Impulse is a community newsletter produced by the Northern California Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (NCSPP) and distributed electronically at no cost to subscribers. 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 Terrance McLarnan, MFT

NCSPP is delighted to bring Dr. Anne Alvarez to the Bay Area for our Annual Lecture on May 10 at the David Brower Center. Among her contributions to psychoanalytic theory and technique are her two seminal books Live Companyand The Thinking Heart, which offer innovative ways of thinking about how we attempt to find the level of interpretation corresponding to our patients' functioning from one minute to the next. Built on her experience of failure to reach children with ordinary explanatory or locating interpretations, Alvarez will present a schema of three levels of analytic work and levels of psychopathology applicable to a wide range of cases. NCSPP believes her presentation will provide you with inspirational theory and clinical thinking to complement your approach when working with challenging children and adults.

OPEN HOUSE
Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California

If you are considering psychoanalytic training, and the additional option of a Psy.D. in psychoanalysis, you would be very welcome to attend our upcoming Open House.

by Suzanne Stambaugh, Psy.D., Impulse Staff Writer

THE COMIC AND THE TRAGIC

Existential terror generally makes a poor subject for casual conversation. I have started at least one argument (and silenced a brunch) by pondering how, from a certain perspective, the best you can hope for in life is to meet your true love, spend your lives together, then one of you dies, and the other waits for death alone. Recently, however, I heard a comedian deliver a two-minute speech on exactly that subject, and he had a whole room full of people laughing about it.

by Ripple Patel

MH370 and the Black Box of the Mind. Josh Cohen asks and imagines why the black box is such a potent emblem of the anxieties of contemporary life.

Tragic Trends in the Treatment of Addictive Illness. Psychiatrist Edward J. Khantzian issues a plea for mental health professionals to reconsider various treatment modalities for addiction.

Interview with Peter Fonagy in Israel. This interview meanders through a range of topics, from Fonagy's experience of psychoanalysis to the interaction of ADHD with an insecure attachment style.

Classifieds: 

BERKELEY OFFICE FOR RENT. Lovely, newly constructed office, 225 sq.ft. Bamboo floors, skylight, therapists' bathroom and kitchen, parking, free wi-fi. Contact Alice Jones, MD, 510-845-8800, alicejonesmd@gmail.com.

THERAPY GROUPS FOR THERAPISTS. Two groups for mental health professionals and trainees, meeting weekly in SF on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, currently have openings.  Running continuously for 30 years. Relational psychoanalytic orientation.  Two other groups for high functioning adults, including therapists, meet weekly in SF on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.  Each of these groups has one opening for a new member.  Led by Art Raisman, Ph.D.; Licensed Psychologist (PSY 7795); Ass't Clin. Prof, UCSF; Past President, Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society.  (415) 453-4271.

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.   

Appointment Book: 

Proto-Container and Beta-Mentality
Thu, May 1 / 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm / 530 Bush Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / P. Goldberg, Ph.D. / free - $15

Working with Clinical Facts
Thu, May 1 / 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm / Stanford's Psychiatry / Stanford 
SFCP / (415) 563-2283 / M.K. Smith, Ph.D. / free

San Francisco Psychotherapy Forums 2013-2014
Thu, May 1 (begins) / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / 444 Natoma St. / San Francisco

SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / D. Renye, Psy.D.; M. Wagner, Ph.D., LMFT / free

Grad Paper: Traversing Continents and Generations
Sat, May 3 / 9:00 am - 10:30 am / 530 Bush Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / Shubha Herkelar, MFT / free

Grad Paper: How do I know I exist? 
Sat, May 3 / 10:45 am - 12:15 pm / 530 Bush Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / R. Ehat, MFT; F. Gonzalez, MD / free

The Archetypal Roots of Debt 
Sun, May 4 / 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm / 2040 Gough St / San Francisco
Jung / (415) 771-8055 / K. Levinson, Ph.D.; J. Reynolds, Ph.D. / free - $20

Film, Fantasy and Freud: Fifth Annual Evening at the Movies
Sun, May 4 / 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm / 444 Natoma Street / San Francisco 
SFCP / (415) 563-2283 / R. Cowan, PsyD., LCSW / free

PAPPTP Open House
Thu, May 8 / 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm / 3366 Brower Ave. / Mountain View
SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / S., Levine, LCSW / free

Lost and Found in the World: Film & Discussion of Marwencol 
Fri, May 9 / 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm / 530 Bush Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 810-6245 / Z. Grusky, Psy.D; R. Cowan, Psy.D. / free - $20

Annual Event and Lecture: A Day with Anne Alvarez
Sat, May 10 / 9:00 am - 4:00 pm / 2150 Allston Way / Berkeley
NCSPP / (512) 663-2510 / A. Alvarez Ph.D.; M. McClure, DMH / $40 - $230

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Sun, May 11 / 10:00 pm - 12:30 pm / 1375 55th Street / Emeryville
SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / A. Alvarez, A. Martini, LCSW / free - $30

The Milton Lozoff, MD Memorial Lecture 
Mon, May 12 / 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm / 444 Natoma Street / San Francisco
SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / H. Levine, MD; M. Wilson, MD / free

Beyond the Consulting Room: with Rachael Peltz, Ph.D.
Fri, May 16 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / Private Home / East Bay
NCSPP / (415) 786-7961 / Rachael Peltz, Ph.D. / $10 - $12

Graduation Paper: Naming Rumpelstiltskin
Sat, May 17 / 9:00 am - 10:30 am / 530 Bush Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / Thor John Cornelius, MD / free

Grad Paper: Coloring Outside the Lines 
Sat, May 17 / 10:45 am - 12:15 pm / Buchanan Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / D. Sutherland, MD, Ph.D. / free

South Bay Psychotherapy Forum 
Tue, May 20 / 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm / 401 Quarry Road / Stanford
SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / S. Parikh, M.D.; A. Bronstein, Ph.D. / free

What Remains: Reflections in the Wake of Suicide 
Fri, May 30 / 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm / 2727 College Avenue / Berkeley
TPI / (510) 524-1347 / Margaret M. Clausen / free

Containing States of Mind: Working with Bion's Ideas
Sat, May 31 / 9:00 am - 2:30 pm / 2150 Allston Way / Berkeley
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / D. Cartwright, Ph.D.; M. McClure, Ph.D. / $65 - $165

Murdering Minds: Violent Solutions to Inexorable Pressures
Sun, Jun 1 / 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm / 2919 Mission Street / San Francisco
PINC / (415) 288-4050 / Duncan Cartwright, Ph.D. / free - $15

East Bay Psychotherapy Forum
Wed, Jun 4 / 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm / 2001 Dwight Way / Berkeley
SFCP / (415) 563-3366 / P. Neer, Psy.D.; T. Schulman, Ph.D. / free - $18