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Table Of Contents
Adult Psychoanalytic Program The curriculum for training in psychoanalysis is tripartite, including: the personal analysis, supervised clinical work, and didactic seminars. The Center has a well-respected, scholarly faculty that ably conveys the complexity of psychoanalytic thinking today. The didactic curriculum consists of a series of seminars, given weekly over five years, designed to impart a thorough knowledge of psychoanalytic theory beginning with Freud’s discovery of the unconscious mind and encompassing conflict theory, ego psychology, object relations theory, perspectives on narcissism, and relational theory. The curriculum keeps abreast of contemporary issues such as gender theory, trauma theory, research in child development, and findings in neuroscience. Technique is taught in seminars and in Continuous Case Conferences, in which a single case is followed over the duration of the course. Development from infancy to adulthood is studied in a six-course sequence. Years Four and Five study special topics in Advanced Electives. An active Curriculum Committee reviews courses and explores ways in which new areas of knowledge may be incorporated into the program. Candidate representatives participate as voting members on the Curriculum Committee. Classes are held virtually, weekly, on Wednesday evenings. Starting and ending times of classes vary from year to year. All class sessions are one hour and fifteen minutes long. Specific class information (date, time, location, instructor) will be provided to students upon acceptance to the program.
Female Psychology 5 sessions, Instructor: A. Eichen This course examines psychoanalytic understanding of female psychology beginning with Freud's initial formulation and noting modifications and innovations within the framework of psychoanalytic theory. Recent contributions from direct infant observation are discussed. Transference & Countertransference 5 sessions, Instructor: S. Holtz Each week the class will l read one article and spend part of the class discussing this article. Students will come prepared with comments, questions, and criticisms. In the second part of each class, we will hear sessions from an ongoing analysis. Class will discuss this material as we would in a continuous case conference, paying close attention to transference, countertransference, and enactments. Psychoanalytic Assessment & Formulation 5 Sessions, Instructor: J. McElligott The purpose of this course is to provide you with a brief overview of the assessment process for psychodynamic therapy and psychoanalysis. I am including both since analytic cases often come from your therapy practices. We will try to cover this topic, as comprehensively as possible by considering the patient’s presentation, your countertransference, and therapeutic “match.” This course will be followed by “Deepening the Treatment” later in the year, which will expand upon our discussions here. We will consider the history of assessment, bedrock aspects of assessment (e.g. personality style, level of functioning, ego strength/psychological mindedness, defenses, sociological context} as well as listening for the transference and attending to the countertransference. We will focus on various process variables, such as how a person talks about their problem and responds to your trial interventions, the burgeoning connection, and the evolving complexities of the assessment process. Klein & Winnicott 5 sessions, Instructor: S. Akhtar At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
Trauma II 5 Sessions, Instructor: I.Brenner, R.Kluft This course provides an overview of contemporary analytic thinking about trauma, linking it with classical psychoanalytic views, trauma theory, and current psychiatric thinking. There is particular emphasis on such topics as developmental considerations (with an emphasis on attachment), repetition, enactments, reconstruction, traumatic memory, trauma-related disruptions of memory, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, the impact of trauma upon transference and countertransference, dissociative psychopathology, and modifications of technique in response to trauma-related psychopathology. It will discuss the evolution of a trauma-informed, dissociation-inclusive, and hypnotizability/dissociative-sensitive approach to both the understanding and treatment of mixed relational trauma and Criterion A PTSD severe stress trauma that reintegrates elements marginalized in psychoanalytic scholarship and clinical work since the 1890s. Developing Cases 5 Sessions Instructor: D. Rosenstein New course, description coming soon! Racism & Otherness 10 Sessions Instructor: S. Wyche This course will address discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, or sexual preference. Male Psychology 5 sessions, Instructor: L. Blum There appear to be few, if any, courses on male psychology taught nationally, perhaps because it used to be that learning psychoanalysis and learning male psychology were much the same pursuit. The unfortunate neglect of female psychology has been corrected in the last 40 years with new explorations of and courses on this subject. Specific focus on male psychology, however, has fallen into comparative obscurity, and in recent years trainees have had diminished opportunity to get a good grasp of it. This course is an effort to remedy this problem. Our first class will examine some of Freud’s contributions to this subject, along with those of a couple of short story writers. The second class will examine “pre-oedipal,” “oedipal,” and adolescent phase contribution to male development. The third class will focus on clinical presentations of typical male conflicts. The fourth will discuss alternative (i.e., non-heterosexual) developmental paths and masculinities. Finally, in our last meeting, we’ll look at contributions to the understanding of male psychology from the anthropological literature. You will find, as we go along, that this course can only serve as an introduction to the topic, a brief overview. We will try to attend to some of the major themes and controversies, focusing when possible on the history and evolution of thought about male psychology. We will also pay attention to what is and isn’t known, and with what degree of certainty or uncertainty we may know something, about this subject. It is important that you read critically. I trust that you understand that because something is on our reading list it does not mean that I endorse or agree with it. If something is on the reading list, it is because I think there is something we can learn from what it says, doesn’t say, or both. Adult Development and Aging 5 Sessions, Instructor: A. Eichen & P. Boguski This course will explore the psychological aspects of development across the adult life span. We will seek to understand the unique nature of adult development by considering the specific tasks and challenges that arise from young adulthood through very old age. We will explore how the unique developmental tasks in adulthood might guide our understanding of and work with our adult patients in the context of their particular stage of life. Psychoanalytic Writing 5 sessions, Instructor: M. Moore The central aim of this course is to encourage you to use writing as a way to reflect on your work with patients, to slow down and notice more, and to disentangle some of the complexities of the clinical moment. As it is also your first writing course as analytic candidates, I hope to show how important writing is to the development of your analytic identity, as you learn to find and express your own unique voice.
