Rebecca Coleman Curtis is an American author, psychologist, and psychoanalyst. Curtis has written extensively on the topics of Theories of Therapeutic Action, Creativity, Unconscious Processes, the Self, Self-Defeating Behaviors, Gender and Race.
Also a writer of poetry and fiction, Curtis teaches at the Derner Institute, Adelphi University, and the W. A. White Institute, New York, NY. She maintains a practice in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Miami, Florida, New York City, and Sag Harbor, New York. A native of New Orleans, La., she attended Benjamin Franklin Senior High School and Tulane University. Rebecca Coleman Curtis obtained a Ph.D. in social psychology in 1973 from Columbia University, and subsequently a degree in clinical psychology from Adelphi University. [1] She also received a certificate in psychoanalysis from the W. A. White Institute in New York City. Dr. Curtis is involved in psychology and the arts as well as the integration of psychological science and psychoanalysis. [2]
Curtis' interests are in the self-defeating behaviours of humans and how humans change over time. Her current projects analyse eating disorders, anxiety and depression, alcoholism and trauma in terms of psychotherapy and what can help in psychotherapy. [3] She has published books on these topics, plus books on the self, psychoanalysis, psychotherapies and how humans cope with death and endings.
Psychoanalysis is a theory developed by Sigmund Freud. It describes the human mind as an apparatus that emerged along the path of evolution and consists mainly of three functionally interlocking instances: a set of innate needs, a consciousness to satisfy them by ruling the muscular apparatus, and a memory for storing experiences that arises during this. Furthermore the theory includes insights into the effects of traumatic education and a technique for bringing repressed content back into the consciousness, in particular the diagnostic interpretation of dreams. Overall, psychoanalysis is a method for the treatment of mental disorders.
Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome problems. Psychotherapy aims to improve an individual's well-being and mental health, to resolve or mitigate troublesome behaviors, beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, or emotions, and to improve relationships and social skills. Numerous types of psychotherapy have been designed either for individual adults, families, or children and adolescents. Certain types of psychotherapy are considered evidence-based for treating some diagnosed mental disorders; other types have been criticized as pseudoscience.
Albert Ellis was an American psychologist and psychotherapist who founded rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University, and was certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). He also founded, and was the President of, the New York City-based Albert Ellis Institute. He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and an early proponent and developer of cognitive-behavioral therapies.
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force" in psychology. The school of thought of humanistic psychology gained traction due to Maslow in the 1950s.
Relational psychoanalysis is a school of psychoanalysis in the United States that emphasizes the role of real and imagined relationships with others in mental disorder and psychotherapy. 'Relational psychoanalysis is a relatively new and evolving school of psychoanalytic thought considered by its founders to represent a "paradigm shift" in psychoanalysis'.
Ruth Charlotte Cohn was a psychotherapist, educator, and poet. She is best known as the creator of a method for learning in groups called theme-centered interaction (TCI). She was the founder of the Workshop Institute for Living Learning (WILL), which is known today as the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI.
Louis Ormont was an American psychologist and one of the earliest practitioners of group psychotherapy based on a psychoanalytic model.
The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute is a center for psychoanalytic research, training, and education on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. The institute provides professional training in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. It was founded in 1932 by Franz Alexander, a pioneer in psychosomatic medicine at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, who moved to Chicago at the invitation of Robert Maynard Hutchins, then president of the University of Chicago. Notable psychoanalysts that have been associated with the institute include Karl Menninger, Karen Horney, Thomas Szasz, Therese Benedek, Hedda Bolgar, Roy Grinker, Maxwell Gitelson, Louis Shapiro, Heinz Kohut, Arnold Goldberg, Jerome Kavka, Frank Summers, Ernest A. Rappaport, and Michael Franz Basch.
Deborah Serani is an American psychologist and an author whose clinical specialty is depression. She is an adjunct professor at Adelphi University. Serani has published academic articles on the subject of depression and trauma as well as the books Living with Depression, Depression and Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers, and Depression in Later Life: An Essential Guide. She is a columnist at Psychology Today and Esperanza Magazine.
Danielle Knafo is an American clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and author. Born in French Morocco and raised in Pennsylvania she is now a professor of psychology and psychoanalysis. She is a prolific author, and a popular speaker. She is also a professor at Long Island University-Post in its clinical psychology doctoral program. She writes and lectures on many subjects, including creativity, trauma, psychosis, sexuality and gender, and technology.
Pamela Cooper-White is the Christiane Brooks Johnson Professor Emerita and Dean Emerita of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Jon Mills is a Canadian philosopher, psychoanalyst, and clinical psychologist. His principle theoretical contributions have been in the philosophy of the unconscious, a critique of psychoanalysis, philosophical psychology, value inquiry, and the philosophy of culture. His clinical contributions are in the areas of attachment pathology, trauma, psychosis, and psychic structure.
The Goethe Award for Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Scholarship is given annually by the Section on Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology of the Canadian Psychological Association. The award is given for the best psychoanalytic book published within the past two years and is juried by a peer review process and awards committee.
Jeremy David Safran was a Canadian-born American clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, lecturer, and psychotherapy researcher. He was a professor of psychology at the New School for Social Research, where he served for many years as director of clinical training. He was also a faculty member at New York University's postdoctoral program in psychoanalysis and The Stephen A. Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. He was co-founder and co-chair of The Sandor Ferenczi Center at the New School for Social Research. In addition he was past-president of The International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.
Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., ABPP., is emerita visiting professor at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. She has written on personality and psychotherapy.
Diana Foșha is a Romanian-American psychologist, known for developing accelerated experiential dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP), and for her work on the psychotherapy of adults suffering the effects of childhood attachment trauma and abuse.
Polly Young-Eisendrath is an American psychologist, author, teacher, speaker, Jungian analyst, Zen Buddhist, and the founder of Dialogue Therapy and Real Dialogue and creator of the podcast Enemies: From War to Wisdom.
The New Center for Psychoanalysis is a psychoanalytic research, training, and educational organization that is affiliated with the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Psychoanalytic Association.
John Christopher Muran is an American clinical psychologist and psychotherapy researcher.
Beverly Greene is a professor in the Department of Psychology at St. John's University. She is a clinical psychologist known for her work on sexism, racism, and analyzing the intersectionality of social identities. As a specialist in the psychology of women and of gender and racial issues in the practice of psychotherapy, Greene has also created many public health frameworks for understanding mental health in marginalized communities. She is the author of close to 100 psychological literature publications. Greene is involved with the Association for Women in Psychology and the Society for the Psychology of Women. She is one of sixteen women to have received the Distinguished Publication Award (DPA) from the Association for Women in Psychology in 2008.