Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society

Saturday, May 9, 2026, 9:30 am-12:30 pm ET

Speaker: Caroline Sehon, M.D., FABP

 “Ghosts in the Consulting Room:

Hearing the Nursery's Echo in Adult Analysis”

Grounded in contemporary literature, this presentation will offer valuable insights for both psychoanalysts and psychotherapists on the power of child analytic principles in adult treatment. We will explore how the “ghosts” of early childhood shape the adult patient's inner world, demonstrated through compelling clinical material from an extended analysis with an adult patient, where images like “The Boy Left to Cry” become the language for unmet infantile needs. By learning to interpret these “echoes of the nursery,” clinicians can treat the deepest, most inaccessible parts of the personality. The presentation will invite attendees to engage with the material and their own responses, providing a rich framework for recognizing the “child within” and fostering profound therapeutic change. 

Learning Objectives 

Participants will be able to: 

1.     Describe two child analytic principles and their application to understanding the adult patient ’s inner world. 

2.     Identify manifestations of early developmental experiences, or "echoes of the nursery," within the clinical material of adult treatment. 

3.     Utilize insights from the patient's symbolic language to formulate interventions that address previously inaccessible parts of the personality

Caroline M. Sehon, MD, FABP, is the Secretary and President-elect-elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association, where she also chairs the committee for Psychoanalysis in the Community. A Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University, Dr. Sehon is the director of the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) and a supervising child and adult psychoanalyst at its International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training (IIPT), of which she is also past chair. She has authored numerous articles and book chapters on topics including child and adult psychoanalysis, teleanalysis, and couple and family therapy. Dr. Sehon maintains a private practice in Bethesda, MD, specializing in adult and child psychoanalysis and couple and family therapy. 

1.     Sehon, C. M., and J. S. Scharff. (2025). Play, Containment, and Insights from Child Analysis. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 78(1):147-164. 

 2.   Ungar, V., & J. S. Scharff. (2025). Transference-Countertransference, Nonverbal Communication, and Interpretation in Child Analysis: Its Relevance for Adult Analysis. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 78(1):137–146. 

3.    Sehon, C. M. (2026). What Child Patients Teach Us about Analytic Technique. In C. M. Sehon (Ed.), Echoes of Childhood: The Foundational Role of Child Analysis in Adult Analytic Work. London: Karnac, pp. 3-12.

3 CME ’S

LOCATION: Virtual - Zoom

CHARGE: Members get up to 21 CMEs/CEUs for free per year.

Non-members pay $25 to attend a 3 hour speaker program meeting and an additional $20 for CEUs for a total of $45 (or $15/CEU).

Register Online: https://tbps.wildapricot.org/

ACCME Accreditation Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Tampa Bay Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

The American Psychoanalytic Association 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 the activity.

The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the   meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME,s identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.