The Psychoanalytic Center of California's

Continuing Education Committee

is pleased to present

On Countertransference:

Bearing the Unbearable

featuring

Dhwani Shah, MD

Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (Department of Psychiatry)

Saturday, September 26, 2026

9:00 am to 12:15 pm (PDT)
12:00 pm to 3:15 pm (EDT)



CEUs: 3

Location: (online).

The conference will be held online via Zoom.

Program Description

In contrast to exploring the patient's mind from a safe distance, this conference will focus on the clinician’s feelings, subjective experiences, and histories, and their impact on the intersubjective space of the therapeutic encounter. Understanding our own motivations and difficulties with painful mental states generated in therapy is at the heart of an ethical clinical practice. This authentic self-exploration is vital for every unique encounter within the shared space of both the analyst and patient. 


In this program, Dr. Shah will explore how the analyst’s uncomfortable and disowned emotional states of mind are inevitably entangled with the therapeutic process and have the potential to derail or facilitate therapeutic work. Specific emotional/mental states will be explored in detail, including dread, arrogance, dissociation and shame. These experiences illustrate common ways in which therapists stop listening and struggle in the face of uncertainty and intensity. Through theoretical and clinical material, Dr. Shah will attempt to demonstrate how the analyst’s capacity to experience and work with these states is vital to understanding and metabolizing patients' emotional experiences and maintaining an ethical and therapeutic stance.

Program Schedule

Target Audience

MD's, Psychologists, LCSW's, MFT's, Registered Nurses, candidates and members of psychoanalytic institutes, and student clinicians who are interested in psychoanalysis.

Course Objectives

At the end of this activity, participants should be better able to:

1. List three forms in which countertransference has been defined and used by psychoanalytically oriented clinicians;
2. Compare ethical and problematic uses of countertransference in the clinical encounter;
3. Distinguish between interpretive strategies that arise from reflective clinical engagement and those that arise from dissociated or arrogant states of mind;
4. Assess how countertransference dread or guilt may impair therapist empathy and influence treatment with suicidal patients.

Program Faculty

Dhwani Shah, MD is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Princeton, NJ. He is a Clinical Associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a Supervising Analyst and Instructor at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He also serves as a Supervisor at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and a Faculty Member at the Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey. He is on the editorial board of The American Journal of Psychotherapy and the author of The Analyst’s Torment: Unbearable Mental States in Countertransference (Karnac Books), which was featured in Brett Kahr’s “Top Ten Books of 2022.”

Continuing Education Credit

The Psychoanalytic Center of California designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.



This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the California Medical Association (CMA)  through the Psychoanalytic Center of California. The Psychoanalytic Center of California  is accredited by the California Medical Association (CMA)   to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

As per the California Board of Psychology, psychologists may apply AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ earned by attendance at this CME accredited live activity toward their continuing education requirement for licensing. 

The Psychoanalytic Center of California is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) to sponsor continuing education for LMFT's and LCSW's (CAMFT Approved Provider # 135374). The Psychoanalytic Center of California maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. This course meets the qualifications for 3 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. These learners must attend the entire course to claim credit; no partial credit is offered according to CAMFT requirements.

*Important note: Participants who plan to use the credits in another state should check with their licensing jurisdiction to see if the credits from an ACCME or CAMFT provider will be accepted.

Claiming Credit: Participants will receive a certificate of attendance at the event, which can be used toward licensing requirements. Credit is offered for actual instruction time and does not include breaks.

Refunds/Cancellations: Refunds, less a $10 administrative fee, will be made if cancellation notification is phoned or postmarked three (3) business days in advance of this program. There will be no refunds on requests received after the refund deadline. Full refunds are made in the event that PCC must cancel this program.

Returned Checks: A $25.00 service charge will be assessed for checks returned by the bank.

Grievances: While PCC goes to great lengths to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues that come to the attention of the PCC staff which will require intervention and/or action on the part of the staff. Visit  www.p-c-c.org/ethics for PCC's procedural guidelines for handling such grievances.

Special Needs: Facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities. If you have a special need and plan to attend the conference, please contact the PCC Office by phone at (310) 478-4347 or via email at 0ffice@p-c-c.org. Special needs requests will be fulfilled if received one week prior to the event, which will ensure we have ample opportunity to meet your needs.

Commercial Support Disclosure: None of the planners for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

Financial Support Disclaimer: The planners and presenters for this event have no financial relationships to disclose.

Confidentiality:  By registering for this educational event, attendees agree to strictly maintain confidentiality of any clinical material shared and will not distribute or convey such confidential material outside of the conference. 

PCC Conference Recording Description

This program will be recorded. A recording will be shared a few days after the event for those participants who registered for the event, and will be available for 30 days. All registrants will receive a link to the recording so they may review, however, only live attendees will receive credit. The video may also be used for educational purposes. If you do not wish to be recorded, please turn your camera off. By registering for this event, you grant permission to THE PSYCHOANALYTIC CENTER OF CALIFORNIA to the rights of your images, in video or still, and of the likeness and sound of your voice as recorded on audio or video.

Program Planners

Continuing Education Committee: Leigh Tobias, PhD (chair); Jennifer Kunst, PhD (member and CME coordinator); Chris Minnick, MD (member and CME chair); Persila Conversano, PsyD and Stacey Nicklas, PsyD (members); Jason Snyder, LMFT and Yelena Kashtuyeva, LMFT (candidate members).

Registration

General admission: $100

Current PCC Candidates in-Seminar: FREE

PCC Post-Seminar Candidate Admission: $50

Current PCC PPP Student Admission: $50

Full time students and candidates from other institutes admission: $50

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