UPCOMING EVENTS

When the Patient Appears in the Therapist’s Dreams

                                                                     To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, 

                                                                     For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

— Hamlet

Steve Scherffius, MD will present on working therapeutically with the therapist’s dreams. (1.5 CEUs)

Date: Wednesday, January 20th, 2026: 7:30pm-9:00pm (Refreshments provided at 7:00pm)
Credits: 1.5 CE
Speakers: Steve Scherffius, MD

Meeting is both on Zoom & in-person at:
The Center for Integrative Counseling & Psychology
4305 MacArthur Ave.
Dallas, TX 75209

Zoom link will be sent out via registered email within 24 hours of meeting.

What Therapists Mourn: An Interactive Workshop

Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’erfraught heart and bids it break.

— Macbeth

Date: Saturday, February 27th, 2027 9AM-2PM

Credits: 4 CE 
Speaker: Deborah Cabaniss, MD

Meeting is both on Zoom & in-person at: 

**HIGHLY ENCOURAGED IN PERSON PARTICIPATION FOR EXPERIENCE**
The Center for Integrative Counseling & Psychology
4305 MacArthur Ave.
Dallas, TX 75209

In this interactive workshop, we will explore our general feelings about mourning, with a focus on the many things we mourn as therapists. We will review a model for thinking about mourning and then speak to one another about how and what we mourn during our clinical work. In our clinical practice, we continuously need to adjust to a reality that is not necessary what we hoped for. This is the work of mourning that we, as therapists, can learn to practice every day.

GAP IN KNOWLEDGE:

As therapists, we are generally taught about mourning from the perspective of the people with whom we work. This is often in the setting of loss of a loved one. Depending on our training, we may have studied this from multiple perspectives, including scientific, psychological, psychoanalytic, religious, and philosophical. Much more rarely, however, do we talk about the things that we, as therapists, mourn in the everyday work of clinical practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Afterparticipating in this interactive workshop, participants will

1.        Be able to articulate many of the things that they, as therapists, mourn in clinical practice;

2.        Be able to outline a model for thinking about the process of mourning

3.        Feel more comfortable talking and thinking about their own process of mourning in clinical practice, and begin to think about developing a regular practice of mourning to enhance their clinical work.

PRESENTER BIOGRAPHY:

Deborah L. Cabaniss, M.D. is Professor Emerita of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Until June of 2025, she was Associate Director of Residency Training in the Columbia Department of Psychiatry. She received her BA from Yale,  her MD from Columbia, and completed her psychoanalytic training at Columbia.  She has won numerous teaching awards and has over 60 publications related to psychotherapy education. In addition to her work in the US, Dr. Cabaniss has lectured and taught in Sweden, Norway, Japan, Korea and Canada, and her books, “Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual,” “Psychodynamic Formulation: An Expanded Approach,” and “Different Patients; Different Therapies” are used widely across the US and abroad. She is in private practice in Manhattan.

REFERENCES:

1.        Parens, H (2001). We All Mourn: C’est La Condition Humane. In Akhtar, S (ed). Three Faces of Mouning, Jason Aronson, North Bergen NJ.

2.        O’Connor, MF (2023). The Grieving Brain. Harper Collins, NY.

3.        Alberini CM, Ledoux JE. Memory reconsolidation. Curr Biol. 2013 Sep 9;23(17):R746-50. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.046. PMID: 24028957.

Developing a Stable Internal Home: Implications for Analytic Technique, Adult Development, and Geographic Relocations 

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie

— All’s Well That Ends Well

Date: Saturday, April 17th, 2027 9AM-2PM

Credits: 4 CE 
Speaker: Aisha Abbasi, MD

Meeting is both on Zoom & in-person at: 
The Center for Integrative Counseling & Psychology
4305 MacArthur Ave.
Dallas, TX 75209

In this paper, Dr. Abbasi discusses the theoretical framework that informs our current understanding of homesickness and nostalgia. She outlines developmental factors that affect the evolution, emergence, and at times, the persistence of these feelings. 

