CONFERENCE ANGLOPHONE
Countertransference in Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Work
International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP) & Tavistock Relationships
Programme
Day 1: Friday, 6 June
Opening Remarks
Introductions
Countertransference as Key to the Geography of the Transference in Couple and Family Work in China and Russia
Countertransference: Whose problem is it?
Countertransference and the Dao Philosophy in Couple Therapy
Countertransference of a Relocated Analyst
Cultural Countertransference in Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Closing Remarks
Day 2 : Saturday 7 June
Welcome back and Summary of Day One
De-Mystifying the Countertransference in the Couple Analytic Process
The Specificity of Countertransference with the Couple and Family
Between Fear and Hope: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Unanticipated Catastrophe
Couple and Social Trauma
Suffering in the link. Exploring the Importance of Countertransference in Couple and Family Work During Wartime and Crisis Situations
At the Junction of Internal and External Realities: Countertransference as Opportunity and Obstacle in the Psychoanalytic Study of the Public Health Challenges of Our Time.
When the Outside Activates Inside Dyads in Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy
Countertransference in Psychoanalytic Work with Couples and Families in the New Socio-Political and Cultural Assets
Closing Session
Participants
Katherine Astill
Katherine Astill is a psychoanalytic couple therapist and a psychodynamic psychotherapist. She works in private practice, and teaches and supervises at Tavistock Relationships.
Andrew Balfourl
Andrew Balfour PhD is Chief Executive of Tavistock Relationships. He originally trained as a clinical psychologist at University College London and then as an adult psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust, whilst in a staff post there. He subsequently trained as a couple psychotherapist at Tavistock Relationships, where for more than 10 years he was Clinical Director before becoming Chief Executive in 2016. He has many years’ experience of working psychotherapeutically with couples and conducting research, publishing numerous papers in the field and teaching widely both in Britain and abroad. He has co-edited two books How Couple Relationships Shape our World (edited by Andrew Balfour, Mary Morgan & Christopher Vincent, Routledge, 2012); Engaging Couples – New Directions in Therapeutic Work with Families (edited by Andrew Balfour, Christopher Clulow, & Kate Thompson, Routledge, 2019) and his latest book is Life and Death: Our Relationship with Ageing, Dementia and Other Fates of Time (Routledge, 2025).
Cristina Calarasanu
Psicoterapeuta psicoanalítica de familia y grupo.
Family Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, founder member and ex-president of the Romanian Association for the Psychoanalysis of Group and Family Links, European Federation Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (EFPP) vice-president and president of the Couple and Family Section, EFPP Book Series Editor in Chief, Scientific Secretary and Chair of the International Association for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP).
Ludovica Grass
Ludovica Grassi is a child neuro-psychiatrist, a full member of the Italian Society of Psychoanalysis, a qualified expert in child and adolescent psychoanalysis, and a psychoanalyst of couples and families (PCF, IACFP). She is currently Treasurer of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society and member of the executive committee of the Italian Society of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. She has extensive experience with multi-problem families, transcultural psychotherapy settings through the Italian NHS, and infant-parent psychotherapy clinics and research. Her main scholarly interests are infant psychoanalysis, ethno-psychoanalysis, and the role of music in psychic development. She has written on these topics as well as on individual, couple and family psychoanalysis. Her book The Sound of the Unconscious: Psychoanalysis as Music was published by Routledge in June 2021
Andrew Balfourl
Nestor Kapusta, M.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Individual and Couple Psychoanalyst at the Department for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna and in private practice. He is leading the Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Program and the Working Group for Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy and works towards an integrative Couple Object Relations Theory informed by Transference Focused Therapy.
Tao Lin
Dr Lin, Tao M.D. Psychoanalyst and full Training Analyst of IPA; Direct Member of IPA; Member of the China Study Group of IPA; Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist qualified by Tavistock Relationships, Member of Tavistock Relationships Association of Psychotherapists and Counsellors; Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. Registered Member of the British Psychoanalytic Council.
Daniela Lucarelli
Daniela Lucarelli psychologist, psychoanalyst, Full Member at the IPA/SPI , and IPA recognised expert on children and adolescents . Editor in Chief of the IACFP Review (International Review of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis) . Co-Chair for Europe of COFAP (Committee for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis)/IPA, Teacher and supervisor at Istituto Winnicott iW, in Rome, Founder member of SIPsIA (Società di Psicoterapia Psicoanalitica dell’Infanzia e dell’Adolescenza) in Rome. Teacher and supervisor at PCF (Corso Postspecialistico di Psicoanalisi della Coppia e della Famiglia) in Rome. Member of the Editorial Board of Interazioni review (Franco Angeli, Milan, Italy) . She is author and co-author of publications on children, adolescents and couple and family psychoanalysis.
