). Some Notes on Insight and Its Failures. Psychoanal Q. 56:177-196
Kris, E. (1956). On Some Vicissitudes of Insight in Psychoanalysis. Int. J. Psychoanal. 37:445-455.
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS
Abend, S. (2018). Countertransference and Psychoanalytic Technique. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 87(3): 497-515.
Cooper, S.H. (2010). An Elusive Aspect of the Analyst’s Relationship to Transference. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 79(2): 349-380.
Katz, W.W (2014). Countertransference Identification and Fantasy in Psychoanalytic Process. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 83(3): 565-594.