Live Seminar Series

Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D. Seminar Series

Intrapsychic Humanism Core Concepts and Clinical Applications

Our Live continuing education programming, which is complimentary with an Intrapsychic Humanism Society annual membership, currently focuses on a series of in-depth seminars in which we will explore, over time: (1) unique insights into the unfolding development of internalized core personal meaning – in being loved, loveable, and causing the caregiver’s love – through informed caregiving relationships through the first few formative years of life, (2) the underlying causes of psychopathology, and (3) a psychotherapy approach to treating not only symptoms of psychological distress, including relationship and behavioral problems, but also underlying instability, deficits, and malformation of core self-worth.

Each seminar series covers a separate chapter of the seminal book, Intrapsychic Humanism, An Introduction to a Comprehensive Philosophy and Psychology of Mind (Pieper & Pieper, 1990). Past seminar series have covered the Introduction and the first two chapters on the development of personal meaning during the first and second years of life. All previous Live seminar series are available as On Demand Seminars. We recommend beginning with the first seminar series and moving through the seminar series sequentially. Each series consists of multiple (4-8) one-hour seminars featuring presentations by experienced clinicians bringing to life the core concepts of Intrapsychic Humanism with examples to illustrate how the concepts can be applied where relevant to childrearing, parent counseling, child play therapy, and adult psychotherapy to help children and adults acquire lasting self-worth.

Live SEMINAR SERIES 4

Chapter 4 – Regulatory-Interpersonal Self Stage

The Primary Need for Personal Meaning: Developing Self-Worth Through the Caregiving Relationship During the Regulatory-Interpersonal Self Stage

with Applications to Childrearing and Clinical Practice

Carla Beatrici, Psy.D. and Marian Sharkey, Ph.D.

Member Rates: Regular: $175 | Early Career Professional: $155 | Student: $120

2025/26 Virtual Seminars
Wednesdays 10:30 – 11:30 am
October 1, November 5, December 3, February 4, March 4 & April 1

6 CEs for Psychologists, Social Workers, and Professional Counselors

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Seminar Series Description

If you are a professional who works with young kids or their parents, you know that some of the behavior of two-to-six-year-olds can pose challenges for both parents and experts alike. Toddlers fall in love with the word, “NO,” want what they want when they want it, and display an all-powerful omnipotence that makes them believe they can cook on the real stove and engage in other risky behaviors, while five-year-olds insist that only a preferred parent must take them to the park and not the other parent. When such behaviors are misconstrued as “the terrible twos,” defiance, socially inappropriate behavior, and disrespect, parents and professionals can find themselves feeling frustrated and irritable and at a loss as to how to respond and can end up resorting to futile power struggles and disciplinary measures that only leave children unhappy and more prone to meltdowns.

This seminar series will offer you new ways of understanding and responding to these behaviors based on insights by Martha Heineman Pieper, Ph.D. and William J. Pieper, M.D. to help children develop increasingly pleasurable and stable self-worth that is resilient to stresses and inevitable disappointments in life. We will describe the developmental structures and processes that occur during what is termed the Regulatory Interpersonal Self Stage (age 2-6), including the interpersonal no, the all-powerful agent self, the romantic phase, and the relationship ideal. We will explain how the child’s interpersonal agency grows more reflective based on where their sense of well-being comes from as they move through each stage — from relying upon getting what they want when they want it, at the beginning of the stage, to being able to make consistently thoughtful and constructive choices, at the end of this stage. We will describe informed caregiver responses that will facilitate this important developmental process based on an understanding of the child’s intrapsychic and interpersonal needs at this age. We will provide examples in applying these insights to parenting, parent counseling, play therapy, and adult psychotherapy.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the seminar series, participants will be able to:

Explain from the child’s subjective point of view the behavior termed the interpersonal no.
Describe a way in which the all-powerful self facilitates children’s interpersonal exploration and development.
Describe two common misunderstandings of a child’s interpersonal no behavior, misunderstandings which can have harmful effects on their interpersonal development.
Describe two ways parents can respond to their children’s interpersonal no behavior to facilitate their development of veridical (non-illusional) interpersonal agency.
Describe a change in the source of the child’s interpersonal well-being from the beginning to the end of the Regulatory-Interpersonal Self Stage.
Describe one way in which the relationship ideal is a significant developmental achievement.

The purpose of the seminar is to help participants develop a deeper understanding of the concepts in Intrapsychic Humanism through reading the original theory enhanced through presentations by seminar leaders and discussion among participants. We want to encourage participants to raise questions about concepts or aspects of the theory covered during each seminar that they find challenging and would like further clarified. We will leave ten minutes at the end of each seminar for questions and discussion focused on the assigned reading. Please be sure to read the reading reference each month in advance of the seminar and come prepared to discuss those concepts.

Reference for the Seminar Series
Pieper, M.H., & Pieper, W.J. (1990). Intrapsychic Humanism: An Introduction to a Comprehensive Psychology and Philosophy of Mind. Chicago: Falcon II Press. Chapter 4, pp. 101-175; Kindle pp. 111-187.