Hanni Mann-Shalvi
Hanni Mann-Shalvi, PhD, is a couple and family psychoanalyst and training and supervising psychoanalyst and lecturer with the Israeli Psychoanalytic Society (IPA). She teaches psychoanalysis internationally, including USA, China, and Russia. Dr. Mann-Shalvi is the founder and director of the Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Center in Israel, affiliated with the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) in Washington, where she also serves as an adjunct faculty member. She has held leadership roles as the Vice President of the International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP) and chair of the Anglo Scientific Committee. She is currently on the International Advisory Board of the Couple and Family Psychoanalysis journal. An accomplished author, Dr. Mann-Shalvi wrote From Ultrasound to Army: The Unconscious Trajectories of Masculinity in Israel, available in both English and Hebrew. She is also the chief editor of an upcoming series on couple and family psychoanalysis, scheduled for publication in Hebrew in 2025. Additionally, she has contributed numerous papers and book chapters to the field. Dr. Mann-Shalvi maintains a private practice in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mary Morgan
Mary Morgan is a Psychoanalyst and Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Senior Fellow of Tavistock Relationships, Honorary Member of the Polish Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Consultant Member of the IPA Committee on couple and Family Psychoanalysis. She worked for more than 30 years at Tavistock Relationships, London, during which time she was the Reader in Couple Psychoanalysis and Head of the MA and Professional Doctorate in Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She has a private analytic practice with individual and couples, supervises and teaches internationally. Her book: ‘A Couple State of Mind: Psychoanalysis of Couples – the Tavistock Relationships Model’ (2019) is available in English, Polish, Russian, Italian and Chinese. Her latest book ‘Couple Relations: A Contemporary Perspective’ is forthcoming. She is also co-editing with Julie Friend a book ‘Love, It’s Meaning and Exploration in Couple therapy, to be published next year.
Anna Maria Nicolò
Anna Maria Nicolò is a child neuropsychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and President of the International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP). Formerly President of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society (SPI-IPA), she co-founded the Italian Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy of Childhood, Adolescence, and the Couple (1987) and the Italian Society for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (2000). She chaired the European Forum for Psychoanalysis of Adolescents (EPF/FEP) and served as European Representative for the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). A supervisor at Reverie Community, she is also the founding editor of the International Review of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, with numerous contributions to psychoanalytic research.
Tatiana Onikova
Clinical psychologist, psychoanalytic individual, child, adolescents, couple and family psychotherapist, psychoanalyst in training. Founder and director of training programs of International Psychotherapy school (Moscow-Prague-Almaty)
Mary Morgan
Dr. Elizabeth Palacios is an MD Psychiatrist from the University of Buenos Aires and a Training Analyst with the Madrid Psychoanalytic Association (IPA). She is also an IPA-certified Child and Adolescent Psychoanalyst. Currently based in Zaragoza, Spain, Dr. Palacios directs the Center for Vulnerable Adolescents and serves as Chair of the IPA Couple and Family Psychoanalysis Committee (COFAP). She is the founder of the Aragonese Society for the Investigation of Child and Adolescent Psychic Life and the Director of the Spanish journal Thinking Psychoanalytically. Dr. Palacios has authored and edited numerous books and scientific papers on child, adolescent, emergency, couple, and family psychoanalysis. Her most recent publications include Interpretation in Couple and Family Psychoanalysis: Cross-Cultural Perspectives together with Dr Timothhy Keogh (Routledge and Psimática) and Emergency and Psychoanalysis: Thinking the Pandemic (Psimática). She is a professor in various master’s programs and psychotherapy schools in Spain and internationally.
Jim Poulton
James Poulton, Ph.D., is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice in Salt Lake City, Utah, an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Utah, an Emeritus national faculty member of the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI), and one of three Editors-in-Chief of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. He has written numerous articles and chapters on psychological treatment and theory, and is the author of Object Relations and Relationality in Couple Therapy: Exploring the Middle Ground (2012) and co-author of Suffering and Sacrifice in the Clinical Encounter (2020) and Internalization: The Origin and Construction of Internal Reality (2001).
