SPECIAL LECTURE SERIES

CAPA offers special lectures, seminars and courses for students, graduates, and members.  A variety of topics will be covered by distinguished members of CAPA's faculty.  Upon completion of the Special Lecture Series lecture, seminar or course, student and graduate participants will receive a certification of participation. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of CAPA.

2024-2025 sls sEMINARS

Title: Perceiving the Unspeakable: What Language for Communication?

Presenter:  Maria Paola Martelli, Ph.D.

China Seminar Dates: Friday, May 9, 2025

China Seminar Times: 9:00 PM - 10:30 PM (21:00 - 22:30)

US Seminar Dates: Friday, May 9, 2025

US Seminar Times: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

Prerequisites: Open to all CAPA members, students and graduates

Course Size:  Open enrollment  

Course Fee:  $20 USD                 

Description: This seminar invites psychoanalytic psychotherapy graduates and students to approach the "primitive core" with caution. It also encourages working with patients to observe and process experiences that may not be verbally expressed but can be perceived through counter-transference. Bion’s work offers valuable insights for working with patients who have experienced profound deprivation, from early life through adulthood. As a result, these patients often struggle to understand themselves and the world around them.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will learn to:

1.  Explore methods for approaching and symbolizing the communication between patient and analyst, and vice versa.

2. Use clinical cases to gain a deeper understanding of Bionian theory, focusing on unconscious processes and their role in the analytic process.

Bio: Maria Paola Martelli (Ph.D.) is a Tavistock-trained psychoanalyst, psychologist, and psychotherapist, who is also a qualified psychoanalytic psychoanalyst for children, adolescents and parents.

Dr. Martelli is a founding member of the A.M.H.P.P.I.A. and Centro Studi Martha Harris in Florence, Italy (accredited Tavistock, London) and has been involved in teaching, project development, and institutional work for over 30 years. She is also a member of the European Federation for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (EFPP).

She has presented papers at national and international conferences and has published several works, including:

  • "Emotional Development and Regression", published in the Melanie Klein and Object Relations Journal.

  • "Quando il dolore è intollerabile: la sofferenza mentale e le interferenze nella conduzione della malattia" (When Pain is Intolerable: Mental Suffering and Interferences in the Course of Illness), published by Firenze University Press (2003) in the book "Il Pupazzo di Garza".

  • "The Stream of Life: From Frozen Babies to the Birth of Psychic Life", published in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China, Vol. 4 (2021).

  • "La Rivoluzione di Martha Harris: il pensiero psicoanalitico e le sue applicazioni nelle istituzioni", published in 2023, exploring the transformative impact of Harris’s psychoanalytic teachings.

This paper, "Perceiving the Unspeakable: What Language for Communication?", continues her exploration of early emotional experiences, primitive psychic states, and the therapeutic process, integrating psychoanalytic insights with clinical practice.

If you have any questions about the seminar, please contact Dr.  Martelli directly at mariapaola.martelli@gmail.com.

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Title: Comfortable Conversations: Fostering a Healthy Dialogue about Sex in the Therapeutic Work

Presenter:  Brenda A Lewis, LCSW

China Seminar Date:  Friday, May 16, 2025
China Seminar Times: 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM (21:00 – 23:00) China Time

US Seminar Date: Friday, May 16, 2025
US Seminar Time: 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Eastern Time

Prerequisites: Open to all CAPA students and graduates

Course Size:  Maximum 35 participants

Course Fee:  $20 USD                 

Description: This supervisory seminar is open to all therapists, regardless of experience level, who wish to become more comfortable addressing sexuality and sexual issues in their work with individuals and couples.

The seminar will help therapists feel more at ease discussing topics that many find private or awkward, such as sex and other topics that cause shame. We will explore how sexual problems in relationships can stem from underlying relational issues, and how poor communication about sexual needs (even in strong relationships) can prevent intimacy from growing. We will discuss how most people ultimately desire to integrate love and sex in a meaningful way, and that this process requires work and guidance. This is to for therapists to gain comfort and understand how to deepen the treatment by understanding themes more comprehensively. 

Course Objectives:  

  1. Students will become more comfortable discussing topics often considered private or awkward with support from the Presenter. 

  2. Students will learn to recognize how sexual problems often arise from relational issues, and how improving communication about desire can foster greater emotional and sexual intimacy. 

  3. Students will develop skills for addressing identity themes related to sexuality and gender, including bisexuality, transgender issues, homosexuality, and open relationships. In many cases, therapy may be the only safe space for individuals navigating these identities. By being knowledgeable and validating, therapists can help clients feel safer and more supported in their self-discovery, reducing feelings of isolation and marginalization. 

  4. Students will learn how to address erotic transference if it emerges, in a safe manner with boundaries, and how to use it as a tool to help clients work through their presenting issues. 

  5. Differentiating regular therapy from sex therapy and combining them when needed is very important and will be addressed. 

  6. Treating sexual dysfunction, focusing on treatable issues such as premature ejaculation, and offering practical strategies that can help many individuals and their partners. Throughout, there will be an emphasis is that sex therapy is an educational process, not a "performance," with the goal of helping students approach these topics with clarity and confidence. More complex sexual issues can be addressed like erectile dysfunction and delayed ejaculation. 

Important Instructions: Participants who sign up are asked to send a ONE sentence question they have about sex therapy that they have encountered or feel stuck with. Please send your question to Izzi Beaulieu (via izzi.beaulieu@capachina.org), who will forward your question to the Ms. Lewis prior to the seminar. 

Examples of common questions that students grapple with include: 

  • "I would like to learn how to treat premature ejaculation." 

  • "I would like to understand how to work with vaginismus." 

  • "I would like to learn more about connecting sex and love with a patient." 

  • "I would like to address why my patient is avoiding sex with a partner she loves." 

  • "I would like to learn about bringing up sexual issues I feel are a theme and how to overcome my embarrassment."   

  • "I would like to learn how to understand low libido." 

  • "I would like to help the couple I see with methods to feel safer with each other." 

  • “I would like to know if I can work with sexual trauma." 

  • “I would like to know how to broach the subject in a regular session in a comfortable way."

Brenda Lewis, LCSW will look at these and attempt to cover the ones she finds will be most informative and experiential to all present, so you can learn from the questions chosen, in a supervisory way. 

Bio: Brenda A. Lewis, LCSW, is an experienced sex and regular psychotherapist focused on sexuality, relationships and intimacy concerns in individuals and couples for more than 30 years.  Embracing a wide range of ages, backgrounds and cultures, Brenda works with sexual dysfunction in men and women and emotional themes involving intimacy and all aspects of sexuality and gender themes. It's important and imperative to find the uniqueness of everyone's story and find a healing way to make the present fulfilling. Brenda strives to address non-working elements in a supportive, non-judgmental and collaborative way. Together, Brenda looks to discover, understand and to resolve recurring obstacles to the well-being of the individual and or couple.  

If you have any questions about the seminar, please contact Izzi Beaulieu at izzi.beaulieu.capachina.org.

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