Richard R. Hansen, PhD, ABPP (1948-2025) was a psychologist, psychoanalyst, teacher, supervisor, leader, and mentor to countless trainees, colleagues, and service organizations who dedicated his professional life to advancing psychoanalysis as a humanistic discipline. He was in private practice for nearly 50 years and continued to see his patients up until the time of his death. For over the past 20 years he also served on the faculty, executive board, was committee chair, and a supervising analyst in the Postgraduate Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy at the Derner Institute of Psychology and Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, New York. He received his BA in 1969from Hofstra University where he was the first undergraduate awarded a graduate teaching fellowship in the Department of Psychology. He took his MS and certification in school psychology from Brooklyn College in 1971, his PhD from Fordham University in 1977, and his postdoctoral diploma in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis from Adelphi University in 1999, where he later joined the faculty.
His seasoned career began with his work as both a psychologist and an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Dowling College, and then he became a staff psychologist at the Advanced Center for Psychotherapy where he specialized in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and adults. He continued to work in a variety of settings and capacities at Kings Park Psychiatric Center and the Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center, Queens Hospital Center Affiliate, where he was a senior and supervising psychologist and later became assistant chief of psychology coordinating psychological services in the Inpatient, Day Hospital, and Partial Hospital programs. For over 20 years he taught and supervised in the doctoral programs in clinical psychology at Yeshiva University, Long Island University, and The Suffolk Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis before joining the postgraduate training faculty at Adelphi.
Dr. Hansen was a dedicated service leader to many psychoanalytic organizations including the Nassau County Psychological Association, Adelphi, the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education, which accredits psychoanalytic training institutes in North America, and the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis where he received board certification in psychoanalysis with the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), the highest qualification any psychologist can be awarded in North America. He was also awarded Fellow status with the American Psychological Association (APA) and Honorary Fellow status with the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA). Dr. Hansen played important roles within organized psychoanalysis at the national level. He taught many advanced courses in psychoanalytic technique and was a frequent presenter at the Division 39: Psychoanalysis annual meetings of the APA. His dedication as a leader in the field led to his appointment as President of the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis.
Dr. Hansen was a compassionate, principled, ethical, and caring human being toward his patients and others in general. He was a gifted clinician and independent thinker, and his passion for the field was contagious. Toward the end of his life, he became disillusioned with the increasing politicalization and polarization of the field including blatant antisemitism displayed within the Division 39 organization and the APA more broadly. Until he became ill, he tried to fight against all of this in any way that he could. Once his illness compromised his level of energy, he directed his attention to the pure goal of healing souls through psychoanalysis. He remained committed to this up until only weeks before he died. A Festschrift is being planned in memory of his honor and dedication to the profession he so inspired and loved.