Karen Proner
Karen Proner is an IPA Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychoanalyst. Faculty member of IPTAR. Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Former Vice President of the English speaking members of AIPCF (Association for Couples and Family Therapists.) Teaching faculty of Wuhan Psychiatric Hospital. Teaching faculty of Adult and Child Heguang training. Teaching faculty of Centro Studi Martha Harris in Firenze, Italy. Proner was a founding member of the IPA committee of Psychoanalytic work with Couples and Families. She is now a member of the IPA committee; Psychoanalysis in Health. She works with parents and infants and holds an interest in the Tavistock method of Infant observation.
David Scharff
David E. Scharff, M.D. is Co-Founder and Former Director, International Psychotherapy Institute; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University and The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Supervising Analyst, International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training; He is editor of the journal Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China, author and editor of more than 30 books and more than 100 articles, and Director of the Training Programs in Analytic Couple and Family Therapy in Beijing and Moscow; former Chair of the IPA’s Committee on Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. He is a Child and Adult Analyst in Private Practice with children, adults, couples and families in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His most recent book is Marriage and Family in Modern China. With Dr. Jill Scharff, he is the 2021 winner of the Mary Sigourney Award in Psychoanalysis, the most prestigious award in the field.
Jill Scharff
Jill Savege Scharff MD, FABP, MRCP is co-founder of the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) in Bethesda MD, USA, www.theipi.org, founding chair of its adult analytic training, combined child analytic and child psychotherapy, and couple and family therapy training programs. She teaches couple and family therapy for the International Psychotherapy School in Moscow and for Zhi-Dao-Zhong-He Medical Institute in Beijing, and directs an online training program in child psychotherapy for IPI at Jiandanxinli in Beijing. She is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School in Washington DC. Jill is Honorary Member of the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology and of the Institute für Paar-Terapie, Frankfurt, Germany, and a Senior Fellow of Tavistock Relationships. She is editor of a special issue of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis on therapy in the time of Covid-19 (Vol.12, no. 1, 2022). She is co-editor of Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy and New Paradigms in Treating Relationships, and co-author of Object Relations Family Therapy, Object Relations Couple Therapy, and Object Relations Therapy of Physical and Sexual Trauma. Her most recent book co-authored with David Scharff is The Interpersonal Unconscious. With David Scharff she received the Sigourney Award (2021) for “outstanding psychoanalytic work worldwide”.
Amita Sehgal
Amita Sehgal, PhD, is a couple psychoanalytic psychotherapist with almost 30 years of experience in the field of adult mental health. In her central London-based practice she works with adults, couples, and families. She also lectures and supervises nationally and internationally. Amita is widely published in the field of couple psychoanalysis. Her publications include articles, papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and an edited book, Sadism: Psychoanalytic Developmental Perspectives (published by Karnac-Routledge, 2018).
Lea de Setton
Lea Sofer de Setton, Ph.D, (Panama RP) Training analyst, member of the International Psychoanalytic Association; Member, APSaA; member, FEPAL; faculty member of the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) and supervising analyst at the International Institute of Psychoanalytic Training at IPI, Bethesda, Maryland; former Chair of IPI-Panama; former faculty member of the Doctoral Program at the Catholic University in Panama; founding member of the Panamanian and chair, Psychoanalytic IPA Provisional Society; co-editor of The Linked Self in Psychoanalysis: The Work of Enrique Pichon-Riviere; psychologist, psychoanalyst, and psychotherapist in private practice with individuals, couples, and families in Panama City, Panama R.P.
Anastasia Tsamparli
Anastasia Tsamparli (PhD) is a Psychoanalytic couple therapist and Prof. Emeritus of clinical psychology at the University of Aegean, Greece. She has been teaching in psychoanalytic couple therapy programs in Greece and elsewhere as an adjunct faculty at IPI. She is member of the International Advisory Board of the Journal “Couple and Family psychoanalysis” and member of the CA of the International Association of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (IACFP) and IACFP’s Vice President of French speaking. She has written numerous articles ,chapters and books on couple and family psychoanalytic therapy. Her most recent publications include “psychoanalysis and couple therapy” (2025)
Monica Vorchheimer
Monica Vorchheimer is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytical Association (APdeBA). She has a private practice in Psychoanalysis with adolescents, adults, families, and couples in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She teaches and lectures locally and abroad in several countries . She was the Latin America Co-Chair of ING, the International New Groups Committee and past Co-Chair for Latin America at the IPA Committee on Psychoanalysis with Couples and Families (COFAP) and currently Consultant. Currently she serves on the IPA Board as a Latin America Representative. She has published articles and chapters in books, and co-edited with David Scharff Clinical Dialogues on Families and Couples (Karnac, 2017).