Threads That Bind and Break: Transgenerational Legacies, Sibling Ties, and Couples in Conflict

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Program Date(s):

December 5, 2025 – December 7, 2025

Overview

This conference explores how transgenerational processes shape psychic development, family relationships, and therapeutic work. Through a psychoanalytic lens, participants will examine the enduring influence of unconscious family loyalties, sibling and parental dynamics, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma, loss, and desire.

Elizabeth Palacios and Silvia Resznisky will illuminate how the family functions as a shared psychic field in which the generational past is transmitted, transformed, or repeated. Drawing on Bion’s theory of group dynamics, they will consider how clinicians can recognize and work through the residues of trauma, rivalry, and grief within both families and the analytic relationship.

Across the weekend, participants will learn to identify creative and destructive transgenerational links, differentiate sibling and parental influences, and explore how mourning, substitution, and unconscious alliances manifest in couples and family life. Using the Group Affective Model (GAM), participants will reflect on their own affective responses, linking personal experience with theory and technique to deepen empathic understanding and therapeutic efficacy.

Weekend Conferences General Information

The December Weekend Conference will be virtual only.

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.

Learning Objectives:

Session 1 — Generational Links and Transmission

1. Describe major modalities of transgenerational transmission of family dynamics, including identification, repetition, and projective processes.
2. Analyze one clinical example illustrating how a transgenerational mechanism contributes to recurring relational patterns.

• GAM Group after Session

3. Identify one instance of transgenerational repetition in a clinical or personal context discussed in the group.
4. Reflect on the therapeutic implications of recognizing transgenerational dynamics within one’s clinical work.

Session 2 — Family Attempts to Freeze Time: Identity Crisis Challenges During Mourning

5. Explain how unresolved mourning contributes to identity disturbances and role substitution within families.
6. Describe at least one psychoanalytic intervention that facilitates the differentiation of self and other during processes of grief and identity confusion.

• GAM Group after Session

7. Discuss within the group how identity crises can emerge when mourning remains unresolved across generations.
8. Apply one group process or clinical approach that supports the re-establishment of personal identity in the aftermath of loss.

Session 3 — New Family Constellations

9. Describe how shifts in gender roles and the decline of traditional patriarchal structures affect contemporary family constellations.
10. Identify therapeutic approaches for addressing emerging family alliances and relational complexities.

• GAM Group after Session

11. Examine how social and cultural change influences transgenerational roles and loyalties within families.
12. Use group dialogue to link personal and professional experiences with contemporary psychoanalytic theory.

Session 4 — Conflicts Within Couples: Unconscious Alliances

13. Define and differentiate types of unconscious alliances and their developmental origins.
14. Analyze how unconscious alliances perpetuate conflict and repetition within couples and families.

• GAM Group after Session

15. Explore how the concept of unconscious alliances resonates with participants’ clinical and affective experiences.
16. Integrate theoretical understanding with clinical examples and group process observations.

IPI Plenary

17. Apply the concept of unconscious alliances to at least one vignette or group discussion presented in the plenary.
18. Discuss the interrelation between shifting family roles and unconscious alliances in contemporary practice.

Session 5 — The Fraternal Complex

19. Define the fraternal complex and its role in the development of personality, rivalry, and belonging.
20. Evaluate the therapeutic importance of recognizing sibling dynamics within analytic and family treatment.

• GAM Group after Session

21. Reflect on how sibling relationships and fraternal dynamics influence clinical transference and countertransference.
22. Use group process to integrate theoretical and affective insights from the weekend’s themes.

Closing Dialogue

23. Summarize two key psychoanalytic concepts from the weekend that will inform future clinical formulation and intervention.
24. Describe one insight gained about transgenerational mourning or repetition and how it will influence your clinical perspective.

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