For this course, be prepared to write about and present material from ongoing analytic cases if possible, or from current therapy cases that you expect may eventually become analytic treatments. Also, the course will be more useful if you can write about the same patient each week. While we will briefly discuss the readings, I have included them primarily as an aid to your writing; so make sure to focus most of your time and effort on the writing assignments.
However, as the reading for this course is light, I do expect you to complete the short writing exercises, as they will form the core of the material that we will discuss each week. The weekly writing assignments are never more than 1-2 pages in length, and note that they are intended to be first drafts. Focus on getting your thoughts and impressions on the page; edits and corrections can always be made later. However, always read over what you have finished at least once, and preferably aloud. Listen for where it ceases to make sense or sounds awkward or stilted. That can indicate a need to rewrite that section, or to wonder about the shift in your writing.
As a group we will be focusing on each other’s writing. To share our writing with others can leave us feeling exposed and open to criticism. This is especially true of writing about analytic work that is deeply intimate, complicated, and messy. To ensure we all feel comfortable sharing our work, we will avoid “supervising” each other’s clinical work, strive to be curious rather than critical, and not presume to know better. Instead, we will aspire to read in a spirit of playfulness, compassion, and appreciation. And if we’re fortunate, we may also learn to write in that same spirit.
Adult Continuous Case Conference 10 Sessions, Instructor: S. Holtz The central aim and focus of this continuous case is to learn from the case material, learn from each other and to share our analytic ideas, approaches and views. The case will be a springboard for discussion. The overarching theme will be looking at the material from many different facets. At the completion of this course, students will be able to
Interpreting Dreams II 5 Sessions, Instructor, Instructor: B. Levin We will read a series of classic papers on dreams including a portion of Sigmund Freud’s book The Interpretation of Dreams highlighting one of the most famous dreams, the Irma Dream. We will use clinical material to discuss different types of dreams and how to analyze them. Object Relations II 6 Sessions, Instructor: A. Malone In Object Relations II we will look at dimensions of how Object Relations further evolved. After both Melanie Klein and Anna Freud came to London, there was great controversy between them {the Controversial Discussions). A Middle Group emerged that was neither Kleinian nor purely Anna Freudian (Ego Psychological). The writers from ORI (except Klein) were all in this group and had varying concerns. Fairbairn argued directly that libido was, from birth, object seeking and elaborated theory growing from this. Bowlby developed attachment theory from an ethological perspective. Winnicott never broke openly with either group but developed theories unique to his clinical observations that stress the emergence and empowerment and creativity of the self.
All the theorists we are reading in this course focus on the earliest experiences of the infant as profoundly formative. Labeling these as “preoedipal” (as Ego Psychologists do) assumes that the Oedipal Complex is the given and defining moment for all. This is often questioned indirectly in these formulations.
