Susan Kavaler-Adler

Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, D.Litt, NCPsyA is a practicing clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst for over 40 years and supervisor of psychotherapists practicing psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and group therapy, as well as a consultant for those involved in the wish to write for personal healing or for writing projects, related to her experience running writing groups in her practice for over 30 years. For more information on Dr. Kavaler-Adler’s private practice and her unique approach to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, please visit the Private Practice page. Dr Kavaler-Adler is also the Co-Founder, Executive Director, and Senior Faculty & Training Supervisor of the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.

Dr. Kavaler-Adler has an honorary doctorate in literature, as well as a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and has a Diplomate status (ABPP) as a psychoanalyst from the American Psychological Association and the Division of Psychoanalysis. She also has had training as a dance therapist.

Dr. Kavaler-Adler is a prolific author. She has written 6 books and 70 articles on issues of psychological interest that relate to clinical practice, healing, and particularly to issues of mourning and creativity for healing and psychic health. In her books and articles, she has written about such difficult and fundamental to psychological growth issues as fear of success, envy, resolving blocks to creativity, creative compulsion or blocks versus free motivation, and mourning and the opening of erotic desire and spirituality, along with the opening of the creative self. She has written also about fathers and daughters, and about finding one’s voice in the world and in creative work, as well as on the capacity to surrender in life and in Argentine tango. Dr. Kavaler-Adler is acknowledged for her extensive work on defining a demon lover theme and complex that affects many women’s lives, and has an article on the modern film version of “Phantom of the Opera.” Her acclaimed articles include Mourning and Erotic Transference (International Journal of Psychoanalysis,1992), and Opening Up Blocked Mourning in the Preoedipal Character (American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1995). Dr. Kavaler-Adler has helped many in her practice to convert anxiety and depression into creative self expression in love and work. Her five well-known psychoanalytic published books are The Compulsion to Create: Women Writers and Their Demon Lovers (Routledge, 1993; Other Press, 2000; ORI Academic Press, 2013); The Creative Mystique: From Red Shoes Frenzy to Love and Creativity (Routledge, 1996; ORI Academic Press, 2014); Mourning, Spirituality and Psychic Change (Routledge, 2003, National Gradiva® Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, 2004); Anatomy of Regret: From Death Instinct to Reparation and Symbolization through Vivid Clinical Cases (Karnac, 2013); and The Klein-Winnicott Dialectic: Transformative New Metapsychology and Interactive Clinical Theory (Karnac, 2014). The most recent book, the 1st Volume of Sr. Kavaler-Adler’s Collected Papers, titled Developmental Mourning, Erotic Transference, and Object Relations Psychoanalysis, was published in 2023 by IPBooks. She has won 16 other awards for her writing in the field of psychology and psychotherapy. Dr. Kavaler-Adler’s first trade book, Saturday Nights at Lafayette Grill: True Tales & Gossips of NY City Argentine Tango Scene (MindMend Publishing, 2017), brings the reader into the center of New-York City Argentine tango craze and passion.

For more information, visit www.kavaleradler.com.

Interview with Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler: Making of a Psychoanalyst

Courses and Seminars taught by Dr. Kavaler-Adler at ORI:

10/8/26 – 12/17/26 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm EDT/EST): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)
10/​8/2​6 – 12/1​7/2​6 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm EDT/EST): Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt) 14.5 CEs for APA, NYS Psychologists, NYS Social Workers

4/9/26 – 6/11/26 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm EDT): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

2-22-26 (12-4pm EST): The Power of First Love – A Didactic–Experiential Workshop with Guided Meditative Visualization (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt). 7.5 CE hours for APA, NYS Psychologists, NYS Social Workers.
1/15/26 – 3/19/26 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm EST): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/15/26 – 3/19/26 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm EST): Self-Integration Through Mourning Vs. Melancholic Psychic and Somatic Retreats: Object Relations Perspectives (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/9/25 – 12/18/25 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm EDT/EST): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/9/25 – 12/18/25 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm EDT/EST): Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt) 12.5 CEs

7/13/25 (Sunday, 1-4pm EDT): Summer 2025 Open House. An Object Relations View on Self-Sabotage: Interactive Lecture, Role Play, and Meditative Visualization (with Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler). Free event; RSVP is required.

