Transference/Countertransference I
Instructor: Chuck Finlon, LCSW
This course examines the clinical implications of transference/countertransference phenomena. Drawing heavily on candidates' clinical material and the assigned course readings, we shall explore the comparative theory, history, and evolution of transference/countertransference phenomena. We begin with the classical one-person model where transference was seen as a projection-- a displacement onto the blank screen of the analyst, and interpretation/insight were seen as the important agents of therapeutic change. We will then explore the Kleinian, object relational, self psychology, and interpersonal models where transference eventually evolves into a more co-constructed, contextual, organizational two-person process with the analyst evolving from object to subject. The relational experience is added to interpretation/insight as a major therapeutic agent of change as analysts' influence and participation are deemed more important. We shall end with a discussion of some of the current transference/countertransference clinical controversies which include self-disclosure and erotic countertransference.
Transference/Countertransference II
Instructor: Daniel Shaw, LCSW / Janine de Peyer, LCSW
Contemporary theories of transference and countertransference emphasize becoming aware of and making sense of unconscious relational dynamics as they occur within the analytic dyad. While our asymmetric focus is always on the inner world of the patient, as opposed to a system of "mutual analysis," unconscious aspects of the analyst's inner world and its impact on the patient has increasingly become an important area for potential therapeutic action – the most well-studied examples of this being the role of impasse and enactment in analytic therapy. The various theoretical schools continue to delineate theoretical differences among them, and these differences, according to our own theoretical alignments, will influence how we understand and make use of transference-countertransference material.
The readings for this course represent current perspectives on transference and countertransference from various theoretical schools. Each student will be asked in the first class to select one of the papers from each week and present clinical material to the class which links thematically to the reading they choose. Select experiential exercises will be interspersed among readings to illustrate transference/countertransference dynamics.
An important learning goal for this class will be to identify the differences we recognize from the readings we use, and consider the various implications of these theories in terms of clinical technique.
Freud I (1885-1920) & Freud II (1920-1938)
Instructor: Azeen Khan, PhD
In these two seminars, we systematically read the major works of Sigmund Freud, beginning with Studies on Hysteria (1892) and ending with Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety (1926). We focus on both theory papers and his case studies, tracing the evolution of his thinking from his "pre-psychoanalytic" work, through his early discovery of the unconscious and the instinctual drives, through his papers on technique, his formulation of narcissism and the many implications of that, on to his articulation of the concept of the superego and the structural model and the beginnings of ego psychology. While approaching each work in its own right, we explore how each new concept relates to the work that preceded it and the work that later grew out of it. Critical to these seminars is the notion that contemporary relational psychoanalysis has its roots in Freud's writings, and the close study of what Freud seemed to get right that remains the foundation of psychoanalytic thinking, as well as where his thinking was misguided and where contemporary models attempt to offer corrections.
Ego Psychology
Instructor: Gerard Perna, LCSW
This course familiarizes candidates with the major contributors to ego psychology and contextualizes it within the broader history of psychoanalysis. Heinz Hartmann, Ernst Kris, and Rudolf Lowenstein, the founders, were all emigres from the spread of Nazism across western Europe. Together they endeavored to fashion a new form of psychoanalysis more concerned with normal development. By introducing the autonomous ego, the conflict-free ego sphere, and drive neutralization they sought to de-emphasize the role of conflict as the sole driving force in human development. Though Hartmann himself wrote little concerning clinical theory, Rene Spitz, Anna Freud, and Margaret Mahler extended clinical theory by extrapolating from direct observation and clinical accounts of infant and early childhood treatments which reached beyond the prevailing oedipal conflict pathology into the pre-oedipal era of development. Whether or not Hartmann's project was successful in laying the foundation for progressive expansions of theory and practice is one of the questions that the course engages from our contemporary vantage point. Though this Americanized version of psychoanalysis dominated the field from roughly 1940 to 1970 it cannot be considered a solely positive influence as evidenced by its virtual overnight disappearance. We will look at the political, social, and professional forces that led to its demise.
