About DSPP

Who we are

The Dallas Society for Psychoanalytic Psychology (DSPP) is a local chapter of the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (SPPP), also known as Division 39 of the American Psychological Association.

Founded in 1983, DSPP directs its efforts to exploring and promoting psychoanalytic theory and its applications as a basis for understanding human experience and for various forms of psychotherapy. DSPP's members come from a number of mental health fields and include psychologists, licensed professional counselors, social workers, physicians, and students. DSPP emphasizes the application of psychoanalytic theory to a variety of clinical and social settings.

what we do

DSPP hosts a series of monthly presentations from September through April on psychoanalytic theory and its clinical applications. Fall and Spring workshops feature some of the world's leading psychoanalytic theorists.

The Arts Committee sponsors a number of events at which members informally discuss and explore the psychoanalytic aspects of a wide variety of artistic endeavors (e.g., films, performing, visual and literary arts).

Heavy paint stokes with a mixture of blue and white paint.

participate and contribute

DSPP encourages all its members to participate and contribute to the organization through an active committee structure, which currently includes the Program Committee, the Membership Committee, the Education Committee, the Continuing Education Committee, the Community Relations Committee, and the Arts Committee.

In short, DSPP strives to be an intellectual "home" for those interested in exploring and developing psychoanalytic theory and practice in its broadest applications.

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Arts Committee

The DSPP Arts Committee was created in 1996 by Judith Samson, Ph.D. The idea emerged while she was serving on the Community Relations Committee. Her intent was to engage interested DSPP members in a variety of artistic activities and explore the psychological/psychoanalytic underpinnings. The artistic spheres have included cinematic, performance, literary and studio arts, and participation has always provided a rich environment for fun, connection, and discussion.

The Arts Committee is devoted to enriching life experience through increasing the appreciation, interpretation, and comprehension of artistic personalities and the meaning of their creative expression from a psychoanalytic perspective. As Pablo Picasso stated, "The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place…from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a spider's web." Art stirs internal responses and evokes questions that arouse a desire in us to understand those feelings and questions.

What is an artist trying to express? What needs of the artist are being met through creative expression? Is art, without the limitation of words, a truer expression of human feelings? Does expression assuage emotional response or resonance in the viewers or audience? Is art a truer expression of human capacities and desire without the impediments of intellectualizations that can betray the heart? The DSPP Arts program will enhance our lives and our life stories, and nurture our aesthetic experiences. The beauty of art reaches deeply into the human heart and mind, and takes on an importance in human and professional development. Hence, DSPP is committed to providing artistic experiences to members, colleagues, and friends.

Angelica M.D. Tratter, Ph.D., chair

Education

DSPP is approved by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to provide continuing education credits for psychologists. DSPP is approved by the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners as a sponsor of continuing education units for social workers. The Texas State Board of Examiners of Licensed Professional Counselors accepts DSPP/TSBEP continuing education credits for licensed professional counselors.

DSPP adheres to the American Psychological Association (APA) Multicultural Guidelines

Board & Committees

President

Blaine Brazier, LPC

Past President

Nathaniel R. Strenger, Psy.D.

President-Elect

Melissa Wallace, M.D.

Secretary

Becca Fonville, Psy.D.

Treasurer

Paul Moore, Psy.D.

Member-At-Large

Scott Nelson, Ph.D.

Catherine Johnson, LPC

Adam Breakey Hinshaw, Ph.D.

Community Relations Chair

Joelle Pahl, LCSW

Arts Chair

Angelica Tratter, Ph.D.

Arts Committee

Denis Humphrey, Ph.D.

Jim Harris, Psy.D.

Susan Roos, Ph.D.

Continuing Education Chair

Bethany Sanders, LCSW

Shelby Zavala-Barajas, Psy.D.

Membership Co-Chairs

Elizabeth Huber, Ph.D.

Kevin Goldberg, Psy.D.

Program Co-Chairs

Tyler Woodall, LPC

Rachel Boyd, LCSW

Guideline 1

Psychologists seek to recognize and understand that identity and self-definition are fluid and complex and that the interaction between the two is dynamic. To this end, psychologists appreciate that intersectionality is shaped by the multiplicity of the individual's social contexts.

Guideline 2

Psychologists aspire to recognize and understand that as cultural beings, they hold attitudes and beliefs that can influence their perceptions of and interactions with others as well as their clinical and empirical conceptualizations. As such, psychologists strive to move beyond conceptualizations rooted in categorical assumptions, biases, and/or formulations based on limited knowledge about individuals and communities.

Guideline 3

Psychologists strive to recognize and understand the role of language and communication through engagement that is sensitive to the lived experience of the individual, couple, family, group, community, and/or organizations with whom they interact. Psychologists also seek to understand how they bring their own language and communication to these interactions.

Guideline 4

Psychologists endeavor to be aware of the role of the social and physical environment in the lives of clients, students, research participants, and/or consultees.

Guideline 5

Psychologists aspire to recognize and understand historical and contemporary experiences with power, privilege, and oppression. As such, they seek to address institutional barriers and related inequities, disproportionalities, and disparities of law enforcement, administration of criminal justice, educational, mental health, and other systems as they seek to promote justice, human rights, and access to quality and equitable mental and behavioral health services.

Guideline 6

Psychologists seek to promote culturally adaptive interventions and advocacy within and across systems, including prevention, early intervention, and recovery.

Guideline 7

Psychologists endeavor to examine the profession's assumptions and practices within an international context, whether domestically or internationally based, and consider how this globalization has an impact on the psychologist's self-definition, purpose, role, and function.

Guideline 8

Psychologists seek awareness and understanding of how developmental stages and life transitions intersect with the larger biosociocultural context, how identity evolves as a function of such intersections, and how these different socialization and maturation experiences influence worldview and identity.

Guideline 9

Psychologists strive to conduct culturally appropriate and informed research, teaching, supervision, consultation, assessment, interpretation, diagnosis, dissemination, and evaluation of efficacy as they address the first four levels of the Layered Ecological Model of the Multicultural Guidelines.

Guideline 10

Psychologists actively strive to take a strength-based approach when working with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations that seeks to build resilience and decrease trauma within the sociocultural context.

Reference: American Psychological Association. 2017. Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality. Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines.pdf