This semester, we are pleased to provide a range of online courses tailored for clinicians and psychoanalytic students. The sessions will take place on Zoom, with instructions delivered in Farsi and all reading materials provided in English. We trust you will discover a course that captivates your interest!
To register for any course, contact the course instructor directly. The registration fee is 2,000,000 Toman per course.
Registration closes on 27 Sahrivar (September 18) for most courses. The maximum capacity for any course is 45.
FALL 2025:
Exploring the Body in Psychoanalytic Practice:
Between Fantasy and Psychic Structure
Dr. Aslezaker
Thursdays at 18:00 -19:20 Tehran time beginning September 25 (3 Mehr) and then every other week (October 9, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, December 18, and December 25 (out of sequence), 2025. For Registration in this course, please contact Dr. Aslezaker at:
<m_aslezaker@yahoo.com>
Course Description: This course investigates how the body takes shape in relation to unconscious fantasy and structural organization. We will explore how symptoms, identifications, and modes of embodiment differ across neurotic, psychotic, and perverse structures. Particular attention will be paid to how the body becomes a carrier of unconscious meaning and how it is shaped by early relational experiences, language, and symbolic inscriptions. We will also consider how the body is represented, experienced, and imagined in clinical work—both by the analyst and the analysand—and how it may appear as a site of suffering, expression, or resistance. Drawing on classical and contemporary psychoanalytic perspectives, the course offers a rich framework for thinking about the body as both a psychic and relational phenomenon. It is suitable for both returning participants and new attendees.
Lacanian structures vs Psychiatric Differential Diagnosis and with Critical Comparison with DSM.
Dr. Behzadi
Sunday at 17:00-18:20 Tehran time beginning September 21 (30 Shahrivar) and then every other week, (October 5, October 19, November 2, November 16, November 30, December 14, and December 28, 2025. For Registration in this course, please contact Dr. Behzadi arian.behzadi@gmail.com
Course Description: This clinical seminar examines Lacanian diagnostic structures—neurosis, psychosis, and perversion—with a special emphasis on borderline and liminal presentations that resist clear classification within conventional psychiatric frameworks. Drawing on key texts such as Paul Verhaeghe’s On Being Normal and Other Disorders and Nancy McWilliams’s Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, along with clinical case vignettes from the instructor’s own practice, the course offers an in-depth comparative exploration of structural diagnosis in psychoanalysis versus symptom-based diagnosis in the DSM system. Particular attention will be given to how the DSM’s focus on observable symptoms can obscure the underlying structure of subjectivity—leading to misdiagnosis, treatment impasses, and even harm to patients. Through clinical discussion and theoretical elaboration, participants will critically explore the conceptual margins of neurosis and psychosis, and reflect on how diagnosis, when properly grounded in structure, can serve both the ethics and efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment. This course is designed for clinicians, analysts-in-training, and advanced students interested in the intersection of psychoanalytic theory, diagnostic practice, and clinical ethics.
Psychoanalytic Field Theory
Dr. Eftekhar
Wednesdays at 14:00 -15:20 Tehran time, beginning September 24, (2 Mehr), and then every other week on October 8, October 22, November 5, November 19, December 3, December 17, and December 31, 2025. For registration in this course, please email Dr. Eftekhar at: <mehrdad.eftekhar@gmail.com>
Course Description: This course invites you to join a reflective and experiential journey through the evolving landscape of the field theory in psychoanalysis. We will begin by tracing its intellectual roots in the work of Kurt Lewin and its early psychoanalytic articulation in the writings of Harry Stack Sullivan. From there, we will explore how this foundational idea has developed across different traditions — especially in the work of Madeleine and Willy Baranger, Donnel Stern, Antonino Ferro, Giuseppe Civitarese, and others. Our aim is not only to understand theoretical frameworks, but also to bring them to life in clinical thinking and practice. Each session will focus on key texts that open the field concept from different angles — interpersonal, relational, and Bionian — encouraging comparison, dialogue, and reflection. Rather than seeking a unified definition, we will explore the richness of differences and the creative tensions they bring. Throughout our time together, you are encouraged to bring your clinical questions, experiences, and associations to the discussion. We will think together about how the field shapes and is shaped by analyst and patient — and how it speaks through enactments, affects, dreams, and shared reverie. Whether you are new to field theory or already working within its spirit, I hope this course offers you a generative space to deepen your thinking and clinical presence.