October 1, 2025: An Overview of the Regulatory-Interpersonal Self Stage
We will first review the main developmental achievements of the previous stage of development, the Regulatory-Intrapsychic Self Stage, which were explained in Seminar Series 3. We will describe how the intrapsychic inner well-being the child possesses at the end of this stage becomes the foundation upon which the child’s evolving interpersonal motives develop. We will then present an introduction and overview of the next developmental stage, the Regulatory-Interpersonal Self Stage, which occurs between approximately ages 2-6. Concepts to be covered include the interpersonal no, the all-powerful agent self, the romantic phase and the relationship ideal.
Reading Reference: Extension of Q&A with Dr. Pieper: Seminar Series 3 (paper will be sent to participants)

November 5, 2025: The Interpersonal No and the All-Powerful Agent Self
We will discuss how the interpersonal no represents the child’s newfound capacity for interpersonal introspection, which allows the child to begin to reflectively identify their own mind and motives as separate from those of their caregivers and to begin to assert their own needs, wants and wishes. We will discuss how parents can respond to their child’s no in ways that support the child’s sense of well-being, which in this phase, comes from getting what they want. We will also discuss common misunderstandings of children’s interpersonal no behavior, such as viewing it as defiance, disrespect, or socially inappropriate behavior that needs to be interfered with. We consider the development of the all-powerful agent self structure where the toddler experiences an illusional omnipotence that has phase appropriate advantages but also needs to be outgrown. We will discuss how caregivers can respond facilitatively to the child’s all-powerful self behaviors, including defiance, meltdowns, and risky behaviors.
Reading Reference: pages 101-136; Kindle pages 111-147

December 3, 2025: The Veridical (Non-Illusional) Interpersonal No
We will consider how, as the caregiver responds to the child’s interpersonal motives and helps the child mourn inevitable interpersonal losses that occur (e.g., not getting what they want), the child develops the capacity to recognize that mutuality with the caregivers in the process of self-caretaking is more pleasurable than the all-powerful self’s aim of controlling their interpersonal motive choice and pursuit. We will discuss how through this process the child develops a veridical regulatory-interpersonal self that can say “no” to their all-powerful agent self and perceive what constitutes self-caretaking choices. We will discuss ramifications of this developmental achievement and consider applications for childrearing, parent counseling and psychotherapy.
Reading Reference: pages 136-152; Kindle pages 147-164

February 4, 2026: The Romantic Phase and the Relationship Ideal
We will discuss the romantic phase where the child’s all-powerful agent self distorts their reality testing so they believe they could have a non-specific exclusive relationship with the preferred caregiver. Over the course of this phase, the child develops the capacity to distinguish between their ability to regulate their parents’ caregiving motives and their inability to regulate their parents’ personal motives. We will discuss how the successful resolution of this developmental loss is essential for functional adult relationships in which significant others always have some motives that differ from our own. We will also discuss the relationship ideal which results from this developmental process and represents an identification with the caregivers’ ideal ways of relating with each other. We will consider applications for childrearing, parent counseling and psychotherapy.
Reading Reference: pages 153-169; Kindle pages 164-180

March 4, 2026: The Romantic Phase and the Relationship Ideal, Continued, and Review
We will finish discussing the romantic phase and the relationship ideal. We will then review and integrate all the developmental achievements during this stage.
Reading Reference: pages 169-175; Kindle pages 180-187

April 1, 2026: Applications and Question & Answer
We will provide in-depth clinical and parenting applications, including ramifications of this developmental stage for adult interpersonal relationships in both healthy development and psychopathology. We will then answer participants’ questions, submitted in advance, about the developmental theory and its applications.

Seminar Leaders

Carla Beatrici, Psy.D.

Vice President for the Collaborative Partnership with Smart Love Family Services
Dr. Carla Beatrici is a Clinical Psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience providing psychotherapy to individuals of all ages and with a specialization in child and adolescent mental health. Dr. Beatrici is the Co-Executive Director and Clinical Director of a not-for- profit organization Smart Love Family Services located in Oak Park and Chicago. The clinic provides a range of services including counseling for all ages, testing services, and parent education seminars. Dr. Beatrici runs the counseling program where she provides clinical training and supervision to ensure the provision of high quality mental health care. She has also developed and implemented Smart Love and Inner Humanism® staff training programs for healthcare professionals in many settings, including Easter Seals, Early Head Start, the American Medical Association, and Children’s Memorial Hospital. These trainings focus on helping caregivers create positive caring relationships with children as a way to build stable inner self-esteem. Dr. Beatrici is an adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Loyola Medical Center where she teaches Developmental Theories to psychiatry residents.

Marian Sharkey, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Marian Sharkey is the Director of training at Smart Love Family Services where she provides clinical training and supervision. She has been in private practice for over 25 years and has worked with individuals of all ages in a variety of inpatient and outpatient community mental health and psychiatric hospital settings. Dr. Sharkey received her M.S.W. and Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago where she was the founding editor-in-chief of the school’s journal, Praxis: Where Reflection & Practice Meet. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the School of Social Work at Loyola University and serves on the Board of the Intrapsychic Humanism Society. Dr. Sharkey has presented at local and national conferences on the topics of the reflective use of theory in clinical practice and the theoretical principles and practice of Inner Humanism®.

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