EARLY WOMEN PSYCHOANALYSTS
14-week doctoral-level course
with Dr. Klara Naszkowska & Dr. Mark Beitel
Step into the untold history of extraordinary women who helped shape the foundations of psychoanalysis. Drawing from her anthology Early Women Psychoanalysts: History, Biography, and Contemporary Relevance, Klara Naszkowska will first resurrect biographies of remarkable pioneers who worked across Europe before World War II, revealing how their groundbreaking contributions to the nascent field of psychoanalysis were systematically erased from the historical record. She will weave together intimate biographical portraits with the turbulent socio-political landscape of early 20th-century Europe. Each biography will unfold against the backdrop of women's expanding educational opportunities, rising autocracies, forced migrations, and the complex dynamics of Jewish identity in a changing world. You'll discover how these trailblazing women navigated the intersections of gender, religion, politics, and professional ambition during one of history's most transformative periods.
In the second part of each meeting, Mark Beitel will lead an in-depth reading group exploration of these women’s contributions to psychoanalysis through exploration of their published theoretical and clinical work. In this way, we will get to know these women more deeply, to learn what was on their minds and what was important to them, as well as to further appreciate their remarkable contributions to the development of psychoanalysis. While their contributions are wide-ranging, we will focus on child analysis, play therapy, linguistics, theories of femininity, female sexuality, motherhood, mother-infant relationships, Holocaust studies, technique, and training.
Meeting times
Fourteen consecutive Wednesdays, January 21 through May 6, 2026 (No class on March 11 and April 1)
Each class runs for 90 minutes
Group A: 11:30am–1:00pm ET
Group B: 7:00–8:30pm ET
Location: Online course via Zoom
Course fee
$1,400 / €1,200 / £1,060 for licensed therapists
$1,200 / €1,040 / £910 for pre-licensed therapists and training candidates
$700 / €600 / £530 for students
Early-bird registration
Register and pay the course fee by December 15, 2025, to receive one class for free!
Registration
To register, please email spielrein@spielreinassociation.org
Registration closes on January 15, 2026.
Course fee is fully refundable until 15 days before the first class, after which time no refunds will be issued.
Primary text
Naszkowska, K. (Ed.) (2024). Early Women Psychoanalysts. History, Biography, and Contemporary Relevance, Routledge.
Please use code 25AFLY3 at checkout for 20% discount at: https://www.routledge.com/Early-Women-Psychoanalysts-History-Biography-and-Contemporary-Relevance/Naszkowska/p/book/9781032595351
All other materials will be provided.
Instructor credentials
Klara Naszkowska, PhD (she/her) is a cultural historian of women, research scholar, writer, and professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Montclair State University. Her work resurrects and critically examines the neglected history women pioneers of psychoanalysis, feminine sexuality, emigration, and memory. It has been recognized with the Fulbright Fellowship, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library Grant, and the Leo Baeck Institute’s Gerald Westheimer Career Development Fellowship. Klara serves as the Founding Director of the International Association for Spielrein Studies and the Civic Engagement and Voting Rights Teacher Scholar sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Mark Beitel, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. He serves as Research Scientist in the Child Study Center, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, and Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University. He has authored or coauthored over 75 scientific research publications on psychological assessment and psychotherapy; teaches and supervises across undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels; and is a faculty member at the New York University Postdoctoral Program for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, where he teaches the early history of psychoanalysis.
Please don’t hesitate to contact the instructor if you have any questions: spielrein@spielreinassociation.org
Please circulate the above flyer to anyone you feel may be interested in this course.