Robin L. Kay, Ph.D.
Robin L. Kay is a clinical psychologist who has utilized a shortterm empirically validated model of psychotherapy to treat a wide variety of patients over the last 25 years. Dr Kay began teaching in UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry in 2004 and remains active on the UCLA School of Medicine clinical faculty. In 2009, she became the Director of the AB-ISTDP and Accelerated Psychotherapy Clinic where she lectures and provides clinical training to third and fourth year psychiatry residents who are desirous of learning the theory and technique of ISTDP. Many residents refer to Dr. Kay’s course as the best course of their UCLA psychiatry residency. Dr. Kay is actively involved in delivering high quality medical education and has been the recipient of awards for her “Outstanding Clinical Faculty Teaching.”
Dr. Kay is a founding member of the California Society for ISTDP and she currently serves as their Vice President and the Director of the Los Angeles Core Training Program. She is an IEDTA certified clinical teacher and core training supervisor. Dr. Kay has published articles related to theory and technique in Attachment-Based Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (AB-ISTDP) and has presented her clinical work both nationally and internationally. Using the ISTDP model, attachment theory and brain science research to guide her approach, Dr. Kay focuses on utilizing specific, effective interventions which allow her to safely reach core affect and unlock the unconscious memory system in order to resolve trauma and ameliorate psychiatric symptoms.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND:
UCLA: Doctorate (Ph.D. and M.A.)
--distinctions in Clinical Psychology & Organizational Behavior
UC Berkeley: B.A. in Psychology with Highest Honors
DIAGNOSTIC INTERESTS and CLINICAL SPECIALTIES:
Anxiety and Mood Disorders
Self defeating behavior
Commitment phobia
High Net Worth and Low Self Worth
Intimacy Difficulties and Relationship Conflict
Resolving Attachment Trauma
ISTDP: Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy
INVITED LECTURES, TRAININGS and CASE PRESENTATIONS (a partial list):
2016 - Reclaiming Power: Replacing Passivity with Potency
Western Canada Institute for ISTDP
Calgary, Canada
2015 - Slave No More: The Man Who Formerly Lived to Serve
ISTDP International and Netherlands ISTDP Foundation
Berlin, Germany
2015 - Navigating the Roadmap to the Patient’s Unconscious
California Society for ISTDP and IEDTA
Del Mar, CA
2015 - Repairing Attachment Trauma with AB-ISTDP
Professional Psych Seminars
Los Angeles, CA
2014 - Restructuring Ego Fragility and Building Ego Adaptive
Capacity
Western Canada Institute for ISTDP
Calgary, Canada
2013 - An Accelerated Approach to Healing Trauma
UCLA Psychiatry Department
Westwood, California
2012 - Attachment Trauma and the Development of Defenses
Los Angeles County Psychological Association
Los Angeles, CA
2012 - Resolving Attachment Trauma
International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association
Conference
Oxford, UK
2010 - Strengthening the Fragile Ego with ISTDP
New Center for Psychoanalysis
Los Angeles, California
2010 - Thwarting the Transmission of Trauma Through Deep
Affective Processing
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
ARTICLES AND PUBLICATIONS (a partial list):
Abbass, A., Grantmyre, J., & Kay, R. L. (2013). Anxiety related to sexual abuse: A case of recurrent priapism. Canadian Urological Association Journal,7(1-2), 48–50.
Kay, R. (2003). “Burying the Dead & Loving the Living”. In: Ad Hoc Bulletin of Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy—Practice and Theory, 7 (3), 5-33.
Kay, R. (2003). “The Chameleon Chronicles: From Background to Foreground,” Natura Artis Magistra: (Un)conscious Animals as Teachers of STDP. Proceedings of the Conference (pp. 6-18). Amsterdam: VKDP.
