October 17 – 19, 2025 (ONLINE) Weekend Conference
The Challenges of Erotic Transferences and Countertransferences: When Things Go Well and When They Go Awry with Andrea Celenza, PhD
Online via Zoom
Update: Andrea Celenza, PhD — Conference Now Online-Only (as of October 10, 2025)
The International Psychotherapy Institute has transitioned the conference with Andrea Celenza, PhD from a hybrid format to online-only, effective October 10, 2025. All educational content, presenters, schedule, and CE/CME offerings remain unchanged. This change was necessitated by events beyond IPI’s control—including the federal government shutdown affecting the Washington, D.C. area, a significant reduction in available ground-crew staffing, and a forecasted nor’easter—which together make it impossible for our conference-planning faculty to provide onsite support at the Washington, D.C. venue.
Registered participants will receive updated online access details by email. For questions, please contact the IPI office at zhuwanshwani@theipi.org.
Need documentation? We can provide a cancellation letter to support your travel changes.
Contact: zhuwanshwani@theipi.org
Thank you for your understanding. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We look forward to welcoming you to this event online.
October 17 @ 9:00 am – October 19 @ 2:00 pm
IPI Members, Students, and Faculty: Sign in before registering to see discount links above.
Online event: Weekend Conference in October 2025
Program Co-Chairs:
Karen Sharer-Mohatt, PsyD
Garrick Fuller, MSW
About Andrea Celenza, PhD:
Andrea Celenza, PhD is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and Assistant Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is also Adjunct Faculty at The Florida Psychoanalytic Center. She has written numerous papers and four books on love, sexuality, and psychoanalysis. She has two online courses, and her work has been recognized with The Karl Menninger Award, The Helena Deutsch Prize, and The Simonds Prize. Her writings have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Chinese, and Farsi. Her third book, entitled, Transference, Love, and Being: Essential Essays from the Field, was published in 2022 by Routledge and was nominated for The Gradiva Award. Her most recent book, Erotic Transferences: A Contemporary_Introduction is publshed by Routledge (2024). Dr. Celenza is in privat practice in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.
Overview
Dr. Celenza will be presenting Friday morning, October 17 on a contemporary view of sexual boundary violations. Friday afternoon she will present on four types of eroticized transference and developmental theory of sexual enjoyment. Saturday morning, she will present on maternal erotic transferences and countertransferences. Saturday afternoon she will present on the role of love in the analytic setting. Finally, Sunday morning, Dr. Celenza will discuss a case brought by an analytic candidate including the profiles of transgressors. We are very excited that Dr. Celenza is sharing her time and expertise with us this weekend
Educational Objectives
FRIDAY MORNING
1. Participants will be able to identify the different profiles of sexual boundary violators.
2. Participants will be able to describe common sequelae of trauma that may be reenacted in the clinical setting.
GAM GROUP
1. Discuss how themes of sexual boundary violations and trauma sequelae emerge in the group process, making links to clinical examples, theoretical ideas, orpersonal associations.
2. Evaluate ethical implications of boundary dynamics raised in the lecture and group process, and describe how these considerations inform professional responsibility in analytic practice.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
1. Participants will be able to acquire greater comfort in the identification, exploration and clinical use of their own countertransference.
2. Participants will be able to describe how the concept of love in the analytic setting influences the therapeutic alliance and shapes analytic process.
GAM GROUP
1. Discuss how themes of love and countertransference emerge in the group process, making links with clinical examples, theoretical ideas, or personal associations.
2. Apply insights from the lecture by exploring one way that the group experience may deepen understanding of love as a therapeutic factor in analytic work.
SATURDAY MORNING
1. Evaluate how professional role expectations, personal needs, and features of the analytic setting create pressures that may challenge ethical decision-making in clinical work.
2. Differentiate at least four distinct forms of transference as illustrated in the clinical material presented.
GAM GROUP
1. Discuss their personal reactions to the lecture and clinical material resonate with professional role pressures, personal needs, and treatment setting dynamics.