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Intersubjectivity 5 sessions, Instructor: S. Benser The current course will build on the concept of the analytic third as we discussed in the work of Benjamin, and more recent courses that covered papers by Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Thomas Ogden, and your introduction to the work of Wilfred Bion. The work of these innovators has evolved the two-person interpersonal psychology to a view of the psychoanalytic situation as an analytic field that encompasses the subjectivities of both patient and analyst where each is implicated in its co-construction- but are also formed by the field. We will also be reading work by Diane Elise who connects this turn back to our original foundation of the body ego, libido, and infantile sexuality by considering the erotic dimensions of the analytic field. This intersubjective view of psychoanalysis shifts the view of therapeutic efficacy from processing or uncovering historical object relational internalizations and conflicts to the potential expansion of psychic processes that allow for the emergence of authenticity, creativity and meaning. All of the readings are an opportunity to appreciate both the complexity and the ineffable aspects of psychic reality. Depression 5 sessions, Instructor: R. Fishkin At the completion of this course, students will be able to summarize and critique the classical and more recent psychoanalytic theories of the Depressions. Describe and compare the various clinical manifestations of depression, including its characteristic symptoms, character traits and dynamics. Study the clinical techniques necessary to address these manifestations of depressed adults and children by psychoanalytic treatment. Differentiate normal from pathological mourning and compare and contrast the various treatment techniques that have been shown to be effective for varieties of pathological mourning. Summarize the factors that contribute to suicide; enumerate the clinical signs of impending suicide; learn about interventions for suicide prevention and the treatment of suicidal patients; and discuss the effects of suicide on the therapist. Representations of Sexuality in PsA Process 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Singer At the completion of this course, students will be able to
Adv Psychoanalytic Process 5 Sessions, Instructor: H. Schwartz The Psychoanalytic Process is the bedrock of our clinical work. It is what we look for in defining psychoanalysis, cure, graduation and certification. At the same time it is an elusive concept – inter-rater reliability is weak though the stridency of various proponents is strong. We will be studying and comparing different authors’ views of the psychoanalytic process and noting how it relates to their theories of cure. Master’s Series: An Integrative Model of Lifespan Development: Choosing Love and Mourning or Refusing Love and Melancholia 10 Sessions, Instructor: W. Singletary New course, description coming soon! The Social Unconscious 5 sessions, Instructor: S. Ware In this course, we are going to take on Dorothy Evan Holmes’ call to articulate the various ways in which we internalize our community at large. The classical Freudian/object relational/self psychological models have lacked sufficient explanatory power for this endeavor. Some relational and intersubjective writers use concepts that move in the direction of conceptualizing a social unconscious- an idea derived in part from neighboring fields of group psychoanalysis/group dynamics and social science. Ogden and Benjamin’s concepts of an analytic third bring the dyad into a “small group” in relation to a third. The many field/interpersonal theories in psychoanalysis, by Sullivan, Ferro, and others, look at the individual in a social context, but focus on what the individual projects onto the field. Child/Adult Electives: Psychosomatics 5 Sessions, Instructor: B. Shapiro New class, course description coming soon! Elective: Adult- Civ & Its Discontents 5 Sessions, Instructor: E. Frattaroli One: At the end of the course students will be able to describe and comment on at least three theoretical inconsistencies they discover in reading the monograph, one of which must be, “How does Freud’s account of the superego in this monograph inconscistent with his account of it in any of his other writings on the topic? Two: Students will be able to explain why the superego as Freud discusses it here is a more accurate account–closer to what psychoanalysts observe every day in our clinical work–than that in “The Ego and the Id” or in “The New Introductory Lectures” Three and Four: In the first sentence of the monograph, Freud writes: “It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement—that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.” By the end of the course students will be able to answer the following two questions (first two learning objectives): 1. How, according to Freud, does the seeking of power, success and wealth, fit into Freud’s two unintegrated psychoanalytic theories of motivation? How can that ubiquitous motive (or set of motives to seek power, success and wealth) best be explained either in terms of the libido theory (which Freud never fully gave up) or in terms of the so-called dual-instinct theory of Eros and the death instinct (which Freud never fully embraced). 2. What DOES Freud consider to be “of true value in life?” and where in this monograph does he indicate what that is.
