co-sponsored by: The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute
The Analysis of Retirement: A Panel Presentation
Presenters: Brenda Solomon, MD, Lucy Freund, PhD, and Neal Spira, MD
Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at 7:00 – 9:00 PM Central time
In person at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute,
8 S. Michigan Ave./7th Floor
or by Zoom
Description:
The subject of analyst retirement usually elicits an affective groan. This final goodbye when an analyst retires is uncharted territory. Considerations about actually retiring are intensely personal. There are no age restrictions. Planning for responsible retirement expands our thinking, as some of the problems we can address are painful and difficult. We hope to maintain both an ethical and compassionate attitude to the topic. As we open the subject, we meet the resistance we have, both personal and institutional, conscious and unconscious, which poses a challenge to most analysts. This esteemed panel of senior colleagues and leaders in the Chicago Psychoanalytic Community will address these issues and others that arise as psychoanalysts confront the inevitable ending of their analytic work with patients, which has been a longstanding and deeply meaningful experience.
Learning Objectives
After attending this session, participants should be able to:
- Describe the reasons why psychoanalytic clinicians should develop a retirement plan.
- Identify how the analytic culture has changed such that voluntary retirement is not only acceptable, but encouraged.
- Name two reasons why consultation with colleagues benefits clinicians as they wrestle with the issue of retirement.
- Explain the significance of the following: “You are an analyst no matter what you do."
The Presenters
Brenda Clorfene Solomon, MD, has been a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute since 1980. She received her MD in 1964 from the Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine in Chicago, where she was one of 10 women in a medical class of 200, and upon completing her residency in 1968, was appointed to the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Women. Dr. Solomon continued her commitment to women’s issues after becoming a psychoanalyst and, throughout the 80s and 90s, developed and led a Discussion Group at the American Psychoanalytic Association dedicated to supporting women analysts in training. Dr. Solomon taught psychoanalysis and ethics for 20 years and was a member of a research group that studied psychoanalytic education for many years. Her own analytic training coincided with Heinz Kohut’s development of Self Psychology and, being steeped in this theory, has served as a leader and teacher in institutes and organizations throughout the country. In 2019, at the age of 80, Dr. Solomon retired from clinical practice, publishing a paper about her decision entitled “Letting Go.” She continues to teach and supervise and serves as a consultant to analysts considering retirement.
Neal Spira MD DLFAPA, is a past president of this Society and former Dean of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. He serves as a Director at Large for the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Spira has written on a wide variety of psychoanalytic topics including, most recently, "Whatever Happened to Psychosomatics” which was published in APsa ’s TAP (The American Psychoanalyst.)” He is currently working on a volume focusing on the interface between psychoanalysis and the emerging field of psychedelic therapy..Dr. Spira ’s blog, “Understanding Backwards,” is published on Substack.
Lucy Freund, PhD, is the Past President of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute. She earned a doctorate from the University of Chicago and received her psychoanalytic training at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. For several years, she was a faculty member at Loop College (now Harold Washington College), and for over 25 years, she was on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University ’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Lucy is a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychological Association, and the International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. She is no longer seeing patients, but continues to supervise students in the psychotherapy program as well as analytic candidates.
Continuing Education Credits are offered exclusively to Society members in all membership categories and those intending to join.
The presenters, Brenda Solomon, Neal Spira, and Lucy Freund, and the organizer, Lisa Karaitis, PsyD, have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to report.
Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program.
ACCME Accreditation Statement: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) and the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement: The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement: The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
Accreditation Information for Professionals Other Than Physicians. The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content, in relation to accreditation for CE credits for non-physicians. CPI is licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to sponsor continuing education credits for (license numbers in parentheses): Social Workers (159.000122), Professional Counselors (197.000202), Marriage and Family Therapy Therapists (168.00204), and Clinical Psychologists (268.000091).
Eligible professionals will receive 2.0 continuing education credits for attending the entire program. To receive these credits an evaluation form must be completed online. Learners must claim the amount of time spent in the educational activity and that will be the amount of credit they will earn.
