Live Seminar Series

Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D. Seminar Series

Intrapsychic Humanism Core Concepts and Clinical Applications

Our Live continuing education programming, which is complimentary with an Intrapsychic Humanism Society annual membership, currently focuses on a series of in-depth seminars in which we will explore, over time: (1) unique insights into the unfolding development of internalized core personal meaning – in being loved, loveable, and causing the caregiver’s love – through informed caregiving relationships through the first few formative years of life, (2) the underlying causes of psychopathology, and (3) a psychotherapy approach to treating not only symptoms of psychological distress, including relationship and behavioral problems, but also underlying instability, deficits, and malformation of core self-worth.

Each seminar series covers a separate chapter of the seminal book, Intrapsychic Humanism, An Introduction to a Comprehensive Philosophy and Psychology of Mind (Pieper & Pieper, 1990). Past seminar series have covered the Introduction and the first two chapters on the development of personal meaning during the first and second years of life. All previous Live seminar series are available as On Demand Seminars. We recommend beginning with the first seminar series and moving through the seminar series sequentially. Each series consists of multiple (4-8) one-hour seminars featuring presentations by experienced clinicians bringing to life the core concepts of Intrapsychic Humanism with examples to illustrate how the concepts can be applied where relevant to childrearing, parent counseling, child play therapy, and adult psychotherapy to help children and adults acquire lasting self-worth.

24/25 Live Seminar Series

Chapter 3 – Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage

The Primary Need for Personal Meaning: Developing Self-Worth Through the Caregiving Relationship During the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage

with Applications to Childrearing and Clinical Practice

Carla Beatrici, Psy.D., Marian Sharkey, Ph.D., Patricia Walker, Ph.D. and Q&A with Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D.

2024/25 Virtual Seminars
Wednesdays 10:30 – 11:30 am
October 2, November 6, December 4, March 5, April 2, May 7

6 CEs for Psychologists, Social Workers, and Professional Counselors

The Live Seminar is Now Over.
You Can Now Register for an On Demand Version (Excluding the Live Seminar Discussions)
The next Live Seminar for the 25/26 Membership Year will begin in October.

Seminar Series Description

Over the course of six seminars, we explore the groundbreaking developmental theory by Martha Heineman Pieper and William J. Pieper of how informed caregiving relationships can foster the development of internalized personal meaning and unconditional self-worth in early child development during the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage starting at 12-14 months of life. We describe unique insights into the developmental process by which the young child gradually comes to recognize the superiority of the pleasure they feel in having their parents focused loving attention. We explain the child’s frequently misunderstood “Intrapsychic no” response to their parents’ pursuit of personal motives and how it is truly a reflective “yes” seeking deeper closeness. We discuss the crowning intrapsychic achievement of a child coming to know their parents’ ongoing unconditional commitment to love and care for them that forms the bedrock of their enduring experience of intrapsychic self-worth. We will describe parental responses that facilitate this important development, and how a lack of understanding of the intrapsychic needs during this phase, combined with uninformed responses, can thwart this developmental process. The seminar series explores how these developmental concepts can be applied in childrearing, parent counseling, child play therapy, and adult psychotherapy to help children and adults acquire inner well-being and self-worth.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the seminar series, participants will be able to:

Describe how eidetic internalization helps the child maintain intrapsychic well-being as they expand their exploration of the physical world.
Describe how the child’s preference for their parents’ focused attention makes them vulnerable to the intrapsychic loss called transference caregetting anxiety.
Describe how parents can help their children mourn the loss of transference caregetting anxiety in ways that facilitate their development of personal meaning and self-worth.
Describe how the “intrapsychic no” is a significant developmental achievement.
Describe how misunderstandings of the child’s “intrapsychic no” response (e.g. that the child is being obstinate or disagreeable) thwarts the child’s development of personal meaning and self-worth.
Describe the developmental achievement that occurs by the end of the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self stage.

The purpose of the seminar is to help participants develop a deeper understanding of the concepts in Intrapsychic Humanism through reading the original theory enhanced through presentations by seminar leaders and discussion among participants. We want to encourage participants to raise questions about concepts or aspects of the theory covered during each seminar that they find challenging and would like further clarified. We will be leaving ten minutes at the end of each seminar for questions and discussion focused on the assigned reading. Please be sure to read the 4-7 pages each month in advance of the seminar and come prepared to discuss those concepts.

Reference for the Seminar Series
Pieper, M.H., & Pieper, W.J. (1990). Intrapsychic Humanism: An Introduction to a Comprehensive Psychology and Philosophy of Mind. Chicago: Falcon II Press. Chapter 3, pp. 69-99; Kindle pp. 79-109.

