The Psychoanalytic Center of California's

Continuing Education Committee

is pleased to present

Public Theories/Private Practices:

Thomas Ogden's Analytic Third and the Road to a Clinical Model of Intersubjectivity: 1979-1995

featuring

Joseph Aguayo, PhD

Psychoanalytic Center of California

Saturday, October 10, 2026

9:00 am to 11:00 am (PDT)

No CEUs

Location: (online).

The conference will be held online via Zoom.

Program Description

In today's program, Dr. Aguayo explores the early clinical evolution of Thomas Ogden and the relationship between an analyst’s “public theories” and “private practices.” Focusing on Ogden’s writings and case studies from 1979–1995, Dr. Aguayo examines how closely Ogden’s clinical work aligned with the innovative theoretical model he was developing. Particular attention is given to Ogden’s distinctive synthesis of Winnicott and Klein and his use of the “dialectical structure of experience” to bring differing psychoanalytic traditions into creative dialogue. Dr. Aguayo traces how these ideas contributed to Ogden’s emerging model of intersubjectivity, including his formulation of autistic-contiguous, paranoid-schizoid, and depressive modes of experience and his influential concept of the analytic third. By placing Ogden’s published theories alongside his clinical case material, the program considers both the productive tensions and surprising inconsistencies between what analysts say they do and what they actually do in the consulting room. Following the presentation, there will be a generous time for discussion.

Program Schedule

Program Faculty

Joseph Aguayo, PhD, is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of California and a Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society.  He holds PhDs in both Clinical Psychology and European History from UCLA.

Dr. Aguayo has edited and written four books on Bion’s work: W. R. Bion’s Clinical Seminars in Los Angeles, (with B. Malin, 2013); Bion in Buenos Aires, (with L. Pistener de Cortinas and A. Regeczkey, 2017); Introducing the Clinical Work of W.R. Bion, (2023); and Bion in the Consulting Room: An Implicit Method Clinical Inquiry, (2024) (with Hinshelwood, Dermen and Abel-Hirsch). His next publication in December 2026: Winnicott in America, (Oxford Univ. Press) a collection of papers on Winnicott lecture visits to the United States in the 1960s.

Dr. Aguayo also founded and directs the Regional Bion Symposium, a consortium of North American analysts, who attend year-round online meetings on Bion, Winnicott, Klein and Post-Bionians. His most recent presentations: on July 4th, 2025, he gave an invited paper at the London Institute in commemoration of the unveiling of a bronze bust of W.R. Bion; on July 14th, he gave a paper on Winnicott’s Relationship with Melanie Klein at the British Psychoanalytic Association; and on November 15th, 2025, he gave the Madeleine Davis Memorial Lecture at the Squiggle Foundation, London, UK on Thomas Ogden’s Winnicottian-inflected contributions. He also presented his Bion research at last summer’s IPA Congress in Lisbon, Portugal (July 2025).

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: $50

Current PCC Candidates in-Seminar: FREE

PCC Post-Seminar Candidate Admission: FREE

Current PCC PPP Student Admission: FREE

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

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