Wilma Bucci, Ph.D.
Co-Director

Leon Hoffman, M.D.
Co-Director

Bernard Maskit, Ph.D.
Chair, IRB

The Pacella Research Center of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is the result of the merging of the Research Division of the Pacella Parent Child Center and the NYPSI Research Center.

The Pacella Research Center continues to try to move a research perspective closer to the center of NYPSI’s life in its educational programs and in the practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapies.

In the report of the American Psychoanalytic Association Site Visiting Committee following their visit to NYPSI in early November 2014, the site visitors noted that the Pacella Parent Child Center is “A model for the country…on the forefront of the future of psychoanalysis.”

Pacella Research Center Committee:

Wilma Bucci and Leon Hoffman, Co-Directors; Bernard Maskit, Chair, IRB; Michael Peral, Research Assistant; Christopher Christian, Sean Murphy, Tehela Nimroody, Wendy Olesker, Timothy Rice, and Lissa Weinstein.

Click HERE to view the IRB Instructions and Application

Research Activities

  1. Utilization and Study of Regulation Focused Psychotherapy for Children with Externalizing Behaviors: A Psychodynamic Approach (RFP-C) – An RCT is being conducted at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology with Tracy Prout as PI. The treatment is based on Leon Hoffman, Timothy Rice, and Tracy Prout’s Manual of Regulation-Focused Psychotherapy for Children with Externalizing Behaviors (RFP-C): A Psychodynamic Approach. (https://www.rfp-c.com)
  2. IPA Podcast: A Conversation with Leon Hoffman (New York): A Psychoanalyst Studies “Why is it easier to get mad than to feel sad?” At http://ipaoffthecouch.org/2020/02/23/episode-38-a-psychoanalyst-studies-why-is-it-easier-to-get-mad-than-it-is-to-feel-sad-with-leon-hoffman/
  3. A new book by Wilma Bucci, Emotional Communication and Therapeutic Change: Understanding Psychotherapy through Multiple Code Theory has just been published by Routledge. The book updates her previous version of the theory and adds considerable clinical material.
  4. A special issue of the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research will be published in the first quarter of 2021 containing expositions of the basic Referential Process theory by Wilma Bucci and the computerized Referential Process measures by Bernard Maskit, as well as clinical and empirical applications by members of the Pacella Research Group.
  5. Wilma Bucci, Ph.D. will receive the Leon Kupferstein Memorial Award in 2021; she presented on “The Need for Evolution of the Psychoanalytic Model: New Perspectives from Science and the Consulting Room” March 9, 2021.

Annual Reports

Pacella Research Report – October 2017

Pacella Research Center Annual Report 2017-2018

Pacella Research Center Annual Report 2020-2021