2025 Ritvo Lecture

Sponsored by the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis and hosted by Yale Child Study Center, the 2025 Ritvo Lecture will be offered in a hybrid format, held in person at 255 Bradley Street, New Haven, and available via Zoom. There is a $25 fee for non-WNEPS members, though this session is offered for free to trainees and WNEPS members. A case conference will also be presented in the morning, from 9-11 a.m.

Description & Learning Objectives

Using vivid clinical material, broad theoretical references, and his experiences as an analyst for decades, Alan Sugarman, PhD, will discuss the total situation in child analysis and why it tends to
elicit particularly intense countertransference responses and often enactments. He defines transference and countertransference as the interpersonalization of mental structures and not only examines them in response to child patients and their caregivers but also teachers, drivers, and
other seemingly peripheral figures. Sugarman’s approach is nuanced, clear, and clinically grounded, and he elucidates his ideas through varied clinical examples.

The learning objectives of this session are for participants to be able to :

• Explain the differences between a narrow and a broad definition and understanding of countertransference in child psychoanalysis
• Define indirect countertransference in child psychoanalysis
• Apply the distinction between providing a corrective emotional experience and serving as a developmental object when analyzing children and adolescents

Continuing Education

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 Western New England Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This program is being reviewed for Continuing Education Credit Hours by the National Association of Social Workers, CT. Once approved, it will meet the continuing education criteria for Social Work Licensure renewal, Marriage & Family Therapist Licensure renewal,Professional Counselor Licensure renewal and Licensed Psychologist Licensure renewal.

Endowed by the first director of training in child psychiatry at Yale, Samuel Ritvo, MD and his wife Lucille Ritvo in 2007, the annual Ritvo Lecture focuses on bringing modern psychoanalytic and psychodynamic thought to child and adolescent mental health practice, with a particular focus on its trainees.