Varieties of Sexual Orientation 5 sessions, Instructor: I. Dyller This class is intended as an introduction to the varieties of sexual and relational orientation we encounter in our practices. We will begin with heterosexuality and consider some of the developmental factors that often get ignored with heterosexual patients and some of the variety that exists in heterosexual experience. We will spend the next several class sessions thinking about homosexuality—developmental experiences of children who are growing up gay, our discipline’s history (lasting into the present) of pathologizing homosexuality, the intersection of gender and homosexuality, internalized homophobia, and the experiences of both straight and LGBTQIA analysts working with the transference-countertransference with both straight and LGBTQIA analysands. In our last class session we will speak about bisexuality and non-monogamy (the latter better conceptualized as a relational orientation than as a sexual one) and how our field has, and more often has not, considered these topics. Adult Continuous Case Conference 10 Sessions, Instructor: S. Holtz A candidate will present process material from an analytic case on a weekly basis. Readings may be assigned as needed on topics which come up in the discussion. At the completion of this course, students will be able to discuss assessment of the ongoing analytic process and consider three relevant techniques applicable to the case. Candidates will identify two examples of transference and countertransference in the material presented and discuss how to work with them. Independent Study Project 5 Sessions, Instructor: J. Elkins At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
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Varieties of Therapeutic Action 10 sessions, Instructor B. Bozorgnia This course attempts to answer a simple question regarding psychoanalytic treatment: how does this work? The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with various perspectives on therapeutic action in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the hopes of allowing students to elaborate and articulate their own philosophies of therapeutic action. The class will follow a structure of 1) understanding theoretical concepts 2) understanding how these concepts are used (as technique) by experts in the field and 3) examining how our understanding and application of theory may be similar or different from the ideas presented. We will survey perspectives on therapeutic action from the major schools of contemporary psychoanalysis including: ego psychology, object relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. We will apply each perspective to actual clinical material from case histories in order to see how theory translates or fails to translate into specific forms of technique. Through clinical application we will interrogate how theories of therapeutic action (how psychoanalytic therapy is supposed to work) may correspond or differ from our actual intended therapeutic actions (how we actually practice psychoanalytic therapy). In doing so, we will create the foundation for a creative dialectic between theory and practice, which will render theory more realistic but also render our practice more considered and yet flexible. Objectives through reading are to describe the defining features of therapeutic action as described by ego psychology, object-relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. Understand the similarities and differences regarding therapeutic action for each school. Practice translating theories of therapeutic action into different therapeutic techniques. Articulate your own theory of therapeutic action and understand how this theory implicitly and explicitly influences your technique with patients. History of PSA 10 Sessions, Instructor: A. Malone New course, description coming soon!
Master’s Series: An Integrative Model of Lifespan Development: Choosing Love and Mourning or Refusing Love and Melancholia 10 Sessions, Instructor: W. Singletary 1) Participants will better understand the process of lifespan development and be able to use this to inform treatment. 2) Participants will develop a better understanding of dynamic systems theory, especially related to closed systems, and how to use this knowledge to benefit the treatment process. 3) Participants will develop a better understanding of the neurobiological aspects of development and how to use this knowledge to further growth in treatment Termination 5 sessions, Instructor: A. Smolar Participants will be able to define various aspects of the patient’s termination process, including resolution of the transference neurosis in both termination and post termination phases. Participants will be able to define the aspects of the analyst’s countertransference, including mourning. Child/Adult Electives: Psychosomatics 5 Sessions, Instructor: B. Shapiro New course, description coming soon! Child/Adult Continuous Case Conference 10 sessions Instructors: C. Huddleston & S. Pulver A candidate will present process material from an analytic case on a weekly basis. Readings may be assigned as needed on topics which come up in the discussion. At the completion of this course, students will be able to discuss assessment of the ongoing analytic process and consider three relevant techniques applicable to the case. Candidates will identify two examples of transference and countertransference in the material presented and discuss how to work with them. Writing Workshop 5 Sessions, Instructor: S. Levine Description coming soon! Capstone Course: Independent Study Projects 5 Sessions, Instructor J. Elkins At the completion of this course, students will be able to:
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PSA Advanced, Master Classes, Electives, and Combined Years The Masters Series classes are required for Third, Fourth, and Fifth Year Candidates and are open to analytic and psychotherapy members of the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. The topics for the Masters Series courses vary each year, but below are examples of course offerings from previous academic years. Varieties of Therapeutic Action 10 sessions, Instructor: B. Bozorgnia This course attempts to answer a simple question regarding psychoanalytic treatment: how does this work? The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with various perspectives on therapeutic action in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the hopes of allowing students to elaborate and articulate their own philosophies of therapeutic action. The class will follow a structure of 1) understanding theoretical concepts 2) understanding how these concepts are used (as technique) by experts in the field and 3) examining how our understanding and application of theory may be similar or different from the ideas presented. We will survey perspectives on therapeutic action from the major schools of contemporary psychoanalysis including: ego psychology, object relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. We will apply each perspective to actual clinical material from case histories in order to see how theory translates or fails to translate into specific forms of technique. Through clinical application we will interrogate how theories of therapeutic action (how psychoanalytic therapy is supposed to work) may correspond or differ from our actual intended therapeutic actions (how we actually practice psychoanalytic therapy). In doing so, we will create the foundation for a creative dialectic between theory and practice, which will render theory more realistic but also render our practice more considered and yet flexible. Objectives through reading are to describe the defining features of therapeutic action as described by ego psychology, object-relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. Understand the similarities and differences regarding therapeutic action for each school. Practice translating theories of therapeutic action into different therapeutic techniques. Articulate your own theory of therapeutic action and understand how this theory implicitly and explicitly influences your technique with patients. Master’s Series: An Integrative Model of Lifespan Development: Choosing Love and Mourning or Refusing Love and Melancholia 10 Sessions, Instructor: W. Singletary New course, description coming soon!
