Henry Markman, M.D.

HENRY MARKMAN, M.D. is a psychoanalyst in private practice in Berkeley, Ca. He is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, where he teaches and supervises therapists and analytic candidates. In his private practice, he sees adults and adolescents in psychoanalytic therapy and analysis. He also consults and runs several private study groups. He has presented his work and discussed the work of colleagues at international and American conferences.  

Henry Markman has authored several papers on psychoanalytic process, fundamental aspects of therapeutic action, embodied attunement and accompaniment, aesthetic experience in therapy, and play. He recently published Creative Engagement in Psychoanalytic Practice-- a personal account of his development as an analyst over thirty years and the fundamental principles of practice he has discovered along the way.

CLINICAL APPROACH

In his book Creative Engagement in Psychoanalytic Practice, Henry Markman presents his clinical approach. There he describes how the clinician works in a creative and improvisational way to meet the needs of someone in his or her care—highlighting the importance of the analyst’s unique voice, creativity, and embodied awareness in authentically being with and relating to patients. Henry Markman emphasizes the therapeutic importance of the analyst’s embodied presence and openness, improvisational accompaniment, and love within the analytic framework. As each patient-therapist match is unique so one method cannot be prescribed. Rather, it is in the emotional experience that a space is created for the person to develop and grow. Henry Markman focuses on the engaged embodied dialogue between therapist and patient, where emotional states are shared as the route to self-discovery and growth. The involvement of the therapist’s singular and spontaneous self is crucial.