Webinar 1: Recap of the Pre-Eidetic Stage and Introduction to the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage
In this seminar, we will first provide a review of the developmental milestones that occur during the baby’s first year of life, the Pre-Eidetic Stage, which we covered in last year’s seminar series. We will then present an introduction to the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage, which occurs from approximately 12-18 months, and consider how the toddler’s need for the personal meaning of self-worth develops throughout this stage through the caregiving relationship. At the beginning of this stage, the toddler’s newfound internalized capacity to call upon memories of their caregivers (eidetic internalization) allows them to explore their physical world while maintaining the experience of intrapsychic well-being (that comes from feeling they are causing their parents to love and care for them) even when their caregivers are not in sight or providing focused attention. The relevance of these concepts to childrearing and to clinical practice will be discussed.
Reading Reference: page 69-72; Kindle pages 79-82

Webinar 2: The Undifferentiated Phase: Phase One of the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage
In this seminar, we will discuss the first phase of the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage, the Undifferentiated Phase, and the concept of intrapsychic transference. Entering this new stage, we will consider how the baby’s newfound internalized capacity to call upon memories of their caregivers (eidetic internalization) allows them to explore their physical world while maintaining the experience of intrapsychic well-being that comes from feeling they are causing their parents to love and care for them even when they are not in sight or providing focused attention, thus facilitating intrapsychic development. We will discuss how, even though the baby has a new internal source of well-being, it is unstable and incomplete, leaving the baby vulnerable to losses caused by the caregiver’s absences, which also makes the baby more aware of their growing preference for focused caregetting pleasure. We will discuss implications for childrearing, and applications for parent counseling and psychotherapy.
Reading Reference: page 72-77; Kindle pages 82-88

Webinar 3: Transference Caregetting Anxiety: The Developmental Advancement of Loss and Mourning within the Caregiving Relationship
In this seminar, we will discuss how, as development progresses, the child comes to recognize the superiority of the pleasure of having focused attention from their caregivers, rather than having the parent present, or relying on their memories of the parent to feel they are causing their caregivers to care for them. This preference for their parents’ focused attention then makes the child vulnerable to the intrapsychic loss called transference caregetting anxiety, which occurs when the parent is unavailable due to their personal motives. We will discuss how parents can accurately mourn this loss to facilitate the child’s intrapsychic development, and contrast this with inaccurate responses that thwart intrapsychic development. We will consider applications for childrearing, parent counseling and psychotherapy. Reading Reference: page 77-84; Kindle pages 88-94

Webinar 4: The Differentiated Phase and the Intrapsychic No: A “Yes” to the Pleasure of Caregiving Mutuality
In this seminar, we will discuss the Differentiated Phase of the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage in which the child ultimately comes to know that their parents have an unconditional motive to love and care for them, even when they are not able to respond to them at the moment. The child’s recognition of the superiority of their parents’ focused care, and the certainty that their parents have an unconditional motive to love and care for them, leads to a new intrapsychic loss called nontransference caregetting anxiety where the child signals that they will not accept “no” from the parent when they are seeking focused care. Termed the intrapsychic no, this “no” is a developmental achievement and represents the child’s response to the loss of pleasure they experience when their parents are not paying attention to them, as well as their continued efforts to seek the loving attention they genuinely need. We will discuss how parents can respond accurately to the child’s motive for greater caregetting intimacy during this phase, as well as how uniformed responses can thwart the child’s intrapsychic development. We will consider applications for childrearing, parent counseling and psychotherapy.Reading Reference: page 84-93; Kindle pages 94-102

Webinar 5: Intrapsychic Self-Caretaking
In this seminar, we will review the undifferentiated and differentiated phases. We will then consider how the child’s ability to know with certainty their parents’ caregiving intentions, even when they are unable to respond to them, provides them with a stable sense of inner well-being and self-worth and becomes the core structure of their mind. The stable well-being developed during this stage is called the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self and represents the first time in development the child has a genuine nontransference intrapsychic self. We will consider how possessing this regulatory intrapsychic mind provides the child with a continuous and loss-free inner well-being and represents the single most significant milestone in the child’s psychological development. We will contrast the nontransference versus the transference mind as it relates to healthy development and psychopathology. (Concepts to be considered in this seminar are the Developmental Split, and Veridical Intrapsychic Self-Caretaking.) Applications for childrearing, parent counseling and psychotherapy.Reading Reference: page 93-99; Kindle pages 102-109

Webinar 6: Q & A With Dr. Heineman Pieper
In this seminar, Dr. Martha Heineman Pieper, co-author of the theory of Intrapsychic Humanism, will answer participants’ questions, submitted in advance, about the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self stage of child development.

