DATE
Saturday, April 25, 2026 | 9 – 12:15 PM (PT) / 12 -3:15 PM (ET)
ABSTRACT
In contemporary relational psychoanalysis, the therapist’s subjectivity is conceptualized
not as an impediment to treatment but as an indispensable instrument through which
she gains intimate access to the patient’s internal world – and is thereby positioned to
facilitate deep, embodied transformation and structural change.
Although the therapist must always strive to withstand the “inductive pull” of the
patient’s often unconscious re-enactment of unmastered early relational trauma,
contemporary theories of therapeutic action posit that it is not only inevitable but also
necessary – and therefore ultimately therapeutic – that the therapist will, at times, fail
the patient. Indeed, such failures often occur in precisely the ways the patient most
needs to be failed if there is ever to be hope of detoxifying internalized badness and
correcting for the chronic misattunement of early relationships.
The therapist’s unwitting relational failures of the patient are therefore both the bad
news – and the good news.
As projective identification unfolds, both patient and therapist inevitably expose their
underbellies. The patient, by projecting disavowed aspects of the self, risks confronting
deeply buried and painful dimensions of her inner world. The therapist, drawn in
through countertransference, risks discovering latent personal conflicts or unresolved
wounds of her own.
But this shared vulnerability and mutual exposure are not unfortunate byproducts of the
work; they are the very conditions through which therapeutic change becomes possible.
Over time, relational accountability on the part of both participants loosens the grip of
the internal demons that have sustained the patient’s maladaptive patterns of
relatedness – while simultaneously expanding the therapist’s capacity to tolerate
uncertainty, to make mistakes, to hold herself accountable, and to remain present at
the intimate edge of fully engaged and unprotected relatedness.
I will offer a series of clinical vignettes – both brief and extended – illustrating how
relational impasses and transference-countertransference entanglements can be worked
through and resolved, with both patient and therapist emerging transformed – the
patient less imprisoned by internalized badness and the therapist more deeply anchored
in an authentic, accountable self.
BRIEF BIO
Martha Stark, MD, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, is a holistic (adult and child) psychiatrist and
integrative psychoanalyst in Cambridge MA. Creator/Developer of THE ST★RK METHOD of PSYCHODYNAMIC SYNERGY, Martha is the author of nine influential books that explore the integration of psychodynamic theory with clinical practice, including Relentless Hope: The Refusal to Grieve and the award-winning 1999 Modes of Therapeutic Action: Knowledge, Experience, and Relationship – recipient of Jason Aronson’s prestigious “Book of the Year Award.”
Her works have received widespread acclaim and are considered essential reading in psychoanalytic training institutes and psychodynamic psychotherapy training programs across the US and internationally.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Highlight the distinction between the “induction” phase and the “resolution” phase of
a projective identification
- Explain how it is that “mutual enactment” emerges
- Elaborate upon the role played by relational accountability on the part of both patient
and therapist
- Expound upon The Rule of Three and its relevance for provocative enactments
PRICE
Early Bird Registration Now Open — General Admission: $20 | With 3 CEUs: $40. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from world-renowned psychoanalyst Dr. Martha Stark for a very affordable cost!
Both LIVE and RECORDED for later reviewing.*
*Purchase of recording does not include CE credits.
REFERENCES
Leichsenring F, Abbas A, Gottdiener W, Hilsenroth M, Keefe JR, Luyten P, Rabung S,
Steinert C. Psychodynamic therapy: A well-defined concept with increasing evidence.
Evidence-Based Mental Health 2016 May;19(2):64. doi:10.1136/eb-2016-102372.
Leichsenring F, Abbas A, Gottdiener W, Hilsenroth M, Keefe JR, Luyten P, Rabung S,
Steinert C. Psychodynamic therapy: A well-defined concept with increasing evidence.
Evidence-Based Mental Health 2016 May;19(2):64. doi:10.1136/eb-2016-102372.
Leichsenring F, Luyten P, Hilsenroth MJ, Abbass A, Barber JP, Keefe JR, Leweke F,
Rabung S, Steinert C. Psychodynamic therapy meets evidence-based medicine: A
systematic review using updated criteria. Lancet Psychiatry 2015 Jul;2(7):648-660.
doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(15)00155-8.
Lilliengren P. Comprehensive compilation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
involving psychodynamic treatments and interventions. Research – June 2017.
Steinert C, Munder T, Rabung S, Hoyer J, Leichsenring F. Psychodynamic therapy: As
efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing
equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry 2017 Oct 1;174(10):943-953.
doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17010057.
Wolfs B, Levendosky A, Turchan J, Luo X, Good E. A re-introduction of the
psychodynamic approach to the standard clinical psychology curriculum. Journal of
Clinical Psychology 2023 Jun;79(10):2439-2451. doi:10.1002/jclp.23551.
NB: The Center for Christianity and Psychoanalysis does not exist to promote a single viewpoint or advance one ideological stance. Our intent is to create a space where people from varied theological traditions, clinical orientations, and cultural backgrounds can come together to think, reflect, and learn from one another.
We invite a range of speakers whose scholarship, clinical practice, and theological reflection enrich our community. Their presence with us is not an endorsement of every viewpoint they hold. Rather, our aim is to host thoughtful dialogue across differences—trusting that engagement with differing perspectives deepens our search for understanding and truth.
We are committed to fostering dialogue, not dogma, and to exposing our community to multiple perspectives across both psychoanalytic and Christian theological thought as we continue the ongoing work of integration.
