Faculty and Alumni

Fritjof Capra, PhD, physicist and systems theorist, is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, CA. He serves on the faculty of the Amana-Key executive education program in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is a Fellow of Schumacher College (U.K.), and serves on the Council of Earth Charter International. Dr. Capra is the author of several international bestsellers, including The Tao of Physics (1975), The Web of Life (1996), and The Science of Leonardo (2007). He is coauthor, with Pier Luigi Luisi, of the multidisciplinary textbook, The Systems View of Life (Cambridge University Press, 2014). His new online course (www.capracourse.net) is based on his textbook. He lives in Berkeley, CA.

AREAS OF INTEREST

The Essence of Life: During the last few decades, a new conception of life has been developed at the forefront of science. My synthesis of this new “systems view of life” involves advanced systems thinking, based on concepts derived from complexity theory. In nontechnical language, these concepts can be summarized in terms of four essential characteristics of life: life organizes itself in networks; it is inherently regenerative, creative, and intelligent. In my synthesis, these ideas — each of them radical and full of important implications — are woven into a coherent conceptual framework, integrating the biological, cognitive, social, and ecological dimensions of life.

Wilfried Ver Eecke, PhD, LPC is a philosopher, professional counselor, and Lacanian psychoanalyst. He got his PhD in philosophy where Professors A. De Waelhens and A. Vergote introduced him to Freud and Lacan. He presented his doctoral thesis on Freud’s article on negation in 1966. He then went to Paris where he followed the lectures of Lacan, Hyppolite, Ricoeur, and Aulagnier. He then went to Freiburg where he worked with the linguist Johannes Lohmann, and to Harvard where he attended lectures of sociologist T. Parsons and linguist R. Jacobson. In 1967 he was offered a professorship in philosophy at Georgetown University, where he later chaired the department. After training with the New York Freudian Society and personal psychoanalysis in Paris, he became a Lacanian psychoanalyst and a member of the International School of the Lacanian Field (EPFCL). He cofounded with Devra Simiu, PhD and Macario Giraldo, PhD the Lacanian Forum of Washington, DC. He has published more than 50 articles on philosophy of psychoanalysis.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Hegel and Lacan: The Romantic Reformer; Negation in Psychoanalysis.

Nita Gage, DSPS, trained with R.D. Laing and his associates at the Philadelphia Association from 1974-1980. She pursued post-graduate education in psychology and psycho-spiritual studies, studying with shamanic teachers. She is co-founder of the NeuroImaginal™ Institute and Director of Healer Within Retreats. Author of Soul Whispering: The Art of Awakening Shamanic Consciousness, she lives in Maui, Hawaii.

Douglas Kirsner, PhD, Emeritus Professor at Deakin University, Australia. Taught Masters in Psychoanalytic Studies, authored The Schizoid World of Jean-Paul Sartre and R. D. Laing, Unfree Associations, numerous journal articles and book chapters. Founding director of Annual Deakin University Freud Conference.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Freud: Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis; Civilization and Its Discontents; Group Psychology; R. D. Laing and Anti-psychiatry; symmetry between R. D. Laing and Jean-Paul Sartre; History of Psychoanalysis and Existential Analysis; R. D. Laing on Altered States.

Heather LaFace, PhD is adjunct faculty at Antioch University Santa Barbara and Pacific Graduate Institute. Private practice in LA and Orange County focusing on attachment and relational theory. Research explores neuroscience, philosophy, social theory, and extreme states. Lives in Los Angeles.

Jon Mills, PsyD, PhD, ABPP is a philosopher, psychoanalyst, and retired clinical psychologist. Honorary Professor at University of Essex, Faculty at Adelphi University, and Emeritus Professor at Adler Graduate Professional School. Author/editor of 30 books in psychoanalysis, philosophy, psychology, and cultural studies. Recipient of the Otto Weininger Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement (2015).

AREAS OF INTEREST

The phenomenological-hermeneutic attitude: Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Ricoeur; Existential foundations: Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre; Postmodern influences: Foucault, Derrida, Lacan, Zizek; Unconscious Ontology: Freud, Jung, Lacan; Soul Making & Archetypal Psychology: Aristotle, Jung, Hillman; Secular Spirituality: On the Numinous.

James Norwood, PsyD graduated from CIIS with a doctorate in clinical psychology. Dissertation on psychedelic therapies. Studied existential philosophy and psychoanalysis with Michael Guy Thompson. Principal organizer for the Gnosis Retreat Center. Psychotherapist at Berkeley Therapy Institute and Free Association Clinic, adjunct faculty at CIIS.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Pyrrhonian Scepticism; Heidegger’s meditative vs. calculative thinking; Nietzsche on tragedy; Romanticism and mysticism.

Astréa Issler Ribeiro is a psychoanalyst in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Private practice and outdoor sessions with people on the streets. Works at a public psychiatric day hospital and coordinates therapeutic groups. Also an artist and philosopher.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Turning On and Off the Light of Spirit (schizophrenia and psychotic states); Constructing an “I” as a Source of Joy.

Sanford Rosenberg, PhD, clinician, executive coach, educator, and media/story consultant. Teaching phenomenology and existential psychoanalysis for 40+ years. Founder/President of Media Research Associates.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Embodied Imagination: The Phenomenology of Presence and Existential Analysis.

Rinat Tal, MD, psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Los Angeles. Focuses on minimizing medication management, working with extreme states, and transformative client-practitioner relationships.

Michael Guy Thompson, PhD, trained at Philadelphia Association with R. D. Laing. Personal and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California. Author of numerous books and articles. Founder/director of New School for Existential Psychoanalysis and Free Association, Inc. Lives in Berkeley, CA. www.mguythompson.com

AREAS OF INTEREST

R. D. Laing; Sigmund Freud; Heidegger; Nietzsche; Plato; Aristotle; Pyrrho; Authenticity; Happiness; Scepticism; Love; Truth; Desire; Anti-psychiatry; Psychosis; Schizophrenia.

Michael R. Montgomery, PhD, LCSW, existential psychoanalyst specializing in complex trauma, extreme states, addiction, and conflict resolution. Founder of Peacefire.us. Contributor to SEA, R.D. Laing Symposium, and ISPS-US Annual Conference.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Extreme states (psychosis), British object relations, contemporary R.D. Laing applications, existential literature, Heidegger, Camus, Sartre, anti-bad-psychiatry, integration of Eastern and Western approaches.

David MacBryde, LMFT, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, supervisor, and trainer. Private practice in Palo Alto and Santa Cruz, CA. Graduated from CIIS and New School for Existential Psychoanalysis. Over 30 years working with psychosis, suicidality, addiction, and personality disorders. Member of ISPS-US and other professional organizations.

AREAS OF INTEREST

Intersubjective clinical dynamics with schizoid, paranoid, and narcissistic personality styles; interface of human subjectivity and computers; couples therapy; men’s work; psychoanalytic supervision.

Eleonora MacBryde, LMFT, is an existential psychoanalyst based in London, UK. She offers psychoanalysis in English, Italian, and French, as a significant number of her patients are, like her, polyglots. With this experience, both clinical and personal, Eleonora has developed an interest in researching the inventiveness and enhanced ability of the polyglot patient to free associate through multilingualism. Eleonora’s office is located at the Philadelphia Association, founded by R.D. Laing – although some of her sessions are regularly conducted outdoors, in nature.