March 26 and April 2, 2025
Sally Moskowitz, PhD
Live Interactive Online Webinar
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Time:
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (PDT)
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm (EDT)
Content Level: Intermediate
Two-Session Program: 3 CEs
Member Fee: $120.00
Candidate/Student Fee: $75.00
Course is limited to 20 Registrants
This videoconference is co-sponsored by The Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies (CIPS) and The Contemporary Freudian Society (CFS)
Infant Observation’s Relevance to Psychoanalytic Treatment by Sally Moskowitz, PhD
This two part seminar begins with a brief discussion of the history and relevance of infant observation to psychoanalytic treatment and an experiential exercise in infant observation. A short video clip of a 5-day old infant and his mother provides a small sample of the infant observation experience and the opportunity to observe and discuss early mental states, the origins of the development of the mind and relationship, preverbal communication, and the parallels between observer’s, parent’s and analyst’s roles in various interactional processes such as containment and affect regulation.
In the second class, topics discussed include the impact of trauma on the parent’s mind and its transmission to the infant, the conduct of parent-infant dyadic treatment, and the application of infant observation to analytic work with adults. Three papers by Dr. Moskowitz are discussed.
“Primary Maternal Preoccupation Disrupted by Trauma and Loss” describes work with women who were pregnant and widowed on September 11th, 2001 and their infants.
“Conflicts and Tensions between Parent-Infant Treatment and Family Law” describes a dyadic treatment with a mother and severely traumatized toddler.
And “Playing Dead: An Unconscious Fantasy, Bodily Focused Defenses and their Roots in Infancy” describes aspects of an adult analysis including the recovery and reconstruction of early infant experiences and its elaboration in fantasy over the course of development.
Sally Moskowitz, PhD is a graduate of the New York University Post-doctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, and The Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Program. She is a member of the Contemporary Freudian Society and is a Training and Supervising Analyst, Associate Dean and on the Faculty at IPTAR, having taught classes on infancy, latency and adolescence, adoption, and working with children on the autistic spectrum. Since 2006 she has been a Co-director with Rita Reiswig of the Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Program where she co-teaches the weekly seminar and co-directs and is a therapist in the Home Visiting Project.
References
- Beebe, B. (2017) Daniel Stern: Microanalysis and the Empirical Infant Research Foundations. Psychoanalytic Inquiry 37:228-241
- Beebe, B. & Lachmann, F. (2020) Infant Research and Adult Treatment Revisited: Cocreating Self- and Interactive Regulation. Psychoanalytic Psychology 37:313-323
- Daws, D. & de Rementeria, A. (2021) In the footsteps of Bick: continuing the legacy of infant observation. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 35:353-367
- Harrison, A. M. & Beebe, B. (2018) Rhythms of Dialogue in Infant Research and Child Analysis: Implicit and Explicit Forms of Therapeutic Action. Psychoanalytic Psychology 35:367-381
- Grignon, M. (2020) Reflections on the Use of Esther Bick’s Method of Family-Infant Observation in Psychoanalytic Learning. Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis 28:11-47
- Moskowitz, S., Reiswig, R. & Demby, G. (2014) From Infant Observation To Parent-Infant Treatment: The Anni Bergman Parent-Infant Training Program. Journal of Infant, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy 13:1-8
Learning Objectives
At the end of the program, participants will be able to:
- Identify nonverbal behavior and communication between mother-infant pairs.
- Describe how the intergenerational transmission of trauma may occur in the parent-infant interactions.
- Discuss applications of parent-infant observation in intervention approaches to adult psychoanalysis.
- Describe how psychoanalytic concepts and transference/counter-transference understanding can influence what observers see or do not see.
Who Should Attend
Mental Health Professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, e.g., LPs, LCATs, and pastoral counselors) and those with an interest in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking and clinical applications.
Continuing Education Credits
- NY Social Workers: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0087
- NY Psychoanalysts: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0021.
- NY Licensed Psychologists: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0017.
- Psychologists: The Contemporary Freudian Society is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The CFS maintains responsibility for this program and its content. (DC, MD and VA Psychologist licensing boards accept CE credits provided by an APA approved Sponsor. All other psychologists should check with their licensing boards.)
- DC, MD and VA Social Workers: The Social Work Boards of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will grant continuing education credits to social workers attending a program offered by an APA authorized sponsor.
CE credits will only be granted to participants with documented attendance of the entire program. No partial credit will be offered. It is the responsibility of the participants seeking CE credits to comply with these requirements. Upon completion of this program and online evaluation form, participants will be granted CE credits.
Important Disclosure Information: There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.
Cancellation Policy:
Full refunds will be issued if notification of cancellation is received 72 hours prior to the start of the course.