Meet the Author Events
ASPP encourages its members to keep up with and be aware of current trends and topics in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. In this spirit, we offer Meet the Author events. At these events, an author (often from our own faculty) presents their recently published book to our members in a casual format. The author may, for example, speak about their inspiration for the book or read an excerpt. A lively discussion then commences as we open up the floor to questions.
October 26, 2025
Fall Meet the Author: Beth Feldman, PhD moderated by Danielle Knafo, PhD
Case Studies in Relational Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis:
If I Could Turn Back Time
To watch Dr. Feldman's presentation,
please go to our You Tube Channel:
This book brings the reader behind the closed door of the psychotherapy office through a selection of nine riveting psychotherapy and psychoanalytic case studies.
Each story delves into the hearts and minds of memorable patients and their therapist as they grapple with loss, betrayal, anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance abuse, and more. With a strong relational focus, the author examines the misattunements, ruptures, and enactments that occurred in each treatment and explores in each case what she might have done differently – if she could turn back time. Each story is brought to life with her warm, empathic style and honest reflections as she shares her thoughts, feelings, reveries, and clinical decision-making in the treatment room. The myriad emotional challenges in each case study will resonate deeply with anyone who has been in therapy and with both new and seasoned clinicians.
With a warm and accessible style and wonderful attention to detail, this book is essential reading for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists wanting to get a better understanding of how to work with challenging patients and for anyone interested in understanding the unique challenges of psychoanalytic work.
Beth I. Feldman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and relational psychoanalyst with a private practice in Plainview, New York. She treats adults and adolescents in individual, couples, and group therapy. Beth is the co-host of the podcast "Being a Parent Is Hard!" She is an adjunct faculty at the Postgraduate Programs in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University. Beth has two adult children and lives with her husband and three dogs.
March 30, 2025
Spring Meet the Author: Kirkland Vaughans, PhD moderated by Dustin Kahoud, PsyD
The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescents
Kirkland Vaughans, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and a psychoanalyst with a private practice in New York City. He is a senior adjunct professor of psychology at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University, visiting faculty member and Honorary Member at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR), and also holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He is Director of the Denver Postgraduate Program in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, where he serves as the Director of the Derner/Hempstead Child Clinic. He is also an active member of the Research Council of the New York City Young Men’s Initiative and the chairman of the board for The Harlem Family Institute: a Multicultural Psychoanalytic Training Institute.
Additionally, Dr. Vaughans is the founding editor of the Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy; and he is a retired school psychologist and the former Regional Director of the New Hope Guild Centers for Child Mental Health of Brooklyn.
Despite examples set by successful black men in all walks of life, the truth remains that a disproportionate number of black boys and young men underperform at school, suffer from PTSD, and, too often, find themselves on a pathway to jail. The two-volume The Psychology of Black Boys and Adolescents marks the first attempt to catalog the many psychological influences that can stack the deck against black male children―and to suggest interventions.
Bringing together an expansive collection of new and classic research from a wide variety of disciplines, this set sheds light on the complex circumstances faced by young black men in the United States. Contributions by authors Kirkland Vaughans and Warren Spielberg contain insights from the groundbreaking "Brotherman" study, conducted over a ten-year period to report on the lives and psychological challenges of over a hundred African American boys and their families.
Among the myriad issues studied in this set are the often-negative expectations of society, the influence of gangs, and the impact of racism and poverty. Of equal importance, the work explores culturally specific ways to engage families, youths, communities, and policymakers in the development of healthy, safe, educated boys who will become whole and successful adults.
To watch Dr. Vaughans'presentation, please go to our You Tube Channel:
"The Psychology of Black Boys & Adolescents is destined to become the essential central volume, encompassing the greatest minds on the subject of black young males in America today."
-- William S. Pollack, PhD, ABPP, Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
October 20, 2024
Fall Meet the Author: Joseph Newirth, PhD moderated by Dustin Kahoud, PsyD
The Unconscious: A Contemporary Introduction
To watch Dr. Newirth's presentation, please go to our You Tube Channel:
In The Unconscious: A Contemporary Introduction, Joseph Newirth presents a critical and comparative analysis of the unconscious and its evolution from a positivist to a postmodern frame of reference.
This book presents five theories, each of which offers different and important conceptualizations of the unconscious, and each of which contains a rich palate of ideas through which to approach clinical work. These psychoanalytic theories are thought of as spokes on a wheel emanating from the center of Freud’s concept of the unconscious. In addition to presenting Freud’s development of the unconscious, Newirth includes discussions of interpersonal/relational psychoanalysis; developmental approaches to the unconscious, including Kohut, Winnicott, and Fonagy; Kleinian approaches to the unconscious; and linguistic theories of the unconscious including Matte Blanco and Lacan. The last chapter illustrates the use of contemporary psychoanalytic concepts in the clinical work with a contemporary patient. The book encourages a comparative view of psychoanalytic theory and technique and aims to move to a more useful, generalizable concept of the unconscious for the contemporary patient.
This book will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychologists, and anyone interested in the evolution and application of the unconscious as a concept.
Dr. Joseph Newirth is Professor Emeritus at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, USA. He is on the faculty of several psychoanalytic institutes and was the Director of the Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis at Adelphi University. His previous books received the Gradiva Prize (2004) and the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize (2019). He is currently in practice in New York City.
October 20, 2024
Fall Meet the Author: Joseph Newirth, PhD moderated by Dustin Kahoud, PsyD
The Unconscious: A Contemporary Introduction
To watch Dr. Newirth's presentation, please go to our You Tube Channel:
In The Unconscious: A Contemporary Introduction, Joseph Newirth presents a critical and comparative analysis of the unconscious and its evolution from a positivist to a postmodern frame of reference.
This book presents five theories, each of which offers different and important conceptualizations of the unconscious, and each of which contains a rich palate of ideas through which to approach clinical work. These psychoanalytic theories are thought of as spokes on a wheel emanating from the center of Freud’s concept of the unconscious. In addition to presenting Freud’s development of the unconscious, Newirth includes discussions of interpersonal/relational psychoanalysis; developmental approaches to the unconscious, including Kohut, Winnicott, and Fonagy; Kleinian approaches to the unconscious; and linguistic theories of the unconscious including Matte Blanco and Lacan. The last chapter illustrates the use of contemporary psychoanalytic concepts in the clinical work with a contemporary patient. The book encourages a comparative view of psychoanalytic theory and technique and aims to move to a more useful, generalizable concept of the unconscious for the contemporary patient.
This book will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, psychologists, and anyone interested in the evolution and application of the unconscious as a concept.
Dr. Joseph Newirth is Professor Emeritus at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, USA. He is on the faculty of several psychoanalytic institutes and was the Director of the Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis at Adelphi University. His previous books received the Gradiva Prize (2004) and the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize (2019). He is currently in practice in New York City.
January 28, 2024
Winter Meet the Author: Danielle Knafo, PhD and Michael Selzer MD
Moderated by Dustin Kahoud, PsyD
From Breakdown to Breakthrough: Psychoanalytic Treatment of Psychosis
As a clear and user-friendly guide for clinicians who work with patients affected by psychosis, this book challenges the false notion that psychosis is untreatable through talk therapy.
The authors contend that since psychotic symptoms are features of survival adaptation, they naturally serve as a valuable source of information, providing clues about the origins of people's psychic derailment along with a path to its cure. The authors advise therapists not only to read and respond to the messages embedded in the symptoms, but also to recognize and utilise the non-psychotic aspects of the patient in facilitating recovery. The overall aim is to recruit the patient as a collaborator in their treatment, thus wresting a meaningful and redemptive narrative from the psychotic experience. All aspects and phases of treatment - from initial encounters through the middle phase to termination, and even supervision - are covered in this volume.
Abundant with clinical examples, theoretical and technical points, and treatment methods, this book is essential reading for all psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and other mental health clinicians working with psychosis.
Danielle Knafo, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst with expertise in the treatment of psychosis. During her tenure as professor at LIU's Clinical Psychology Doctoral program for 22 years, she chaired a concentration on serious mental illness. She is faculty and supervisor at NYU's Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis. She has written and lectured extensively on psychoanalysis, trauma, and psychosis.
Michael Selzer, M.D., is a psychiatrist who directed the Schizophrenia Division at NY Hospital, Westchester Division. He was also clinical associate professor at NY Downstate Medical Center, where he was director of medical education in psychiatry. He has taught and written about the treatment of psychosis and borderline personality disorder.
To watch this presentation, please go to our You Tube Channel:
Joel Weinberger, PhD and Valentina Stoycheva, PhD
The Unconscious: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications
Moderated by Elliot Jurist, PhD
On October 23, 2022, we hosted a lively discussion with Dr. Weinberger, Dr. Stoycheva, and Dr. Jurist. 120 attendees participated in this Zoom seminar which explored the many facets of the unconscious.
To meet our presenters and learn more about the book,
please click here.