Continuous Clinical Case Seminar in Psychoanalysis
Dr. Movahedi
Wednesdays at 18:30 -19:50 Tehran time, beginning September 17 (26 Shahrivar) and then every other week on October 1, October 15, October 29, November 12, November 26, December 10, and December 24, 2025. For registration in this course, please email Dr. Movahedi at <Siamak.movahedi@umb.edu>
Course Description: This eight-session clinical course is designed around the idea that a key aspect of the psychoanalytic approach involves closely engaging with the patient’s own process. During our meetings, we will explore the concepts of analytic listening, its therapeutic impact, and the barriers to effective listening. Additionally, we will examine the notion of boundaries and their limitations from various theoretical perspectives.
As in previous semesters, our primary focus will be on enhancing your clinical psychoanalytic skills through ongoing case presentations supported by process notes. You are therefore expected to present and discuss any clinical issues that you may find challenging.
To facilitate our clinical discussions, I have prepared a reading list that addresses several critical clinical issues. While we will briefly touch on the readings at the beginning of each class, we do not want the readings to obstruct our engagement with case material. Instead, the readings are intended to serve as a guide, helping to deepen your thinking and reflection on the clinical material and our discussions.
Psychoanalytic Interpretation:
Between Interpretation and Interpreters
Dr. Movahedi
Wednesdays at 18:30 -19:50 Tehran time, beginning September 24, (2 Mehr), and then every other week on October 8, October 22, November 5, November 19, December 3, December 17, and December 31, 2025. For registration in this course, please email Dr. Movahedi at <Siamak.movahedi@umb.edu>
Course Description: The core of this course focuses on understanding psychoanalytic interpretation—what it is, how it develops, and how it is applied in a therapeutic setting. Interpretation is an essential component of psychoanalytic work, serving as a primary means of communication between the therapist and the patient in their transference and countertransference interactions. In this way, psychoanalysis is rooted in interpretation from beginning to end. However, interpretations in psychoanalysis are distinctive because they target the unconscious mind; they are not merely cognitive or intellectual exercises. Sigmund Freud approached psychoanalysis with a concept of the unconscious that not only calls for interpretation but also opens the door for further interpretations.
The earliest documented instance of psychoanalytic interpretation occurred in March 1881, when Josef Breuer worked with a patient known as “Anna O.” She had been mute for two weeks and was “unable to say a syllable.” Breuer suggested that she might be upset about something she had chosen not to discuss. He noted, “When I guessed this and encouraged her to talk about it, the inhibition that had made any other form of expression impossible also disappeared.”
Psychoanalysis of Hysteria in Historical Perspective
Dr. Nohesara
Thursdays at 15:30 -16:50 Tehran time beginning September 25 (3 Mehr) and then every other week (October 9, October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4, December 18, and (out of sequence) January 8, 2025. For Registration in this course, please contact Dr. Nohesara at: <shnohesara@gmail.com>
Course Description: This course explores the historical perspective on Freud and Breuer’s theories regarding Hysteria and Obsession. Psychoanalysis originated from Freud’s investigations into the nature of Hysteria. He sought to explain this psychopathological condition through the concepts of seduction and the dynamic tension between the conscious and unconscious mind. Freud’s approach marked a significant shift from the work of Charcot and Janet. While Charcot viewed Hysteria as stemming from a “degenerate nervous system,” Freud interpreted hysterical illness primarily as a psychological issue. This perspective led to the development of key ideas such as defense mechanisms, repression, the unconscious mind, a dynamic understanding of mental processes, the significance of working through issues (rather than simply forgetting them), and the importance of analysis in treatment (as opposed to mere suggestion).
