Sleeping with the Enemy: AI, Grief and the Analyst’s Shadow

“Sleeping with the Enemy: AI, Grief and the Analyst’s Shadow”

Valerie Frankfeldt, Ph.D

Friday, December 12, 2025

6:30PM – 8:30PM (EST)

PPSC

Live Webinar on Zoom

$60 Regular Admission and $40 Student

*This talk provides 2 hours of continuing education credits for LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMHCs, LCATs, LMFTs, and licensed psychologists.

Is a psychoanalyst who uses ChatGPT as a therapeutic tool sleeping with the enemy? In her paper, Dr. Frankfeldt elucidates what makes the use of an AI app so appealing. Where is the line that differentiates a human therapist from a data infused machine? When might AI truly serve a therapeutic purpose? Chat GPT’s genuine helpfulness in augmenting self-understanding and insight can be seen in the parsing of a dream following the death of the author’s analyst. For the author, who was processing the loss of her analyst, the AI app offered some solace when the author realized picking up with a new analyst was unpalatable. At the same time, the difference between the more intellectual insight provided by the machine versus what a human-to-human relationship has to offer also became abundantly clear.

Valerie Frankfeldt, PhD, is a training analyst, faculty member, and supervisor at the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center. She has a special interest in the effects of digital life and devices on analytic work. She has written the following related papers: Beyond the algorithm to Emotional Communication: Why AI lacks the heart of psychoanalysis, Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 20(3), 2025, Can We Hug? The Vibrancy and Vicissitudes of Patients in Person: Sifting Through the Rubble of Covid, (Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 2024), The Pandemic, the Protests, the Chaos: A destabilizing effect on the analyst, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2022, and Digital Communication in Psychoanalysis: An Oxymoron? Psychoanalytic Social Work, 2020. Dr. Frankfeldt is a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association Council on AI and Psychoanalysis and is an Associate Editor at Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. She is in private practice in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Learning Objectives

After attending this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Identify the forces that make use of AI more and more appealing.
• Discuss the threat of AI in potentially replacing therapists.
• Name the differences between an AI “therapist” and a human psychotherapist.

Agenda

6:30 – 7:00: Author’s personal experience and the forces at play that make AI so appealing. (LO#1)

7:00 – 7:30: How AI is progressively encroaching on the field of psychotherapy. (LO#2)

7:30 – 8:00: Differentiating AI therapy bots from human therapists. (LO#3)

8:00 – 8:30: Q & A.

This event will be recorded. Those unable to attend live may register as usual and contact the Annex Program Manager at annex-ops@ppsc.org to request access. The recording will be available for two (2) weeks following the event.

You may still earn CE credit by watching the recording, provided that:

• The program is offered by an NYSED-approved provider for your specific license type, and;
• The recording is classified as a self-study course (i.e., there is no live interaction).

Under NYSED regulations, licensees may complete up to 12 hours of their required continuing education per registration period through self-study activities. The remaining hours must be obtained through live, interactive learning.

To be eligible to receive Continuing Education (CE) credits, participants must complete the post-event evaluation within this two-week period. Upon completion of the recording and required post-event evaluation, a CE certificate will be issued for qualifying participants.

*For a refund to a PPSC Annex event, we must receive a cancellation notice 24 hours prior to the event. Please contact annex-ops@ppsc.org if you want to cancel within this timeframe or if you have any other questions or concerns.

*Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0040, licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0166, licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0083, and licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0119. We are recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0054 and by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0118. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center maintains responsibility for its programs and its content.

*PPSC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, sexual preference, gender, gender identity, marital status, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its admissions and educational policies.