Harold Searles was one of the most innovative of American psychoanalytic theorists. Drawing especially on the work of Donald Winnicott, he was one of the earliest writers to explore the psychoanalytic process as a two way street, with the therapist and patient equally involved in a deeply shared human experience. He outlined three phases in the psychoanalytic process: autistic, symbiotic and individuating. I will use a long psychotherapy experience to discuss these phases and explore how Searles expands and deepens an object relations model, especially by seeing the process in interpersonal as well as intrapsychic terms.

In-Person at the COR office

Saturday, March 7, 2026