Pretending That It Can Be
When It Can’t
Is How People Break Their Hearts
On March 1, 2025, the renowned Martha Stark, MD led us on an exploration of hope and the heart through clinical vignettes demonstrating the therapeutic impact of transforming relentless hope into realistic hope. Pretending That It Can Be When It Can’t Is How People Break Their Hearts was attended by licensed professionals and interested scholars from all over the world who logged on to share in Dr. Stark’s experience and insights.
Headliner: Martha Stark, MD
Martha Stark, MD, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, is a holistic (adult and child) psychiatrist and integrative psychoanalyst in private practice in Boston, MA, and Clearwater Beach, FL.
Martha is a Lecturer on Psychiatry (part-time), Cambridge Health Alliance, Harvard Medical School; Co-Founder/Co-Director/Faculty, Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, William James College; Faculty, Psychiatry Redefined; Faculty/Scientific Advisory Board, Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine; Adjunct Faculty, Smith College School for Social Work; Former Faculty, Boston Psychoanalytic Institute and Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Advisory Board, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute.
Martha is the author of nine highly acclaimed books on the integration of psychodynamic theory into clinical practice, including the award-winning 1999 Modes of Therapeutic Action: Knowledge, Experience, and Relationship – recipient of Jason Aronson's prestigious "Book of the Year Award.”
Several of Martha's books have become "required reading" for candidates in psychoanalytic training institutes and students in psychodynamic psychotherapy programs both in the US and abroad.
She is the originator and developer of THE STARK METHOD of PSYCHODYNAMIC SYNERGY: A Multifaceted Approach to Deep Embodied Healing, a conceptual framework for the working through process that features five "modes of therapeutic action."
Board Certified by the American Association of Integrative Medicine, Martha also contributes chapters to integrative medicine textbooks and articles to peer-reviewed toxicology/environmental medicine journals.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: By the end of this CPA-OPD-approved event, participants will be able to:
Explain why relentless hope is a defense
Summarize what the relentless patient is refusing to confront
Construct a growth-incentivized disillusionment statement designed to facilitate grieving
Discuss the relationship between grieving and adaptive internalization
Demonstrate the importance of relenting and evolving ultimately to a place of serene acceptance
Rose City Center is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. Rose City Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
CPA OPD Provider Code R0S005