Hanna Levenson, PhD, is a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, and a Fellow of Division 29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association (APA). In addition, she maintains a private practice where she sees individuals and couples for therapy and professionals for consultation/supervision. For twenty years Dr. Levenson was clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of California School of Medicine; director of the Brief Therapy Program at the VA Medical Center; and director of the Brief Therapy Program at the California Pacific Medical Center, all in San Francisco.  

Dr. Levenson has been specializing in the areas of brief dynamic psychotherapy and supervision for 50 years. Her approach integrates psychodynamic, emotionally-focused, and experiential aspects. She is the author of more than 80 professional papers and four books (Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy: A Guide to Clinical Practice, Brief Dynamic and Interpersonal Therapy, Brief Dynamic Therapy, and Deliberate Practice for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy). She also has four professional videos illustrating her clinical work. One of these videos is a six-session therapy-over-time DVD as part of APA’s Expert Therapist Series. Her most recent video illustrating 12 psychodynamic skills will be out in October, 2023. In addition, she has co-created and hosted an 11-DVD series on psychotherapy supervision, and edited 11 accompanying books published by APA.

Dr. Levenson has received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award given by the California Psychological Association, and the Certificate of Recognition Award given by the National Organization of VA Psychologists. Dr. Levenson has given numerous trainings to various mental health centers, professional societies, and universities nationally and internationally. Her most recent international presentations included a workshop on Deliberate Practice and time-limited dynamic therapy in Prague and a talk on memory reconsolidation and the corrective emotional experience at the Freud Museum in Vienna. 

Volney Gay, PhD, retired in August 2018 as professor of psychiatry, professor of religious studies, and professor of anthropology at Vanderbilt University. He is a training and supervising analyst at the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute and a member of Division 39, American Psychological Association. He has published 10 books on religion, psychiatry, and anthropology. He has won teaching awards from McMaster University and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; he won the Heinz Hartmann Award given by the New York Psychoanalytic Institute; the Outstanding Service Award given by the American Psychoanalytic Association; and was named Distinguished Psychoanalytic Educator, International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education. With Tom Campbell he founded the Nashville Psychoanalytic Study Group in 1992. In 2010, he endowed the Barbara Gay Lecture in Child Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

In 2021, he published American Slavery: Privileges and Pleasures. His new book is Deliberate Practice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with H. Levenson and J. Binder (American Psychological Association, 2023).

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