MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Michigan State University

Predoctoral internship at the Michigan State University Counseling Center

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, is a staff psychologist, team leader, supervisor, and member of the therapy staff at the Austen Riggs Center.

During her predoctoral internship, she was part of the Multi-Ethnic Counseling Center Alliance (MECCA) and has continued to promote dialogues across difference in her roles as (former) president of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association, (current) co-chair of APCS and international coordinator of the Psychoanalytic Track at UDEM. Her writing, teaching, supervision, and consultations have focused on encouraging the development of future generations of clinicians and on promoting higher standards of practice in the field.

A poet and artist herself, Dr. Charles has worked extensively with artists, writers, and musicians. She has a special interest in the creative process and is continues to investigate factors that facilitate and inhibit creativity. She also has a particular interest in the intergenerational transmission of trauma and its relationship to psychosis. She is actively engaged in mentoring, creating professional opportunities, creating opportunities for dialogue, and promoting community involvement for those in the helping professions, including her consultation work with 

 in Sydney, Australia, and with counseling centers and residential treatment centers in this country.

Professional Affiliations/Organizational Memberships

International Coordinator, Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM)

Member, Association for Psychosocial Studies (APS)

Teaching Associate in Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School

Training Analyst with the Michigan Psychoanalytic Council and the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis

 and is a member of the editorial boards of numerous psychoanalytic journals

Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS)

Winner of the American Board & Academy of Psychoanalysis (ABAPsa) Book Prize for 2020 in the Applied Category for her book co-edited with Jill Bellinson, PhD, entitled 

The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education: Psychoanalytic, Attachment, and Developmental Perspectives

Creativity, psychosis, resilience, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma

Therapy Staff

Psychology

Team Leader/Staff Psychologist

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, authored "Canaries in the Mind: Reflections on Paul Lippmann and the World of Dreams" in the 

"Nowhere do we see the beauty of our struggles so clearly as in the world of dreams. This past year saw the passing of one of our most creative and inspiring poets of the world of dreams, Paul Lippmann. In this paper, I speak from and about the world of dreams, recognizing ways in which they call to our attention aspects of experience which, unparsed, leave us caught emotionally."

Professional Publications

Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP, "considers ways in which psychosocial perspectives and psychoanalytic field theory have enhanced our understanding of and ability to make sense of our dreams."

Canaries in the Mind: Reflections on Paul Lippmann and the World of Dreams

© 2024 The Austen Riggs Center

Privacy Policy

Follow us: