The psychology internship program at the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic of San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center has long offered psychoanalytically grounded training and service in a hospital setting. The program's diverse aspects include psychodynamic individual, couples and group psychotherapy; close collaboration between psychology interns and psychiatry residents; intensive training in Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy; and education in psychopharmacology and crisis intervention from physicians and hospital staff.

Currently we are enthusiastically expanding our couples therapy program. The foundation of this program is Dr. Shelley Nathans' year-long course introducing trainees to a psychoanalytic point of view on couples psychopathology, health and intervention. Theories of Klein, Bion, Britton and Kernberg, as well as the work of the Tavistock Center for Couple Relationships form the basis of a depth-oriented approach to the struggles that couples bring to the consulting room. Looking at couples' individual and shared unconscious processes brings an opportunity for transformative psychoanalytic understanding to couples work.

As interns take part in the Dr. Nathans' course, they are actively treating couples, putting concepts like container/contained, the "third," and projective identification into clinical use. We are pleased to bring this sophisticated couples-therapy treatment approach to the local community and welcome your referrals. Our clinic has a generous sliding scale; lower-income couples can be seen for a low fee. All our patients are seen by advanced-level psychology interns, post-docs, and psychiatry residents. Our clinic promotes longer-term treatments with trainees who stay on as post-docs and those who can continue with patients in private practice settings. Please call (415) 600-3247 with your referrals.

Sharon Tyson, Ph.D.
Chief Psychologist/Director of Psychology Training
California Pacific Medical Center