Love in the Plural: A Psychoanalytic Dialogue on Polyamory

Love in the Plural: A Psychoanalytic Dialogue on Polyamory
Confirmed
Sponsored by NAPsaC and the International Psychoanalytical Association’s Committee on Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (COFAP)

March 21, 2026
11:30am - 3:00pm EST, 3.30pm - 7:00pm GMT, via Zoom

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Join us for a psychoanalytic dialogue on polyamory. Along with other forms of consensual non-monogamy, polyamory is increasingly likely to be encountered in our work with individuals, couples, and families. This meeting will include framing thoughts, clinical presentations, and ample opportunities for questions and discussion.

There have always been individuals and couples in unconventional partnerships with divergent attitudes toward emotional and sexual fidelity. Queer theory has challenged the naturalness and fixity of gender and sexuality categories for more than 30 years, and by extension, the idea of monogamy. “The representation of [the couple] as a ‘we’ provides partners with a sense of stability and identity and serves to deny the transience of emotionality,” Vorchheimer observes, adding that monogamy may not always deliver on these illusory promises. Join us for an exploration of alternative pathways for meeting emotional and sexual needs, and the dilemmas that may be encountered along the way.

PRESENTERS

Magdalena J. Fosse, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, couple counselor, sexologist, and AASECT-certified sex therapist who works with individuals and couples in all types of relational constellations, from monogamous to polyamorous. An author, educator, and consultant, her expertise is in polyamory and consensual non-monogamy, with published work, speaking engagements, and consultation services that reflect this interest. She is the current president of the Psychodynamic Couple and Family Institute of New England, where she teaches on sexuality and couple therapy.

Edie Hitchcock, PhD, is a psychotherapist in private practice and an advanced candidate at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute (CPI). She is an instructor at the Institute of Clinical Social Work, teaches in CPI’s Exploring Psychoanalysis program, and serves as an Associate Editor of JAPA. She writes in both philosophy and psychoanalysis. In 2024, she was awarded the Lee Jaffe Candidate Paper Prize for The Excessive Polycule, and has presented this work in many different psychoanalytic classes and institutes.

Shelley Nathans, PhD, is on the faculties of The Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Group, The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, and The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. She directed and produced a film on Robert Wallerstein, serves on the board of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, and has published many articles and book chapters, as well as co-edited and edited two books about psychoanalytic couples therapy. Dr. Nathans is in private practice in Oakland, California.

Mónica Vorchheimer, Training and Supervising Analyst, APdeBA, teaches and lectures in Buenos Aires and internationally. She has published widely and co-edited a book. She served as the Co-Chair of the IPA’s Committee on Couple and Family Psychoanalysis (COFAP) and New Groups Committee (ING), is currently on the IPA Board and Executive Committee representing Latin America. She maintains a private practice, working in various languages, both in person and online.

PROGRAM ORGANIZERS
Nancy Carroll-Freeman, Gloria Demby, Sue Kolod, and Maria Nardone.


Download event flyer here.


 
When
21/03/2026
Where
ONLINE, VIA ZOOM