IPA Journal Club
Friday 19th December 2025 (16:00 -17:15 London time) (11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Eastern US Time)
Guest: Ann D’Ercole, PhD
You can register for the December IPA Journal Club by clicking here
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The IPA Journal Club (JC) is a project of the IPA Communications Committee. It meets 6 times per academic year (September-June) on Fridays at 4 PM (16:00-17:15) London time [11:00 AM – 12:15 PM US Eastern Time] for 75 minutes.
Each meeting, in webinar format, is in English and features a guest author who discusses with registrants an article or chapter they have published. The meetings are recorded and later posted online at the [link] and on the [link] for viewing by the general public.
The JC’s next meeting, featuring Ann D’Ercole, PhD, will be on Friday, December 19, 2025, at 4 p.m. London time, 11 a.m. US Eastern Time.
Registration, which is free of charge, is open to IPA members and candidates, other interested mental health professionals, scholars and academics. A downloadable copy of the paper is available to registrants.
Ideally, all registrants will have read the paper beforehand and have an opportunity to ask questions or make comments to the guest author. At the registration site, you can also submit questions to the moderators to share with the author.
Reading:
D’Ercole, A. (2025). The lost story of Clara Thompson: Love, “the kiss” and repair. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, DOI: 10.1080/00107530.2025.2543225.
To download Dr. D’Ercole’s paper, click here
Abstract
An important aspect of Clara Thompson’s pioneering work in psychoanalysis stems from her personal analysis with Sandor Ferenczi. Her contributions, deeply rooted in her own experiences of emotional trauma and psychic pain, led to an innovative clinical perspective that emphasized empathy and mutuality. This approach challenged traditional Freudian methods and laid the groundwork for the interpersonal/relational turn in psychoanalytic practice. Thompson’s legacy continues to shape contemporary psychoanalytic thought, underscoring the significance of empathic connections and the influence of the analyst’s personality in therapy.
Bio
Ann D'Ercole, Ph.D. ABPP, is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. She is Distinguished Visiting Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute. She is author of Clara M. Thompson’s Early Years and Professional Awakening: An American Psychoanalyst (1893-1933) and Clara M. Thompson’s Professional Evolution and Legacy: An American Psychoanalyst (1933-1958), [both Routledge, 2023]. She is Co-Editor of Uncoupling Convention: Psychoanalytic Approaches to Same-Sex Couples and Families (2004) and other essays. She received the American Psychological Association, Division 39, SGI Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Advancement of Sexualities and Gender Identities in Psychoanalysis and most recently the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology (ABAPPP) book award for her contribution to Culture, Politics, and Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: Breaking Boundaries [Frie, R. & Sauvayre, P. (eds), Routledge, 2022] for her essay, Considering the Radical Contributions of Clara Mabel Thompson. She is in private practice in New York City.
The moderators of the Journal Club are Jack Drescher, MD & Christopher G. Walling, PsyD
Jack Drescher, MD, a member of IPA’s Communications Committee, is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in New York City. A recipient of the 2022 Mary S. Sigourney Award for his international work on gender and sexuality, Dr. Drescher is on the faculties of the William Alanson White Institute, the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and the
Florida Psychoanalytic Center. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia and a member of the Board of Trustees of the WA White Institute. He is an elected Director-at-Large of the American Psychoanalytic Association. His publications have been translated into numerous languages. He is author of Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man (Routledge) and Emeritus Editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health.
Christopher G. Walling, Psy.D., MBA, FIPA, is Associate Professor and Chair of Research Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Faculty Chair of Adult Psychoanalytic Training at the New Center for Psychoanalysis, and a licensed clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. Dr. Walling is a Clinical Research Fellow and International Advisory Council member at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, serves on the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Committee on Gender & Sexuality, and is past president of the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. His work appears in American Psychological Association’s Journal, Psychotherapy and the International Body Psychotherapy Journal. Recent honors include the 2026 Ernst & Gertrude Ticho Award and being named the 2024 Gina Ogden Scholarship prize in Integrative Sex Therapy Research. He maintains a private practice in Brentwood, California.
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