Peter Reiner, PhD, LMFT
Psychoanalytic Essentials for Couple Therapists: An Extended Study of Theory, Formulation, and Technique
March 6-7, 2027
1132 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 502, Chicago
& ZOOM
Peter Reiner, PhD, LMFT is faculty and former Vice-President of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis (CCP); faculty at The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University; and faculty, and training and supervising analyst at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute (CPI). He is adjunct clinical consultant in the Institute for Clinical Social Work’s (ICSW) Integrative Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy Program.
Peter was staff and clinical training coordinator at the Family Institute of Chicago, and Secretary of the Chicago Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology. He is an award-winning teacher who has led more than 60 graduate and post-graduate classes or seminars in systemically-oriented couple and family psychotherapy, psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy, and psychoanalytic technique.
Dr. Reiner has written at length about the training and supervision of psychodynamically-oriented couple and family therapists, including “Training psychodynamic family therapists,” (in Lebow, Chambers, & Breunlin [Eds.] Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, 2017) and “Systemic psychodynamic supervision,” (in Todd & Storm [Eds.], The Complete Systemic Supervisor: Context, Philosophy, and Pragmatics [2nd ed.], 2014). He is the author of “Psychoanalytic Essentials for Couples Therapists” (in Lebow, Chambers, & Breunlin [Eds.] Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, revised edition; in press).
Peter is a psychoanalyst, clinical psychologist, and marriage and family therapist who provides consultation to mental health professionals and maintains a private practice in Chicago and by telehealth of psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and families.
Psychoanalytic Essentials for Couple Therapists: An Extended Study of Theory, Formulation, and Technique
Seminar Title: Psychoanalytic Essentials for Couple Therapists: An Extended Study of Theory, Formulation, and Technique
Seminar Description:
This clinically based course examines the integration of systemic couple therapy with psychoanalytic theory and technique. Participants will review central systemic concepts and interventions while exploring contributions from classical psychoanalysis, object relations theory, self psychology, and other psychodynamic traditions. These perspectives will be applied to couple therapy across a continuum of treatment, from brief, present-focused work to long-term, in-depth, historically-oriented treatment.
Videotaped consultation interviews will serve as a primary source of clinical material, illustrating pivotal moments in treatment, key interventional choice points, and the technical and theoretical considerations informing them. Selected classic psychodynamic papers and book chapters will provide additional conceptual frameworks for understanding the material. The course is designed to refine participants’ capacities for clinical formulation, expand their therapeutic repertoire, and support the coherent integration of systemic and psychodynamic approaches.
Recommended Readings
Please note: This reading list will be substantially reduced and revised closer to the course date.
Nielsen, A. (2016). A roadmap for couple therapy: Integrating systemic, psychodynamic, and behavioral approaches. NY: Routledge. (Note: A newly revised version of this book may be available by the time this course is offered.)
Catherall, D. (1992). Working with projective identification in couples. Family Process, 31, 355-367.
Fairbairn, W.R.D. (1963). Synopsis of an object-relations theory of personality. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 44, 224-225.
Lansky, M. (1986). Marital therapy for narcissistic disorders. In N. Jacobson & A. Gurman (Eds.), Clinical handbook of marital therapy (pp. 557-574). NY: Guilford.
Leone, C. (2021). The application of contemporary self psychology to couple psychotherapy. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 11(2), pp. 170 - 186. https://doi.org/10.33212/cfp.v11n2.2021.170
Leone, C. (2008). Couple therapy from the perspective of self psychology and intersubjectivity theory. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 25(1), 79-98.
MacIntosh, H. (2018). From application to approach: A systematic review of 50 years of psychoanalytic couple therapy. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38(5), 331-358.
McCann, D. (Ed.). (2022). Same-sex couples and other identities: Psychanalytic perspectives. London: Routledge.
Middelberg, C. (2001). Projective identification in common couple dances. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 27(3), 341-352.
Mitchell, V. (2016). Couples therapy with same-sex and gender-variant (LGBT) couples: Sociocultural problems and intrapsychic and relational consequences. In E. Lawrence & K. Sullivan (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of relationship science and couple interventions, (pp. 241-259). Oxford University Press.
Morgan, M. & Friend, J. (Eds.). (2027). Love, its meaning and exploration in couple therapy. London: Routledge.
Nielsen, A. (2023). Asking for things and listening to criticism: Two fundamental challenges in intimate relationships and targets for couple therapy. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 18(2), 262–280. https://doi.org/10.1080/24720038.2023.2183209
Nielsen, A. (2019). Projective identification in couples. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 67(4), 593-624.
Novakovic, A. & Reid, M. (Eds.). (2018). Couple stories: Application of psychoanalytic ideas in thinking about couple interaction. London: Routledge.
Pickering, J. (2022). Through a glass darkly: Bion, unknowing, and the couple. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 12, 130-148.
Pinsof, W., Breunlin, D., Chambers, A., Solomon, A., & Russell, W. (2015). Integrative problem-centered metaframeworks approach. In A. Gurman, J. Lebow, & D. Snyder, (Eds.), Clinical handbook of couple therapy (5th ed.). NY: Guilford.
Pinsof, W. Therapist operations. (1988, Unpublished, pdf).
Reiner, P. (2014). Systemic psychodynamic supervision. In T. Todd & C. Storm (Eds.), The complete systemic supervisor: Context, philosophy, and pragmatics, 2nd ed., (pp. 166-185). Chichester: Wiley. (Suggested reading: pp. 166-170.)
Reiner, P. (2017). Training psychodynamic family therapists. In J. Lebow, A. Chambers, & D. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of couple and family therapy, (DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_665-1). Springer International Publishing AG.
Ringstrom, P. (2018). Relational psychoanalytic perspective on couples psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38(5), 399-408.
Scarf, M. (1986a). Intimate partners: Patterns in love and marriage (Part 1). Atlantic Monthly, Nov., 45-51, 91-93.
Scarf, M. (1986b). Intimate partners: Patterns in love and marriage (Part 2). Atlantic Monthly, Dec., 66-76.
Scharff, D. (1996). The major trends in object relations theory and practice. In D. Scharff (Selected and integrated) Object relations theory and practice: An introduction (pp. 1-23). Northvale, NJ: J. Aronson.
Scharff, D., & de Varela, Y. (2006). A clinical introduction to couple therapy. In J. Scharff & D. Scharff (Eds.), New paradigms for treating relationships, (pp. 43-50). Lanham, MD: J. Aronson.
Sevier, M., Brew, L., & Yi, J. (2016). Cultural considerations in evidence-based couples therapy. In E. Lawrence & K. Sullivan (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of relationship science and couple interventions, (pp. 225-240). Oxford University Press.
Scheinkman, M., & Fishbane, M. (2004). The vulnerability cycle: Working with impasses in couple therapy. Family Process, 43, 279-299.
Trop, J. (1996). An intersubjective perspective of countertransference in couples therapy. In M. Soloman & J. Siegel, Eds., Countertransference in couples therapy, (pp. 99-109). NY: Norton.
Wachtel, E. F. (2017). The heart of couple therapy: Knowing what to do and how to do it. NY: Guilford.
Wile, D., (w/ Kaufmann, D.). (2021). Solving the moment: A collaborative couple therapy manual. Dorothy Kaufman (pub.)