Past Presidents of the

Society for Descriptive Psychology

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
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
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
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