Contemporary Freudian Perspectives
Instructor: Lisa Bialkin, LCSW
This course will explore the origins and the evolution of the Contemporary Freudian psychoanalytic approach. The Contemporary Freudians formulated their approach by extending the traditional Freudian theoretical and technical principles, and by simultaneously integrating the core concepts from the writings of object relationists, self psychologists, and ego psychologists. Seminal readings from Loewald, Busch, Katz, Bass, Freedman, Ellman, and Bollas will allow the participants to examine, compare, and contrast the fundamentally important analytic concepts of ego and object relationships, transference, countertransference, and enactment through intersubjective and the intrapsychic dimensions. The theoretical aspects of the class discussions will be enriched by clinical material to demonstrate the formulation of clinical applications from this contemporary perspective.
Dreams I
Instructor: Mary Ellen McMahon, LCSW
The purpose of this course is twofold: to acquaint the candidate with seminal psychoanalytic readings on Dream Theory and Practice, and to enhance the beginning analyst's ability to work more comfortably with their patients' dreams. We will read about 10 articles , beginning with Freud and Jung and then moving on through the 20th century,(Fromm,Tauber, Greenson, Bonime, Fosshage, etc.), to trace the evolution of dream theory. The emphasis is always on how theory informs how to work with our patients' dreams.
Toward this end ,we also require each class member to bring in one of their patient's dreams. The class is helped to "play in the field of the unconscious" by projecting onto the dream anything that comes to their mind about it - metaphors, symbols, relational patterns, feelings, personal associations, etc. The candidate learns that they are not the "interpreter" of the dream, and that indeed the patient created the dream and therefore is the one who "knows" the dream meaning, purpose, wish, etc. We are guides in helping them to unfold it given their current life context.
Development II
Instructor: Patricia Clough, PhD
Following readings and discussions in Development I, this course engages with the ongoing complimentary aspects of development thinking and psychoanalytic thought, drive theory and the relational perspective, in order to explore the oedipal and post oedipal phases: middle childhood and adolescence. However as the oedipal and the postoedipal phases traditionally concern the child’s relationship to sexual identity and sexuality in terms of a heteronormativity, assumptions about the family romance and the gendered body in development and psychoanalytic theory will be reconsidered. Following we will take up the issue of the child’s development of an embodied mindedness or the capacity to play with reality. Throughout the course, there will be consideration of the implication for clinical work and therapeutic action.
Object Relations I
Instructor: TBD
This course explores the contributions of Melanie Klein, W.R.D. Fairbairn, and D.W. Winnicott in the development of British Object Relations Theory. We will study and contextualize their work in the history of psychoanalytic thought, focusing on the ways each of these writers relate to, extend, and depart from Freud's drive model. We will consider the ongoing dialectic of ideas with particular focus on models of mind and theories of development, motivation, and therapeutic action. Candidates will read original materials and contemporary syntheses and interpretations.
Interpersonal Theory I
Instructor: Eric Mendelsohn, PhD
This is the first of a two course sequence in Interpersonal Psychoanalysis. The objective of these courses is to foster awareness and appreciation of the clinical and theoretical foundations of Interpersonalism, and to promote critical engagement with its traditions. The first course will focus on historical evolution and the second will consider the contributions of Interpersonal and Interpersonally influenced analysts to contemporary psychoanalytic discourse.
In this first course our texts will include contributions of four pioneers of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: Sandor Ferenczi, Harry Stack Sullivan, Clara Thompson, and Erich Fromm. Readings of primary sources will be supplemented by papers written by second and third generation authors who critically consider and extend the ideas of their forebears. Our study of these writers will involve us in our unique version of participant observation. In so doing we will make our unique contribution to the evolving conceptualization of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis.
We will relate our study of theory and therapy process to the clinical work we do by considering the complexities of our participation with our patients. Opportunities will be afforded to present our clinical work, and clinical selves, in class.
