Austen Riggs Center Clinicians Presenting at 2026 APsA National Meeting

Daniel Knauss, PsyD, ABPP; and Jane Tillman, PhD, ABPP, present at the 2026 American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) National Meeting in San Francisco, CA, from January 27-February 1.

Wednesday, January 28
2:00-4:00 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Film Workshop: Learning to Speak: A Documentary Film and Discussion About Creativity and Recovery

Chair/ Discussant: Jane G. Tillman, PhD, ABPP
Presenter: Michele Beck, MFA (New York, NY)

This session features the screening of Learning to Speak, a 50-minute autobiographical documentary by artist, psychoanalyst, and filmmaker MicheleBeck, who, as a young adult, survived a suicide attempt and spent three and a half years in an open psychiatric hospital. The film explores the filmmaker’s return to the hospital decades later, following the death of her father, as she seeks to make sense of her early adult experiences and understand the therapeutic elements of that environment. Blending personal narrative, archival materials, and interviews with former patients, the film offers a deeply human and clinically relevant exploration of healing, memory, creativity, and the power of the therapeutic community.

Thursday, January 29
9:00-11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Discussion Group 33: Treatment Resistance: Application of Psychoanalytic Ideas to Psychiatric Dilemmas 

Co-chairs: Eric M. Plakun, MD; Elizabeth F. Weinberg, MD

Discussant: Daniel Knauss, PsyD, ABPP

This discussion group addresses the application of psychoanalytic concepts to “treatment resistance,” defined as treatment nonresponse, focusing on work with high-risk patients. The session is targeted towards clinicians and clinical researchers. This small group activity supports improved competence through demonstrating specific approaches to working with highly complex, high-risk patients. The utility of psychoanalytic ideas in improving outcomes will be demonstrated, with discussion of how such concepts can improve management of high-risk behaviors and support the treatment alliance.

Thursday, January 29
4:30-6:30 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Discussion Group 45: Treating the Suicidal Patient 

Chair: Mark J. Goldblatt, MD

Discussants: Elsa Ronningstam, PhD; Jane G. Tillman, PhD, ABPP

Presenter: Martin E. Teising, Prof. Dr. Phil.

This session is intended for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists who are interested in understanding the complexity of work with suicidal patients. The format will be a case presentation of an intensive treatment of a suicidal patient, which is then discussed by experienced clinicians to gain a better understanding of the destructive and curative factors involved in such treatments. Attendees' participation in the discussion is encouraged as a way to further one’s thinking about self-attack, suicidal desperation, and life-sustaining interventions.

Saturday, January 31
9:00-11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time)
Clinical Conference for Residents, Psychology and Social Work Trainees, and Students, Presented by APsA Fellows: Eriksonian Integrity vs. Despair Struggles in an Obsessive Patient with Moral Rigidity and Somatic Symptoms 

Chair: Jordan D. Brooks, MSW

Presenter: Majd Al-Soleiti, MD

Discussant: Jane G. Tillman, PhD, ABPP

This case conference will discuss the psychotherapy of a man facing profound emotional suffering in the wake of retirement, chronic medical illnesses, and unresolved early conflicts. Struggles with integrity vs. despair are complicated by obsessive tendencies, somatic symptoms, and core narcissistic vulnerability. Establishing authentic therapeutic engagement was hindered by false-self adaptations marked by compulsive and excessive agreeableness and moral rigidity. A prolonged hiatus unexpectedly served as a catalyst for growth by inviting reflection, autonomy, and deeper internalization. Developmental thinking of Erikson, Winnicott and Kohut are used to elucidate the treatment process.