Richard M. Billow, PhD, ABPP and Tzachi Slonim, PhD, ABPP
Richard M. Billow's Selected Papers On Psychoanalysis and Group Process: Changing Our Minds
Moderated by Dustin Kahoud, PsyD
On April 24th, ASPP hosted the second Meet the Author Event of 2022. Approximately 80 participants joined us on Zoom as Dr. Dustin Kahoud, our Meet the Author chairperson facilitated a conversation with Dr. Billow and Dr. Slonim.
Danielle Knafo, PhD
The New Sexual Landscape and Contemporary Psychoanalysis
In Conversation with Dr. Spyros Orfanos, PhD
At one of our most lively and well-attended Meet the Author events on January 30, 2022, Dr. Danielle Knafo and Dr. Spyros Orfanos discussed sex! Many from the audience of close to 200 participants had questions and comments to share. Kudos to our new Meet the Author chairperson, Dr. Dustin Kahoud, for creating this event.
This seminar was recorded and is posted on our You Tube channel in two parts here.
To read more about Dr. Knafo's book, Dr. Knafo and Dr. Orfanos, please click here.
Dr. Jon Mills, PhD, PsyD, ABPP
Debating Relational Psychoanalysis: Jon Mills and his Critics
A Conversation with Dr. Joseph Newirth, PhD
On September 26, 2021, Dr. Mills discussed his stimulating book to our Zoom audience of over 125. Dr. Joe Newirth engaged with Dr. Mills' ideas before inviting the audience to join the conversation.
To learn more about
Debating Relational Psychoanalysis,
Dr. Mills, and Dr. Newirth,
A video of this presentation
is posted on our
YouTube Channel
Dr. Richard Sternberg, PsyD, ABPP
By Reason Of Insanity: A Glimpse into the Lives and Minds of the Criminally Insane
Moderated by Dr. Bob Raymond, PhD
On April 18, 2021, Dr. Sternberg presented his fascinating book, including case presentations, to our Zoom audience. Dr. Bob Raymond adeptly navigated the many questions that came from our numerous attendees.
Engaging the Self: A Panel of Faculty Authors
On January 10, 2021, a panel of 6 Postgraduate faculty authors presented their collaborative work: Engaging the Self: Theory and its Applications in Psychoanalysis. The event was well attended with approximately 100 participants.
We were thrilled to have many attendees from outside our community. We hope that both this seminar and future events will invigorate the idea of using a psychoanalytic lens, both professionally and personally, for all.
To learn more about this book and the authors, please click here.
To see video of our authors' presentations, please go to our YouTube Channel.
Dr. Joseph Newirth, PhD
From Sign to Symbol: Transformational Processes in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Psychology
On March 26, 2020, we held the first Meet the Author event of 2020. Our own Derner School of Psychology faculty member, Dr. Joseph Newirth, presented his book, From Sign to Symbol: Transformation in Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and Psychology.
Due to the pandemic, we had to quickly change our format from in person to video via Zoom. Our new ASPP president, Megan Nolan, began the evening with wishes for the health of our community as well as hopes for a lively discussion and a feeling of community, connectedness and normality in these unusual times.
Dr. Ionas Sapountzis introduced his colleague, Dr. Newirth, and then we all enjoyed a wonderful presentation and question and answer session.
While we missed the nuanced moments of connection that come with being in the same room physically, we were thrilled that the Zoom format allowed both far flung and homebound members of community to join us.
To read more about Dr. Joseph Newirth's book, click here.
Dr. Lawrence Josephs, PhD
The Dynamics of Infidelity: Applying Relationship Science to Psychotherapy Practice.
On February 10, 2019, Dr. Lawrence Josephs presented his book,
The Dynamics of Infidelity: Applying Relationship Science to Psychotherapy Practice, to the Derner community and guests. Dr. Michael Zentman, the director of the Postgraduate Couple Therapy Program moderated the engaging presentation.
To read more about Dr. Josephs and his work, click here.
Dr. Dustin Kahoud, PsyD and Dr. Danielle Knafo, PhD
Sex, Drugs, and Creativity:
Searching for Magic in a Disenchanted World
On December 2, 2018, Dr. Danielle Knafo and Dr. Dustin Kahoud presented their book, Sex, Drugs, and Creativity: Searching for Magic in a Disenchanted World, at our Meet the Author event. Megan Nolan moderated their presentation before taking questions from the audience. Our colleagues enjoyed the presentation of this unique work!
To read more about Dr. Kahoud and Dr. Knafo, click here.
