Impulse is a community newsletter produced by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) and distributed electronically to subscribers at no cost. We envision Impulse as an integrative source for local news, events, and thinking of interest to the psychoanalytically inclined. Our goal is to be your guide as you explore the Bay Area's rich array of analytic resources.
We invite you to become a member of NCSPP, if you are not already. And, we welcome you as a subscriber to Impulse. Join us as we highlight the exceptional diversity of psychoanalytic thought and practice in Northern California.
by Ben Diamond, Psy.D., Managing Editor
There are different theories and ideas to explain the phenomena of behavioral dysregulation or “acting out” and to justify different interventions. In working with institutionalized patients with extremely severe mental illness, acutely assaultive, suicidal, and self-injurious behaviors are common, and often come with (or constitute) highly intense expressions of emotion by the patients engaged in those behaviors and those involved in caring for them. These behaviors are profoundly disturbing to witness and challenging to treat, and thinking about them can enrich the work of all therapists, even those whose own patients act out in less overt and disturbed ways.
Skills-based and behavioral treatments are often criticized by analytic therapists for what they miss—the emotional and relational complexities they reduce to the mechanistic operation of a behavioral “black box.” On the other hand, how many opportunities for relational aliveness have been missed—and how many patients lost to suicide—in the name of preferring words to actions, thinking to doing, understanding to acting out? It is frightening and destabilizing to watch my patients do violence to themselves and others. It is also clarifying, enlivening, and brings opportunities to learn new ways of being and living for all involved. I am grateful to have both analytic and behavioral tools to understand these processes and to keep myself and my patients alive.
by David Cushman, Psy.D.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD: TOWARDS LIBERATION AND FREEDOM
The CIIS Psy.D. program is excited to invite you to our Fall 2026 conference, Notes from the Field: Towards Liberation and Freedom. It will be held on Saturday, November 7th, and is available in-person at CIIS and online. We invite you to mark your calendars and register via our conference website.
Notes from the Field invites presenters to bring unfinished ideas so participants can wrestle with the complexities and demands of thinking about liberation and freedom. The conference serves to support collective exploration and embodied experiences of liberation and freedom.
Morning Keynote: Dr. Joe Zamaria examines the potential of group psychedelic-assisted therapy through his keynote talk, "What Happens When We Heal Together? Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy and the Potential of Collective Healing.” He invites us to reimagine therapy outside of the traditional dyadic Western perspective to support healing trauma, including racial trauma, as a group.
by Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California
PINC OPEN HOUSE
The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California invites you to join us for an Open House.
This will be a hybrid event, held both in-person and online.
In-person (at our new location!) 550 California Street, Suite 220, SF, CA
Online via Zoom
Thursday, November 12th, 2026 | 7:00pm – 8:30pm
If you are considering analytic training, whether locally or at a distance, please join PINC Faculty, Administrators, Graduates, and Candidates to learn about our Psychoanalytic Training Program, connect, and hear how we think about psychoanalysis today and as an always-evolving praxis. Questions regarding training and the admissions process are encouraged and welcome.
Pizza and beverages will be provided. We anticipate an informative and lively discussion. Please feel free to invite other friends or colleagues you believe would be interested.
To register and receive the Zoom link, please click here: https://db.pincsf.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=618
by SFCP Dialogues in Contemporary Psychoanalysis
LET IT HAPPEN: THE PSYCHOANALYST AS A LIVING PROCESS
Join SFCP for the opening program of the 2026–2027 Dialogues season on Saturday, November 14th, from 9:30am – 12:30pm (PST).
Alice Huang, M.D., in dialogue with Adam Goldyne, M.D.
Hosted by Adam Blum, Psy.D.
Presented in person at SFCP (hybrid available).
We need theory. We need technique. Most patients don't care about that. They are immersed in the work with us, immersed in our analytic way of being: what catches our attention, how we listen, when we wait; where our curiosity goes, what surprises us, and the particular atmosphere that develops over time. This immersion is not simply the background of analytic work. It is how psychoanalysis comes to life.
Alice Huang gives fresh language to this familiar but elusive dimension of practice. How can theory guide us without becoming a manual? How do we loosen our grip on knowing exactly what is going on? What happens when the analyst’s own sensibility is understood not simply as interference, but as the very medium of treatment?
Adam Goldyne joins Alice for a live dialogue about trusting this less scripted, more personal dimension of psychoanalytic practice.
Register here.
This is only the beginning: The Dialogues season continues with Galit Atlas, Jonathan Palmer, and Amanda Hess. We hope you’ll join us throughout the season.
by Lila Zimmerman, LMFT
WHEN A CIGAR IS JUST A CIGAR BUT A CIGARETTE IS MY FATHER
In Memory of Robert E. Zimmerman, Jr. (March 7, 1958 – August 4, 2026)
I started smoking again when my father died. Smoking with a fervor I have not previously known. Cigarettes, among other self-injurious activities (and objects) were perhaps the main culprit in his dying. They themselves, not benign of course, but more so his attachment to (use of) them. The confounding reality that he could have been spared this particular end and yet he refused, proclaiming often that this is what he loved and living without what he loved made no sense to him. This was painful to hear, as you might imagine, because it meant I would not be able to live with what I loved, which of course was him...
by Sam Given-Dennis, LMFT
NCSPP ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY
All NCSPP members are invited to celebrate another year of provocative programs, classes, and events at our Annual Holiday Party. As analytic therapists of all generations gather together for support, this event reminds us of our collective commitment to growth, vitality, and deep thought. Come mingle with new and old NCSPP friends and toast with us in style! Early December date and location to be announced soon—stay tuned!
Old couches, new books, hot jobs, cool internships, office rentals? List them in Impulse's Classifieds for a modest fee. Please see our submission guidelines for details.
On Queering Psychoanalysis (6 CE Course)
Sun, Nov. 1 (begins) / 9:30am – 11:00am / 5655 College Ave. / Oakland
NCSPP / (650) 427-0268 / E. Seidel, Psy.D. / $90 – $270
Have We Lost Our Love of Psychoanalysis?
Sat, Nov. 7 / 4:00pm – 6:00pm / 3600 American River Drive / Sacramento
Sacramento Psychoanalytic Society / (415) 814-6585 / I. Philipson, Ph.D. / $10 – $25