Dr. Mary Shepherd, Psya.D., M.A., Cert.Psya.
Contact Information
Personal Statement
In the late 1970s I attended a seminar on narcissism taught by Modern Psychoanalysts who had come to Boston from New York, filled with infectious enthusiasm for an advanced theory and technique which they had found to be far more efficacious than traditional psychoanalysis, particularly when working with severe problems. I was hooked. I began training with them and soon was able to see the effect of the new techniques in my private practice.
My interest in efficacy, what works and why, has continued to this day and has led me to study neuroscience. The explosion of discoveries about brain functioning which began in the ’80s has both corroborated and amplified much of modern psychoanalytic theory. Consequently, when the opportunity arose to study neuroscience and integrate it with psychoanalysis and social science in our Institute for the Study of Violence, I decided to take it.
Program Affiliation
Programs in Psychoanalysis and Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Research
Current areas of interest inlude evolutionary theory and psychoanalysis, neuroscience and psychoanalysis, and psychoanalysis and the creative process. Dr. Shepherd is the winner of the Gradiva Award for the best article in psychoanalysis, 2012.
Publications
Shepherd, M. (2001). Anaclitic considerations in severe negative states. Modern Psychoanalysis, 26:1, pp.77-83.
Shepherd, M. (2004). Single-Case study methodology and the contact function. Modern Psychoanalysis, 29:2, pp.163-170.
Shepherd, M. (2005). Toward a psychobiology of desire, drive theory in the time of neuroscience. Modern Psychoanalysis. 30:1, pp. 43-59.
Shepherd, M. (2008) The silent revolution in psychoanalysis: Hyman Spotnitz and the reversibility of schizophrenia. Modern Psychoanalysis. 33:2, pp.3-22.
Shepherd, M. (2009). Essay: Why Psychoanalysis? The process from drive to mind. The Contact, BGSP publication.
Shepherd, M. (2009). The perilous umm: a note on the contact function and a countertransference resistance. Modern Psychoanalysis. 34:2, pp.84-96.
Shepherd, M. (2012). Speaking the never spoken: the challenge of id analysis, Modern Psychoanalysis, 37:1, pp. 3-47.
Shepherd, M. (2012). Is change possible? Modern Psychoanalysis, 37:2, pp.1-10.
Shepherd, M. (2014). Revisiting the repetition compulsion: danger and survival in early mental functioning. Modern Psychoanalysis, 38:1, pp. 2-15.
Awards & Honors
Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
Awards: Gradiva Award, 2013, Best Psychoanalytic Article