Clinical Work with Psychosis in Psychoanalysis
Mr. Pouralibaba
Thursdays at 10:00 -11:20 Tehran time beginning September 18 (27 Shahrivar) and then every other week (October 2, October 16, October 30, November 13, November 27, December 11, and December 25, 2025. For registration in this course, please email Mr. Pouralibaba at: <b.pouralibaba@gmail.com>
Course Description: Freud believed that psychotic patients could not be treated through psychoanalysis because they were unable to establish object transference. However, despite this belief in the unsuitability of the psychoanalytic method for treating psychotics, Freud showed interest in studying the psychotic mechanisms present in paranoid and melancholic patients. This interest was further pursued by his students and followers. Today, psychoanalysis continues to work with psychotic patients, both in inpatient and outpatient settings, making efforts to treat them. In this course, we aim to explore how a therapist can engage with patients who exhibit hallucinations and delusional ideas and may display aggressive behavior. We will examine how to effectively manage a therapy session and what interventions may be beneficial. Additionally, we will explore the treatment pathways for working with these patients.
Theories of Psychosis and Autism:
An In-Depth Look at Sub-Structures Through Emphasis on Speech, Language and Topology
Dr. Taheri
Fridays at 17:30-18:50 Tehran time beginning September 19 (28 Shahrivar) and then every other week on October 3, October 17, October 31, November 14, November 28, December 12, and December 26, 2025. For registration in this course, please email Dr. Taheri at: <dr.alireza.taheri@gmail.com>
Course Description: This course will provide an in-depth exploration of autism as well as the various clinical sub-structures of psychosis. Expanding on the introductory work began in the previously taught course entitled “Understanding Psychosis and Autism Through a Lacanian Lens”, we will consider in greater detail the intricacies of Lacan’s metapsychology of hallucination, the role of insults and profanities, and the tendency towards verbal reticence in view of elaborating Lacan’s life-long effort to re-situate psychosis within the field of speech and language. The eight sessions of the course will be devoted to an understanding of 1) paranoia, 2) hallucinations, 3) schizophrenia, 4) manic-depressive psychosis, 5) melancholia, 6) autism, 7) transgenderism, and 8) “ordinary psychosis” and its possible triggering. Beyond the focus on phenomena of speech and language such as the holophrase, echolalia, organ speech, flight of ideas, word-salads and so on, emphasis will be placed on Lacan’s radical innovations for understanding psychosis through the counter-intuitive use of mathematical topology and knot theory (Borromean and non-Borromean knots, the trefoil knot, the sinthome, the corrective ego and so on). Finally, the importance of writing, understood in a large psychoanalytic sense, will also be an important focus of our theoretical elucubrations. Though familiarity with the previous course will be an asset, it is not a prerequisite for attending this course.
Guilt and Shame
Dr. Zhaf
Mondays at 20:00-21:20 Tehran time beginning September 22 (31Shahrivar) and then every other week, October 6, October 20, November 3, November 17, December 1, December 15, and December 29, 2025. For Registration in this course, please contact Dr. Zhaf at: <mahrouzhaf@gmail.com>
Course Description: This seminar offers a psychoanalytic exploration of guilt and shame—two foundational affects that shape psychic structure, relational life, and cultural identity. Drawing on classical and contemporary psychoanalytic theories, we will trace the evolution of these emotions from Freud’s superego conflicts and Klein’s concept of depressive guilt to Lacan’s notion of the gaze, Kohut’s theory of self-defect and failed mirroring, and Kernberg’s object relations approach. We will examine how guilt and shame emerge developmentally, operate at both conscious and unconscious levels, and manifest in character structure, symptom formation, and the therapeutic encounter.
Persepolis Off the Couch
Psychoanalysts Examine Famous Films with Behzad Pouralibaba.
Once a Month on Sundays at 20:30-22:00 Tehran Time. (75,000 Toman for each session). For registration, please email Mr. Pouralibaba at: <b.pouralibaba@gmail.com>
Description: Every month, we will select a film for you to watch and discuss and try to examine it from a psychoanalytic perspective. We will try to understand the unconscious of the film’s writer, director and what they project on fictional characters and subjects. Analyzing the unconscious and desires of the film’s audience is another aim of our monthly webinar. In addition to the course instructor, we will often have other faulty members as a part of our critics for our analysis and interpretation of a movie.
Persepolis Psychoanalytic 