Seminar Leaders

Carla Beatrici, Psy.D.

Vice President for the Collaborative Partnership with Smart Love Family Services
Dr. Carla Beatrici is a Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience providing psychotherapy to individuals of all ages and with a specialization in child and adolescent mental health. Dr. Beatrici is the Co-Executive Director and Clinical Director of a not-for- profit organization Smart Love Family Services located in Oak Park and Chicago. The clinic provides a range of services including counseling for all ages, testing services, and parent education seminars. Dr. Beatrici runs the counseling program where she provides clinical training and supervision to ensure the provision of high quality mental health care. She has also developed and implemented Smart Love and Inner Humanism® staff training programs for healthcare professionals in many settings, including Easter Seals, Early Head Start, the American Medical Association, and Children’s Memorial Hospital. These trainings focus on helping caregivers create positive caring relationships with children as a way to build stable inner self-esteem. Dr. Beatrici is an adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola Medical Center where she teaches Developmental Theories to psychiatry residents.

Marian Sharkey, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Marian Sharkey is a psychotherapist in private practice with over 25 years of clinical experience working with individuals of all ages in a variety of inpatient and outpatient community mental health and psychiatric hospital settings. She is the Director of Training at Smart Love Family Services where she provides clinical training and supervision. Dr. Sharkey received her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago where she was the founding editor-in-chief of the school’s journal, Praxis: Where Reflection & Practice Meet. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the School of Social Work at Loyola University and serves on the Board of the Intrapsychic Humanism Society. Dr. Sharkey has presented at local and national conferences on the topics of the reflective use of theory in clinical practice and the theoretical principles and practice of Inner Humanism®.

Patricia Walker, Ph.D.

Dr. Walker is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice who provides Inner Humanism® psychotherapy to adults experiencing a wide array of difficulties in their personal and professional lives, couples counseling, parent counseling, and psychotherapy consultation to mental health professionals. Dr. Walker received her B.Sc. in psychology from McGill University and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Walker is on Faculty at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where she teaches clinical ethics to psychology doctoral interns and serves on the selection and training committee of the clinical psychology doctoral internship. She is President of the Board of the Intrapsychic Humanism Society and Professional Development Committee Chair. She is a past Chair of the Women’s Issues Section of the Illinois Psychological Association where she led programs and policies promoting the professional interests of women psychologists and the psychological happiness of women using psychological services and in the broader community. Dr. Walker has given talks to mental health professionals applying Inner Humanism in a therapeutic relationship process approach to psychotherapy ethics and risk management, in advanced psychotherapy skills to promote change through the therapeutic relationship, in helping women through the therapeutic relationship develop stable self-esteem and minds of their own, as well as the development of personal meaning in child development based on the theory of Intrapsychic Humanism. She has given talks to public audiences on overcoming gender bias and work-life balance.

Q&A with Dr. Martha Heineman Pieper

Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D.

Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D. is an author and psychotherapist who works with children and parents and serves as a consultant to agencies and other mental health professionals. She graduated from Radcliffe College and received her Ph.D. in clinical social work from the University of Chicago. She is a founding Board member of Smart Love Family Services, for which she provides ongoing consultation and insight to the clinical and early childhood education staff. She also serves on the Board of the Intrapsychic Humanism Society. Both of these non-profit agencies are based on Intrapsychic Humanism, the comprehensive psychology of child development, psychopathology and treatment developed by Dr. Pieper and her late husband, William J. Pieper, MD. in Intrapsychic Humanism: An Introduction to a Comprehensive Psychology and Philosophy of Mind (Falcon II Press, 1990), the best-selling parenting book, Smart Love: The Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Regulating, and Enjoying Your Child (Smart Love Press, LLC, 2011), and the popular adult self-help book, Addicted to Unhappiness: How Hidden Motives for Unhappiness Keep You From Creating the Life You Truly Want, And What You Can Do (2nd Edition, Smart Love Press, LLC, 2019). Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D. also authored two best-selling, award winning children’s books, Mommy, Daddy, I Had a Bad Dream! (Smart Love Press, LLC, 2012) and Jilly’s Terrible Temper Tantrums: And How She Outgrew Them (Smart Love Press, LLC, 2017), as well as The Happiest Preschool: A Manual for Teachers with Kelly Perez (Smart Love Press, LLC, 2024). She has written and presented on Inner Humanism® psychotherapy, and also on applications of the theory of Intrapsychic Humanism to teaching, parenting, foster care, the question of free will, and children’s dreams and fantasy life, among other topics. Many of her presentations and articles are available as On Demand webinars for continuing education credit here.