2. Examine how different forms of transference and countertransference may emerge within the group process, and their ethical implications for boundary awareness and therapist/analyst responsibility.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
1. Participants will be able to identify and explore aspects of erotic transferences and countertransferences, especially as they relate to the multiple meanings of erotic transferences.
2. Participants will be able to describe different forms of maternal eroticism and how they are actualized in therapy process.
GAM GROUP
1. Discuss how themes of maternal eroticism and countertransference emerge in the GAM group process, linking these to clinical examples, theoretical ideas, or personal associations.
2. Analyze the ethical challenges associated with erotic and maternal countertransferences, and apply group discussion to identify strategies for maintaining boundaries in clinical work.
PLENARY
1. Participants will be able to analyze how differing perspectives voiced in the plenary discussion illuminate the complexities of erotic and maternal dynamics in analytic work.
2. Participants will be able to identify one way that plenary dialogue expands understanding of how erotic and maternal dynamics influence analytic work.
SUNDAY MORNING: clinical presentation
1. Participants will be able to describe how erotic transference and countertransference dynamics are expressed in the clinical material presented, and evaluate the ethical considerations these dynamics raise in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
2. Participants will be able to apply concepts from the conference discussions on erotic dynamics to analyze the therapeutic process in the case material, with particular attention to professional responsibility and ethical boundaries.
GAM GROUP
1. Participants will be able to discuss how themes of erotic transferences emerge in the GAM group process and analyze their ethical implications, linking them to clinical examples, theoretical ideas, or personal associations.
2. Participants will be able to apply insights from the clinical presentation to identify one way the GAM experience may enhance ethical awareness and support boundary maintenance in psychoanalytic practice.
CLOSING DIALOGUE
1. Participants will be able to identify two key insights from the weekend conference about erotic and maternal transferences and countertransferences that will inform their psychoanalytic psychotherapy or analytic practice.
2. Participants will be able to discuss one way that understanding of boundary dynamics or maternal erotic themes, as explored during the weekend, can shape their ongoing clinical work.
Weekend Conferences General Information
Conferences typically begin around 9:00 a.m. on Friday and end at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Conferences feature didactic and clinical presentations and daily large and small affective group meetings.
Schedules, reading lists, and educational objectives will be provided. The registration fee for the weekend conferences is $525 for non-members and $480 for members.
Each conference provides approximately 14.5 CE credits.
Saturday Morning Lectures and group discussion
Saturday morning only, attend the morning lecture and group discussion from 9:30am-12:30pm.
The cost for Saturday morning only is $90. Pre-registration is required for all Saturday morning only workshops. Schedules, reading lists, and educational objectives will be provided. Saturday morning lecture and small group discussion provide 2.5 CE credits. Registrants must attend both the lecture and small group for CE credit.
Saturday All Day
Attend Saturday morning and afternoon including the plenary, 9:30am-6:30pm (with breaks).
The cost for Saturday all day is $180. Pre-registration is required. Schedules, reading lists, and educational objectives will be provided. Saturday all day provides 6 CE credits. Registrants must attend all Saturday sessions to receive CE credit.
Tuition and Fees
Registration options:
- Cost per conference (members): $480
- Cost per conference (non-members): $525 (no early bird rate)
- Saturday Morning Session: $90 (no early bird rate)
- Saturday All Day Session: $180 (no early bird rate)
*Login to the website with your member information to access your discounted registration rate
Continuing Education Credit Hours
Full Weekend Conference: 14.5 CE credits
Saturday All Day: 6 CE credits
Saturday Morning only: 2.5 CE credits
Weekend Conference Attendance Policy
Participants can only earn CE credits for each session they attend in its entirety. No partial credit can be given.
Should you have any questions about the program or the application process, please feel free to contact:
IPI Administrative Team – contactus@theipi.org
