Stress and trauma related to the contemporary global sociopolitical climate has been increasingly felt within the psychotherapeutic context. Psychoanalytic perspectives provide an important lens into the dynamics of sociopolitical stress manifested in psychic pain and relational ruptures. For racial minorities, sociopolitical stress is often rooted in historical and present-day social oppression. Dr. Tummala-Narra will expand on how culturally informed, decolonial psychoanalytic theory approaches the interactions between intergenerational sociocultural traumas, family dynamics, and personality, with an emphasis on the complex subjectivity of minoritized individuals and communities. The presentation aims to explore therapeutic processes that carry the potential for facilitating insight and hope, as well as the potential for isolation and despair, particularly for racial minority patients in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this presentation participants will be able to:

1. Identify how culturally informed, decolonial psychoanalytic theory facilitates an understanding of sociopolitical stress faced by patients and therapists.
2. Describe the impacts of intergenerational sociocultural traumas on identity and a sense of belonging.
3. Explain how historical and ongoing social oppression shapes broader societal dynamics, interpersonal relationships, and complex subjectivity.
4. Identify dilemmas concerning sociocultural and sociopolitical similarities and differences within the therapeutic dyad.

Usha (Pratyusha) Tummala-Narra, PhD

Usha Tummala-Narra, PhD is a Professor of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology at Boston College. Her research and scholarship focus on the psychology of immigration and trauma, and culturally informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is also a clinical psychologist in Independent Practice. Dr. Tummala-Narra is a Consulting Editor for Psychoanalytic Dialogues and for the American Psychologist. She has served as a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association Holmes Commission on Racial Equality, and in several leadership roles in the American Psychological Association (APA), including the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration, the APA Task Force on Re-envisioning the Multicultural Guidelines, and the APA Presidential Task Force on Trauma and Grief. She is the author of Psychoanalytic Theory and Cultural Competence in Psychotherapy (2016), the editor of Trauma and Racial Minority Immigrants: Turmoil, Uncertainty, and Resistance (2021), and co-author of Applying Multiculturalism: An Ecological Approach to the Multicultural Guidelines (2023), all published by the American Psychological Association. Usha (Pratyusha) Tummala-Narra, PhD, is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being listed among the top 2% of Highly-Cited Scholars Worldwide (Stanford University Report).

Nahaleh Moshtagh, PhD

Nahaleh Moshtagh, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. She is the graduate of Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and Iran University of Medical Sciences. She serves as teaching faculty and supervisor at the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis.

Nahaleh Moshtagh, PhD, is the recipient of the 2022 Edith Sabshin Teaching Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is the Director of the HamAva Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Tehran, Iran, and serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Her publications appear in journals including the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Psychoanalytic Review, Modern Psychoanalysis, International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, American Imago, and Clio’s Psyche. Her book, Becoming a Listening Mind is forthcoming with Karnac Publishing.