The Society’s Presidential term begins and ends as of each year’s annual conference (typically October to October). Each president’s full term of service is actually for three years, serving as President-Elect in year one, President in year two, and immediate Past President in year three. In addition to serving on the Society Board of Directors, the duties of the President-elect include organizing the annual Society conference for the following year, of the President to present the Presidential Address at the Society conference, and of the immediate Past President to prepare a slate for election of new officers.
Note: Click on a conference program to read the abstract associated with a Presidential Address (if available) and/or to review conference presentations given by other SDP members that year.
Click any of the past-President’s names highlighted in red to read a short statement about ongoing research and clinical interests.
Name | Year as President |
Presidential Address |
Conference Program |
Keith Davis, Ph.D. | 1978-1980 | ||
Thomas Mitchell, Ph.D. | 1980-1981 | ||
Mary Shideler, Ph.D. | 1981-1982 | ||
Anthony O. Putman, Ph.D. | 1982-1983 | ||
Ray Bergner, Ph.D. | 1983-1984 | ||
Mary K. Roberts, Ph.D. | 1984-1985 | Counseling with Adolescents and Their Families: A Status Dynamic Approach |
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H. Joel Jeffrey, Ph.D. | 1985-1986 | ||
Jane R. Littmann, Ph.D. | 1986-1987 | Humor in Psychotherapy: For Better or for Worse | |
James Holmes, Ph.D. | 1987-1988 | ||
David Bender, Ph.D. | 1988-1989 | ||
Carolyn Allen Zeiger, Ph.D. | 1989-1990 | ||
Walter Torres, Ph.D. | 1990-1991 | ||
Sonja Bunke Holt, Ph.D. | 1991-1992 | ||
John R. Forward, Ph.D. | 1992-1993 | ||
C.J. Peek, Ph.D. | 1993-1994 | Management by Trellis-Building: Harmonizing Organization and Professional Community |
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Ralph Wechsler, Ph.D. | 1994-1995 | Trauma and its Transformations | |
Laurie Bergner, Ph.D. | 1995-1996 | The Mommas and the Papas: Roles Parents Play | |
Paul Zeiger, Ph.D. | 1996-1997 | ||
Fernand Lubuguin, Ph.D. | 1997-1998 | Beyond Melting Pot and Tossed Salad | |
Reginaldo Garcia, Ph.D. | 1998-1999 | Persons, Change and Stress | 21st Conference |
Michael Spayd, Ph.D. | 1999-2000 | ||
Thomas Windham, Ph.D. (Resigned) |
2000-2001 | ||
H. Joel Jeffrey, Ph.D. (Acting President) |
2000-2001 | H5 Technologies | 23rd Conference |
H. Joel Jeffrey, Ph.D. | 2001-2002 | A Solution to the Problem of Large Scale Judgment Spaces | 24th Conference |
Richard Heinrich, Ph.D. | 2002-2003 | Addressing Pain and Suffering at the End-of-Life | 25th Conference |
Raymond Bergner, Ph.D. | 2003-2004 | Is it All Really Biological? | |
Robert Brill, Ph.D. | 2004-2005 | ||
Sonja Bunke Holt, Ph.D. | 2005-2006 | Appraisal and Competence in Managing the Learning Loop |
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Heather Holmes Lonergan, Ph.D. | 2006-2007 | Who’s That in the Mirror? A Descriptive Psychology Analysis of Being a Parent | 29th Conference |
Anthony O. Putman, Ph.D. | 2007-2008 | Ordinary Magic: What Descriptive Psychology Is, and Why It Matters | 30th Conference |
Keith Davis, Ph.D. | 2008-2009 | A Better Model of Self-regulation: The Core Issue in the Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence & Stalking | 31st Conference |
C.J. Peek, Ph.D. | 2009-2010 | A Report from the Field: Using Paradigm Case Formulation and Parametric Analysis in Emerging Fields of Healthcare |
32nd Conference |
H. Joel Jeffrey, Ph.D. | 2010-2011 | Re-working Economics from the Ground Up | 33rd Conference |
Mary K. Roberts, Ph.D. | 2011-2012 | Invisible to the Naked Eye | 34th Conference |
Charles Kantor, Ph.D. | 2012-2013 | Creating Monsters: How persons become perpetrators of genocide |
35th Conference |
C.J. Stone | 2013-2014 | Looking back, and Looking Forward | 36th Conference |
Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D. | 2014-2015 | Social Progress and the Just Choice | 37th Conference |
Ned Kirsch, Ph.D. | 2015-2016 | Notes on the Relationship between Persons and Embodiment | 38th Conference |
Bryan Harnsberger, Psy.D. | 2016-2017 | Herding Tigers 2.0: A Status Dynamic Perspective on Leadership in Organizations | 39th Conference |
Ralph Wechsler, Ph.D. | 2017-2018 | Applying Descriptive Psychology to the Treatment of Psychological Trauma |
40th Conference |
Erol Zeybekoglu, Psy.D. | 2018-2019 | Traversing Surreal Worlds: Using Descriptive Psychology in the clinical treatment of persons with psychotic and delusional thought disorders. | 41st Conference |
Patricia Kennedy, Psy.D. | 2019-2020 | SES and Place: Examining the Impacts of Financial Position on a Person’s Place in the World. |
42nd Conference |
Laurie Bergner, Ph.D. | 2020-2021 | Cinderella’s Slipper: Exploring the Concept of “Fit” in Couple Relationships. | 43rd Conference |
Ian Newby-Clark, Ph.D. | 2021-2022 | The Time is (Probably) Right for Change: Moving Descriptive Psychology into the Mainstream. | 44th Conference |
David Bender, Ph.D. | 2022-2023 | Descriptive Psychology in Everyday Life. | 45th Conference |