4/3/25 – 6/12/25 (Thursdays, 7:15pm 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/9/25 – 3/13/25 (Thursdays, 7:15pm 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/9/25 – 3/13/25 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm EST): Clinical Studies on Narcissistic, Schizoid, and Borderline Mechanisms and Conditions (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, D.Litt., NCPsyA) 12.5 CEs

10/10/24 – 12/19/24 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm): Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/10/24 – 12/19/24 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

5/19/24 (Sunday, 10am – 4pm EDT): Psychodynamics of Father-Daughter Disillusionment: Object Relations Levels (Interactive Lecture and Meditative Visualization Workshop with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, D.Litt., NCPsyA)

04/04/24 – 06/13/24 (Thursdays, 7:15pm 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

01/18/24 – 03/21/24 (Thursdays, 8:40pm 9:55pm): Developmental Journey to Selfhood: Object Relations Process and the Emerging Self in Work of James Masterson and Susan Kavaler-Adler (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

01/18/24 – 03/21/24 (Thursdays, 7:15pm 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/12/23 – 12/21/23 (Thursdays, 8:40pm 9:55pm): Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/12/23 – 12/21/23 (Thursdays, 7:15pm 8:30pm): “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Course (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/01/23 (10AM to 4:30 PM EDT/NYC) – Fear of Success (Interactive Lecture and Workshop with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD., ABPP, D.Litt., NCPsyA)

7/23/23 (10AM to 4 PM EDT/NYC) – The Dynamics of Scapegoating and the Scapegoat Complex (Interactive Lecture and Workshop with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD., ABPP, D.Litt., NCPsyA)

4/13/23 – 6/15/23 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

3/11/23 (1pm – 4pm) – Virtual Conference / Book Celebration of the Selected Papers by Susan Kavaler-Adler, Volume 1: Developmental Mourning, Erotic  Transference, and Object Relations Psychoanalysis

1/12/23 – 3/16/23 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/8/23 (1:00pm – 3:30pm) – Object Relation Institute’s Winter 2023 Open House – Topic: Developmental Trauma, Psychic Structure, and Clinical Engagement with Those with Primal Vulnerabilities (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/6/22 – 12/15/22 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/13/22 – 12/22/22 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm) – Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

7/10/22 (Sunday, 1:00pm — 3:30pm) – Object Relation Institute’s Summer 2022 Open House: Working with Personality Disorders in Psychoanalytic Supervision: The Object Relations View with Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler, ORI’s Co-founder and Executive Director

4/7/22 – 6/16/22 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/13/22-3/17/22 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/13/22 – 3/17/22 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm) – The Internal World, Psychic Fantasy, and the Evolution of the Psychic Self (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/14/21 – 12/23/21 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/14/21 – 12/23/21 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm) – Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

7/17/21 (Saturday, 10am – 4:30pm) – Envy: From Hunger to Destruction of the Good, Inhibitor of Love and Creative Self-Expression (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

5/16/21– Open House, with interactive lecture on Working with Personality Disorders in Psychoanalytic Supervision: The Object Relations View (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt). No fee; RSVP is required. REGISTRATION FORM

4/01/21-6/10/21 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

3/20/21 (Saturday, 10am – 4:30pm) – Annual Conference: Closet Narcissism in Cinema and Clinical Practice: Object Relations and Jungian Perspectives. 7 CEs Presenter: Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP; Discussant: Kenneth Porter, M.D.; Moderator: Eva Papiasvili, PhD, ABPP. Conference will be offered virtually.

1/14/21-3/18/21 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm) – American Object Relations School of Psychoanalysis (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

1/14/21-3/18/21 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/8/20 – 12/17/20 (Thursdays, 7:15pm – 8:30pm) – “Analyst as Instrument” Group Supervision Class (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)

10/8/20 – 12/17/20 (Thursdays, 8:40pm – 9:55pm) – Introduction to the Object Relations Clinical Theory and Its Clinical Experiential Applications (with Susan Kavaler-Adler, PhD, ABPP, NCPsyA, DLitt)