Using clinical vignettes from her work, she demonstrates how and why the sense of homesickness / nostalgia , emerges in therapeutic work at the time when it does, and the challenges and opportunities it presents, both for the patient and the analyst. 

Dr. Abbasi also shares with us her evolving understanding of her own feelings of homesickness, following two major immigrations in her life: one, when she moved from Pakistan to the USA in 1987; and the other, when she moved from Michigan to Portland, Oregon, in 2023. She delineates the intrapsychic work involved in such a process, and postulates that such work gives rise to the development of a new and more stable internal home within one’s mind. 

She elaborates on the implications of this idea for analytic technique, especially as patients consider ending their work with the analyst. She also sees this as an important aspect of adult maturation and growth, one that is profoundly helpful during relocations, both local and distant, that many adults go through.

 Building upon Mahler’s description of the first separation-individuation phase of toddlerhood, Blos’ understanding of adolescence as a second individuation, and Akhtar’s insights about immigration as a third individuation, Dr. Abbasi suggests that the development of a stable internal home in one’s mind, during mid to late adult life, is akin to a fourth individuation process within the self.

GAP IN KNOWLEDGE:
There exists a notable practice gap among mental health professionals regarding the clinical significance and therapeutic utility of the concepts of homesickness and nostalgia. This paper addresses this gap by providing a comprehensive psychoanalytic framework that situates homesickness and nostalgia within normal developmental processes across the lifespan, offering ways to understand these feelings as an opportunity for psychological growth and the development of what Dr. Abbasi terms an "internal home"—a process essential to adult maturation and individuation.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

1. Attendees will be able to demonstrate a psychological understanding of the concept of homesickness and utilize it in therapeutic work.

2. Attendees will be able to identify different forms of nostalgia patients present with and be prepared to analyze such nostalgia for the benefit of the patient.

3. Attendees will be able to discuss the concept of developing a stable internal home in one’s mind, and its significance for therapeutic technique and adult development.

PRESENTER BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Aisha Abbasi is a dedicated psychoanalyst whose clinical practice spans both in-person and remote work across Portland, Oregon, California, Washington, New York, Michigan, and Florida. She was educated as an analyst at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute (MPI), where she served as a Training and Supervising Analyst until 2023.  She's now a Geographic Rule Training and Supervising Analyst at the Florida Psychoanalytic Center (FPC) and a member of its National Faculty. She's also a Supervising Analyst for the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (SPSI). She brings three decades of experience in guiding the next generation of psychoanalytic clinicians.

Dr. Abbasi is the Founder ( since 2025) of Let’s Talk Psychoanalysis, an online platform with  educational offerings for all who have a serious interest in psychoanalytic ideas. 

Dr. Abbasi serves on the boards of the Psychoanalytic Quarterly (as Secretary) and the Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society (TBPS). Her professional affiliations extend to the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, and a co-facilitator role in the Group for Analysts of South Asian Origin.

 The author of The Rupture of Serenity: External Intrusions and Psychoanalytic Technique and co-editor of Privacy: Developmental, Cultural, and Clinical Realms, Dr. Abbasi is renowned for her insightful integration of cultural context, developmental theory, and technical precision. Her dedication to both patient care and psychoanalytic training makes her a valued mentor, scholar, and clinician in the psychoanalytic community. She's also a published poet in her native language Urdu.

REFERENCES:

1 Colombo, D. (2017) The Analyst's Relocation: Analysis Terminable, Interminable, and Dislocated. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 86:45-73

2 Davies, J. E. (2021) Intimate Solitudes: Unique Qualities of Psychoanalysis by Telephone. Psychoanalytic Perspectives 18:189-207

3 Mendes, D. (2022) Where is My Mother? Childhood Trauma and the Configuration of the Self. Psychoanalytic Dialogues 32:294-311