Dr. Margy Sperry
Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
About
About My Professional Journey
I’m one of those who always want to know what’s around the next corner or over the next hill. My curiosity draws me towards experiences that expand the horizons of my understanding and expertise, fueling my interest in other cultures and my passion for outdoor adventures. Curiosity also keeps my “knowing” in check and prompts me to think about things from someone else’s point of view.
My curiosity prompted me to pursue a career in psychology. I originally trained as a Marriage and Family Therapist because one of the best sources of meaning is our relationships with others. This early training enabled me to understand relationships more deeply, and it still informs my work with couples.
But fairly quickly, I discovered that, despite our best intentions, our earliest (and often most painful) experiences seem inevitably to be evoked and enacted in our most significant relationships. I became curious about that dynamic and wanted to understand it better. So, after becoming licensed in 1991 as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I pursued a Doctoral degree at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. My training as an analyst taught me to listen in a way that is curious about the origins of your difficulties, challenges your most painful convictions about yourself and others, and encourages you to face uncertainty with compassion rather than terror and self-criticism.
Currently, I’m a Supervising and Training Analyst and a faculty member at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, which means I am qualified to train and analyze other therapists-in-training. I continue to refine and deepen my understanding of the therapeutic process and contribute to developing contemporary psychoanalytic theory. I am an associate editor for a professional journal and regularly present my work and ideas at national and international conferences.
About Contemporary Psychoanalysis
Why did I train at a contemporary psychoanalytic institute rather than a classical one that is more closely aligned with the ideas of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic theory? I’m glad you asked! The difference is essential.
Freud believed that he knew the truth about his patient’s difficulties. He saw his job as giving his patients a dose of reality as he confronted them with their unconscious instinctual drives and powerful conflictual passions. Successful treatment depended on his patient’s willingness to accept his view of reality and to denounce their “infantile” fantasies that distorted their experience of the world. From Freud’s point of view, a person is cured when they finally accept “reality” (as determined by him!) and thus move from “misery” to “common unhappiness.” This is not my idea of a fulfilling, meaningful existence and certainly not what most people hope to achieve in therapy.
Unlike classical analysis, contemporary psychoanalysis encourages patient and analyst curiosity. Contemporary analysts are more concerned with experiences and feelings that interfere with our ability to understand and meaningfully experience ourselves and the world around us. Contemporary psychoanalysis encourages us to ask very different questions than Freud imagined. Questions like how does life come to feel real? Significant? Meaningful? How does one develop a vital and authentic sense of self? The answers to these questions are different for every person. It’s not my job to know the answers in advance but rather to provide an environment and process that supports you in answering these sorts of questions and others while exploring and expanding your life possibilities.
“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive, and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
– Maya Angelou