Professional Background
I am a highly trained clinician with a doctorate in Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh as well as a Ph.D. in Psychoanalysis from the New Center for Psychoanalysis. Recipient of the 2003 Menninger Award of the American Psychoanalytic Association, I am senior faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Newport Psychoanalytic Institute. I have likewise served as President of the San Fernando Valley Psychological Association (currently part of the Los Angeles Psychological Association). I am also a published author with a book and several articles in major psychoanalytic journals.
Select Publications
S.Akhtar and S.Siassi (Eds.) 2017. Regret, developmental, cultural, and clinical realms. Karnac Books, London, UK.
Siassi, S. (2015). Kindness, Altruism and Forgiveness: Three Facets of Human Relatedness. In: Salman Akhtar, editor. Human Goodness: Origins, Manifestations, and Clinical Implications. PP 83-99. Karnac Books. London. UK.
Siassi, S. (2013). Forgiveness in intimate relationships, a psychoanalytic perspective. Karnac, London.
Siassi, S. (2009). “On leaps of faith: Is forgiveness a useful concept?” Letter to the Editors. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 90 (3): 642-645.
Siassi, S. (2008). “Hope in a time of cholera: Psychoanalytic Reflections.” Panel Report The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 89 (5): 1041-1044.
Siassi, S. and Siassi G. (2008). “Islam, sexuality and women.” In: Salman Akhtar, editor. The Crescent and the Couch, P.141-160. Jason Aronson, New York.
Siassi, S. (2007). Forgiveness, Acceptance and the Matter of expectation. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 88 (6): 1423-40.
Siassi, S (2006). “Identity, destiny and terrorism The effect of social terror on identity and development.” Panel Report. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 87 (6): 1709-1711.
Siassi, S. (2004). Transcending bitterness and early paternal loss through mourning and forgiveness. Psychoanalytic Quarterly LXXIII: 915-937.
Siassi, S. (2000). Book Review, Teen Age Pregnancy: The Interaction of Psyche and Culture by Anne Dean, Journal of Applied Psychoanalysis 2(1):87-90.
Siassi, S. (2000). “Male Patient/Female Analyst: Elucidation of a Controversy” Journal of Clinical Psychoanalysis, 9 (1):93-112.
Select Recent Presentations
“Regret: the affect of missed intimacies and unrealized dreams”. 50th Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association, Buenos Aires, Argentina. July 25-29, 2017.
“Kindness, altruism and forgiveness: Three healthy aspects of human relatedness”. 45th Annual Margaret Mahler’s Symposium on Child Development, On Human Goodness”. Thomas Jefferson University. Philadelphia. April 26, 2014.
“True forgiveness belongs to psychoanalysis”. Program of the 48th IPA Congress in Prague. August 2013.
Panel presenter: “Beyond Right and Wrong: An Exploration of Justice and Forgiveness” featuring Roger Spottiswoode, film director for the Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) at UCLA School of Nursing, Nov 17, 2012.
Panel presenter: “Analyzing Children of Immigrants.” Chair Stanley Coen. 101st Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Chicago. June 16, 2012.
Forgiveness, entitlement and recovery from trauma in clinical situation”. 101st Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Chicago. June 15, 2012.
Panel reporter: “Hope in a time of Cholera. Psychoanalytic Reflections”, held at the 45th Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association, Berlin, Germany, July 27, 2007.
Case presenter, Workshop on Process and Technique, chaired by Stefano Bolognini. The 97th Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, New York. January 2007.
Panel reporter: “Identity, Destiny and Terrorism. The effect of social terror on identity and development”, held at 44th Congress of the International Psychoanalytic association, Rio de Janeiro. July 2005.
Other Books and Chapters
S.Akhtar and S.Siassi (Eds.) 2017. Regret, developmental, cultural, and clinical realms. Karnac, London.