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Scientific Meetings

NPSI Scientific Meetings provide a vibrant forum for exploring contemporary psychoanalysis. In addition to NPSI’s emphasis on British object relations theory, the work of Winnicott, Bion, and post-Bionian developments, NPSI Scientific meetings include a wide variety of psychoanalytic perspectives relevant to contemporary clinical practice. 

Each month during the academic year a psychoanalyst—either from NPSI or invited from another IPA Component Society—presents an original paper. Special presentations may be added to the monthly schedule. Meetings are moderated by one of our Continuing Education Committee co-chairs: Caron Harrang, Drew Tillotson, or Nancy Winters.

Designed to foster lively exchange and deeper understanding of psychoanalytic processes, these online meetings allow ample time for thoughtful discussion of the presenter’s material. Open to NPSI members and all interested mental health professionals in the United States and abroad, NPSI Scientific Meetings provide an excellent opportunity to engage with leading-edge psychoanalytic ideas and to connect with colleagues across our local and international psychoanalytic community. 

Upcoming Scientific Meetings

  • NPSI March Scientific Meeting

    • 03/18/2026
    • 7:00 PM - 8:45 PM
    • via Zoom
    Register

    “On Terminating, Ending, and Not Ending"




    Stephen Purcell, MD, FIPA

    “As I began to think, self-consciously, about termination, I had the surprising realization that, despite being involved in the endings of many analyses, I did not know with clarity or in any theoretical detail how I thought about the subject.”  So begins Stephen Purcell, with characteristic humility, his exploration of analytic termination—a dimension of psychoanalysis with which Sigmund Freud (1937) himself famously struggled in Analysis Terminable and Interminable.


    Stephen Purcell presents his paper, “On Terminating, Ending, and Not Ending.” He reflects on formative experiences with analytic terminations, including the first termination he was involved in when he was a candidate, and offers tentative conclusions about two principles that appear central to all terminations. He also addresses some of the complexities of ending very long analyses; mechanisms by which an analyst’s theory may shape the phenomena of termination; how we might understand themes of death in termination; the enduring questions surrounding post-termination contact between analysts and their patients—raising, finally, the related issue of whether analytic relationships ever can, or should, ever truly be ended.  


    Learning Objectives:

    After attending this scientific meeting, participants will be able to:


    1. Specify processes by which some phenomena of termination might be shaped by the analyst’s theory.

    2. Recognize aspects of termination that are complicated by a patient’s history of trauma.

    3. Understand themes of “death” in termination processes as having multiple underlying sources.

    About the Presenter

    Stephen Purcell, MD, FIPA is a psychoanalyst practicing in Portland, Oregon. He comes from an eclectic theoretical background, and his current interests are the sequelae of early relational trauma/dissociation and non-verbal aspects of therapeutic process. He has published book chapters and articles on termination, dissociation, the analyst’s way of being, theory as a source of countertransference, the treatment of perverse character structures, the clinical impact of the analyst’s attitude toward pharmacotherapy, and a professional memoir describing formative experiences leading to his career as a psychoanalyst. His most recent papers are “Un-thinking Technique: On Being, Not Doing in the Psychoanalysis of the Sequelae of Trauma” and “The Bartleby Phenomenon: Notes on a Difficult Transference/Countertransference Configuration.” Dr. Purcell is on the faculties of the Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute, the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California

    About the Moderator

    Nancy C. Winters, MD, FIPA is a psychoanalyst practicing in Portland, Oregon. She is a training and supervising analyst at the Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute and the Northwestern Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and a Clinical Professor at the Oregon Health & Science University. Her publications and recent presentations include: Co-editor of Body as Psychoanalytic Object: Clinical Applications from Winnicott to Bion and Beyond (2022); “Autoimmunity and its Expression in the Analytic Situation: Contemporary Reflections on Our Inherent Self-Destructiveness” (IJP, 2022); “A Home to the Lie: The Contemporary (Per)Version of Truth” (AJP, 2023); “Transformations in O Online: Group Process in the Virtual Realm” (PQ, 2024); and recent papers, “The Liar and the Truth-Teller: An Analytic Dialogue” (Lisbon, 2025) and “Schubert’s Final Piano Sonata in B-Flat Major as a Metaphor for Analytic Termination” (Seattle, 2025).

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  • NPSI May Scientific Meeting

    • 05/20/2026
    • 7:00 PM
    • via Zoom

    SAVE THE DATE

    NPSI May Scientific Meeting


    "Secrets and Psychotherapy: 

    Stories that Inform Clinical Work"


    Presenter: Kathryn Zerbe

    Moderator:  Nancy Winters

    Show details

  • NPSI June Scientific Meeting

    • 06/17/2026
    • 7:00 PM
    • via Zoom

    SAVE THE DATE

    NPSI June Scientific Meeting


    "A Peculiar People: 

    Mormonism, Drag Performance and Erotic Non-Belonging"


    Presenter: Danny Gellersen

    Moderator:  Caron Harrang

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  • NPSI September Scientific Meeting

    • 09/16/2026
    • 7:00 PM
    • via Zoom

    SAVE THE DATE

    NPSI September Scientific Meeting


    [Title TBD]


    Presenter: Jeffrey Eaton

    Moderator:  Caron Harrang

    Show details


Our Mission

Our mission is to

  1. Deliver premier psychoanalytic education and training for individuals aspiring to become psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically informed psychotherapists, with a dedicated focus on British Object Relations theory, the work of Wilfred Bion, and contemporary Post-Bionian clinical practice;
  2. Foster the ongoing professional growth and development of our analyst members, candidates, and community members through rigorous scholarship, mentorship, and collegial exchange;
  3. Advance regional, national, and international understanding of mental life by contributing original thought and research to the evolving field of psychoanalysis; and
  4. Promote emotional health, creativity, and well-being for those we serve through the ethical and compassionate practice of psychoanalysis.


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Tel: 206.930.2886

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