Dear Colleagues,

It was a genuine pleasure to see and engage with so many of you at last month’s Annual Conference in Toronto. Alongside the many plenaries and panels that imbued the conference with intellectual and emotional texture and depth, the conference also featured an Opening Night reception, two Large Group meetings, two discussion groups, two memorial tributes, three meet-the-author discussions, the annual membership meeting, and our Saturday night Gala. The opportunities for social interaction, in between events and also with friends and colleagues at the many fine restaurants near the hotel, were an equally important aspect of what makes IARPP feel like a professional home for so many of us.

Those of you who were able to attend, whether in person or, for the plenaries, online, surely join me in thanking our Conference Co-Chairs, Hazel Ipp and Hilary Offman (Canada), along with all the members of the Local Conference Committee and the International Conference Committee, for the immense amount of thought and work they put into every aspect of creating and overseeing the event, in coordination with our Conference Manager Nilou Mostofi and her team. One can only marvel at their accomplishments, especially given the extra political and operational complexities of holding an international conference in the midst of a world mired in conflict and war. Over 500 people registered for the conference, the highest figure in eight years. Among many other delights, I won’t soon forget the impressive hustle and containing deftness of Christian Schulz-Quach (Canada) as he saw us through any number of sound, video and Zoom glitches with grace and humor. For additional thoughts about the conference, Tony Bass (USA) and Hazel Ipp offer a Note from the Membership Committee.

It is not too soon to mark your calendar for next year’s conference, to be held in central Rome, June 24–27, 2027, co-chaired by Fabia Banella, Susanna Federici, Gianni Nebbiosi, and Maria Silvia Soriato (Italy). The conference will be entitled, “Alice through the Looking Glass: Embodied and Disembodied Presence in the Clinical Encounter.”

Those of you who were not present for the Toronto conference’s final plenary on Sunday morning will be interested to learn that IARPP’s next president, beginning January 1, will be Fabia Banella (Italy). Congratulazioni, Fabia!

This month’s publications and presentations round-up includes news of recent books authored by four IARPP members, along with papers and presentations from five more, plus an interview Berta Loret de Mola (Mexico) has conducted with Steven Kuchuck (USA) on his recent book, The Relational Revolution in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy.

Willow Pearson Trimbach (USA) has co-authored The Emotional Truth of Dreams: Learning from Dream Dialogues in Psychotherapeutic and Spiritual Practice (Routledge). Through contemplation of over a dozen dreams, Trimbach and her co-author Eva Tuschman Leonard – both psychotherapists and artists – share their collaborative dream dialogues and reflections, elaborating how our dreams’ truths can inform psychotherapeutic practice, spiritual practice, and everyday life.

Daniel Shaw (USA) adds a new title to his sequence of books delineating his Traumatic Narcissism Theory. In Traumatic Narcissism Theory: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge), Shaw begins by retelling the ancient myth of Narcissus with an emphasis on the character of Echo, the victim of Narcissus’ cruelty. He integrates both theoretical and clinical material to show how TNT enables victims to recover their wounded subjectivity and heal the self-alienation that results from the traumatizing narcissist’s manipulation and abuse.

Karen J. Maroda (USA)’s Psychodynamic Techniques: Working with Emotion in the Therapeutic Relationship – Second Edition (Guilford Press) offers significant updates and revisions to her 2010 book. Maroda demonstrates how therapists can make treatment more effective by working with emotions, both their own and their patients’. This edition includes a substantially revised chapter on regression as well as new chapters on transference and extra-transference, and the ethics of self-disclosure.

Tony Bass (USA) announces the publication of not one but two books. It Takes Two to Know One: The Therapy Relationship and Unconscious Dialogues (Routledge) explores the nature of relational psychoanalysis in clinical practice, building on the foundational papers Bass has written over the past twenty-five years. As a first-generational relational analyst, he demonstrates the depth, scope and healing power of mutual transformation for patient and analyst alike. And with co-author Velleda C. Ceccoli, Bass offers Philip Bromberg: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge), an overview of Bromberg’s groundbreaking contributions to interpersonal and relational psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. The authors draw on their experience as Bromberg’s students, supervisees, colleagues, and friends to outline and elaborate his theories of dissociation, enactment, self-states and multiplicity.

As for papers and presentations, Shalini Masih (UK) has written on the mystical unconscious and gave a presentation on analytic work with psychotic states through the problem of ‘otherness.’ Janet Brown Lobel (USA) presented an exploration of Lew Aron’s return to studying and teaching Loewald. Michael Melmed (USA) presented on the intersection of artificial intelligence and psychoanalysis as part of a roundtable panel. Danielle Knafo (USA) has written and presented extensively on many topics, most especially AI and working with psychosis. And Billie Pivnick (USA) has written a paper on relational citizenship and a chapter on addressing the needs of asylum-seeking children and students with disabilities.

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If you would like the IARPP community to be alerted to your recent publications and presentations, please send the following materials to me at MattAibel@gmail.com by Sunday, September 27, 2026 in order for your announcement to appear in the next IARPP Bookshelf, the October issue.

• Title of your recent or upcoming publication(s)/presentation(s) (“recent” means within the prior year; IARPP Conference presentations are not eligible)
• Abstract, up to 150 words
• Link to a publisher, if applicable, so that members might access or purchase a copy
• Digital photograph of yourself (jpeg format)
• Professional contact information as you would like it to appear publicly (city/town in which you practice or work and your email address)
• Book authors, provide a brief bio of up to 100 words and an image of your book cover
• Presenters, spell out organizational acronyms and include location, if in-person

Best wishes,
Matt Aibel, LCSW
IARPP Bulletin Editor

Matt Aibel, LCSW
New York, NY, USA
Email Matt Aibel