The 11th Annual James Grotstein Memorial Lectures in Comparative Psychoanalysis
Exploration of Intersubjective Clinical Models: Ogden, Ferro and Civitarese
Saturday, January 24, 2026 | February 28, 2026 | March 28, 2026
In-person at SFCP and via ZOOM
(3-part series participation encouraged; single lecture tickets available)
Optional CME/CE Credits available for $15 per credit (Free for SFCP Members)
Throughout the international psychoanalytic community, James Grotstein’s analytic work advocated for learning from the various analytic traditions populating its universe, especially from British Object Relations theory. In honor of Grotstein’s work in comparative psychoanalytic theory, there will be a series of 3 hybrid meetings featuring the Intersubjective models of Thomas Ogden, Antonino Ferro and Giuseppe Civitarese. The relevance of these intersubjective models will also be contrasted with one another in a panel discussion during the culminating meeting in this series.
Mental health clinicians from all clinical backgrounds are welcome, and the program will be offered in-person at SFCP via Zoom video-conferencing (Pacific time) to allow for discussion with participants from all geographical locations. Participants are encouraged to register for the full 3-part series for maximum immersion; however single lecture tickets are also available. Pre-registration is required, and CE/CME credit is available on an optional basis for each program.
Part 1: Deconstructing Thomas Ogden’s Model of Intersubjectivity
Saturday, January 24, 2026 (2 CE/CME credits available)
9:00 am – 11:00 am (Pacific Time)
Presenter: Joseph Aguayo, PhD
This program will elaborate how Thomas Ogden’s clinical synthesis of the works of various British Object Relations theorists led to his most famous paper, ‘The Analytic Third: Intersubjectivity and Clinical Facts (1994). Dr. Aguayo will discuss the period of Thomas Ogden’s work (1979-1994) as that of a Kleinian-leaning American Independent who evolved his own distinctive hybrid intersubjective model.
Joseph Aguayo, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of California and a Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. He holds PhDs in both Clinical Psychology and European History from UCLA.
Dr. Aguayo has published four books on Bion’s work: W. R. Bion’s Clinical Seminars in Los Angeles, (2013); Bion in Buenos Aires, (2017); Introducing the Clinical Work of W.R. Bion, (2023); and Bion in the Consulting Room: An Implicit Method Clinical Inquiry, (2024) (with Hinshelwood, Dermen and Abel-Hirsch). His next publication: Winnicott in America, (Oxford Univ. Press) a collection of papers on Winnicott lecture visits to the United States in the 1960s.
Dr. Aguayo also founded and directs the Regional Bion Symposium, a consortium of North American analysts, who attend year-round online meetings on Bion, Winnicott, Klein and Post-Bionians. His most recent lecture: on November 14th, he gave the Madeleine Davis Memorial Lecture on Thomas Ogden’s Interpretive Reading of the Work of D.W. Winnicott, London: Squiggle Foundation.
Part 2: Antonio Ferro’s Field Theory
Saturday, February 28, 2026 (2 CE/CME credits available)
Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am (Pacific Time)
Presenter: Catherine Mallouh, MD
This program will discuss the essentials of Antonino Ferro’s Field Theory, including: the analyst’s alpha-function or waking dream thought derived from Bion; the field as a concept, beginning with the Barangers’ notion of bi-personal unconscious fantasy; how the analyst works clinically in the field, i.e reading its signals, tracking its development, and the emergence of characters in the field.
Catherine Mallouh, MD is a training analyst and faculty member at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. In addition to her analytic work, she specializes in the treatment of pregnant and postpartum women. In 2022, she published “Primary Maternal Preoccupation: Disturbance in Pregnancy and the Postpartum” in the Journal of Infant, Child & Adolescent Psychotherapy. She also has a lively interest in film and the arts and has published a chapter, “Elektra: Traumatic loss and the impossibility of mourning”, in the book: Opera on the Couch: Music, Emotional Life, and Unconscious Aspects of the Mind, (Routledge, 2022). She chaired a Bion in the Consulting Room panel with Nicola Abel-Hirsch and Joe Aguayo at the IPA Congress in Lisbon last summer. She has a private practice in San Francisco.
Part 3: Giuseppe Civitarese’s Analytic Field Theory
Saturday, March 28, 2026 (3 CE/CME credits available)
9:00 am – 12:00 pm (Pacific Time)
Presenter: Chris Lovett, PhD followed by panel discussion with Joseph Aguayo, PhD; Chris Lovett PhD; and Catherine Mallouh, MD
This program will examine the line of development leading to post-Bionian field theory, describing the movement from Klein’s work through Bion’s elaboration of the container-contained, and the receptivity of the object to projective identification. Dr. Lovett will discuss Civitarese’s emphasis on the importance of intersubjectivity and the experience of recognition, both in development and in the psychoanalytic process. [Note: this is a 3-hour program which includes a panel discussion with all presenters in the series in the third hour].
Chris Lovett, PhD trained at The Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, where he is currently on the faculty and has taught courses on the work of Melanie Klein, Bion, Field Theory and Ontological Psychoanalysis. He is a former member of the editorial board of The International Journal of Psychoanalysis and The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, as well as a member of the board of directors of The Boston Group for Psychoanalytic Studies. His most recent publication was published in Psychoanalytic Dialogues in 2023, entitled ’Them That’s Got/Them That’s Not: Commentary on the Paper by Julie Gerhardt. He has presented a paper at the Annual Lisbon Conference on Psychodynamic psychotherapy entitled, “It’s You and Me Against the World: Holding versus ‘Holding On’ in Analytic Psychotherapy’. He has a private practice in Newton, Massachusetts.
Accreditation Statement for CME/CE Sponsorship and Disclosure Statement
Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this activity, the learners will be able to:
- Part 1: define Ogden’s intersubjective analytic third.
- Part 1: define one clinical idea that Ogden drew from the theories of Melanie Klein and D.W. Winnicott
- Part 2: define what Ferro means by “waking dream thought.”
- Part 2: how does Ferro define the “characters in the field” in the analytic situation?
- Part 3: describe the role of cross projective identifications in the analytic field as the underlying basis for the experience of “mutual recognition” between patient and analyst.
- Part 3: describe the concepts of the “weaving together” of the patient and analyst.
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME’s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
PSYCHOLOGISTS: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Psychologists attending SFCP events approved for CE credits may report AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ toward their CE requirements. Psychologists self-certify the number of hours they have completed on their renewal form (whether online or paper).
LCSWs/MFTs: The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis is a continuing education provider that has been approved by the American Psychological Association, a California Board of Behavioral Sciences recognized approval agency
Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists will be awarded AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ on an hour for hour basis; see the program description for the maximum of credits awarded for each program.
Commercial Support: None