Child/Adult Electives: Psychosomatics 5 Sessions, Instructor: B. Shapiro New course, description coming soon! Elective: Adult- Civ & Its Discontents 5 Sessions, Instructor: E. Frattaroli New course, description coming soon! Child/Adult Continuous Case Conference 10 sessions, Instructors: C. Huddleston & S. Pulver A candidate will present process material from an analytic case on a weekly basis. Readings may be assigned as needed on topics which come up in the discussion. At the completion of this course, students will be able to discuss assessment of the ongoing analytic process and consider three relevant techniques applicable to the case. Candidates will identify two examples of transference and countertransference in the material presented and discuss how to work with them.
Adult Continuous Case Conference 10 Sessions, Instructor: S. Holtz A candidate will present process material from an analytic case on a weekly basis. Readings may be assigned as needed on topics which come up in the discussion. At the completion of this course, students will be able to discuss assessment of the ongoing analytic process and consider three relevant techniques applicable to the case. Candidates will identify two examples of transference and countertransference in the material presented and discuss how to work with them ____________________________________________________________________
Having identified in our candidates a gap in the understanding of how to deepen treatment in child and adolescent cases dedicated to psychoanalytic working through of core psychological difficulties and/or those cases determined to be suitable for psychoanalysis. The pivotal areas of work around therapeutic alliance, transference and defense interpretations, mental structures (including self/object representations), developmental tasks and parent work will be identified and discussed. Pertinent papers will be used to enhance the discussion.
1. Candidates/students will be able to analyze the deeper workings of the unconscious mind, drives, attachment, structures, defenses, self/object representations, etc when and where appropriate through analytic cases of different phases: Toddlerhood, Childhood, and Adolescence.
2. Candidates/students will be able to monitor the effectiveness of their psychoanalytic interventions and adjust accordingly.
3. Candidates/students will discuss how to prepare parents of their child/adolescent patients to be receptive to the inner world of their children
Child Seminars: Child Seminar-Psychotherapy Case 7 Sessions, Instructor: B. Kravis & C. Huddleston
Group Supervisions: Young Child Continuous Case Conference 6 Sessions Instructor: J. Brown
Group Supervisions: Adolescent Case Conference 6 Sessions Instructor: C. Masur, J. Cunliffe
FOPT The Foundational Course entails one year of classes and provides a comprehensive framework for understanding psychoanalytic theory and its application to clinical work. The curriculum also includes monthly group supervision linked to class topics and Balint process group sessions, both of which are designed to help integrate didactic learning with clinical experience and to facilitate the use of self in our work. The two-year Intensive Course provides further immersion in psychoanalytic theory and practice for students seeking to deepen what they learned in the Foundational Year or for experienced clinicians seeking to improve their practice of psychoanalytic therapy. Teaching is supplemented by group supervision that focuses on specific topics and case conferences that follow individual cases over several weeks. Classes are held weekly on Tuesdays from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, beginning in September, at Rockland Mansion, E. Fairmount Park, 3810 Mt. Pleasant Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19121. All class sessions are one hour and thirty minutes long. Specific class information (date, time, location, instructor) will be provided to students upon acceptance to the program.
Motivation 5 Sessions, Instructor: F. Tisano What motivates us as human beings is complex, the result of many factors which occupy our minds from moment to moment, day to day. What distinguishes psychoanalytic conceptions of motivation from those of other psychologies is the view that much of what directs us in our daily activities is based on unconscious forces, the nature of which we are totally unaware, or at best, dimly aware. This course will explain how feelings are central to human motivation. Describe how motivation changes across the lifespan. Appreciate the role of love and connectedness as key to life satisfaction. Appreciate the role of purposeful work and belonging in community as key to life satisfaction. Appreciate the role of play, creativity, and spontaneity as key to life satisfaction. History of Psychoanalytic Concepts 5 sessions, Instructor: P. Hoffer This course will attempt to trace this development with an emphasis on three basic concepts: trauma, the Oedipus complex, and transference, all of which have played a central role in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, as they have evolved over time. By way of illustration of this process, a number of writings by prominent psychoanalytic thinkers have been selected to illustrate the roles that these concepts have played in their clinical practice and theorizing at the time of writing. Metapsychological Perspectives 5 Sessions, Instructor: S. Akhtar This 5-session course will delineate, define and describe the conceptual notions subsumed under the term ‘metapsychology’. Freud coined this term to designate a set of vertices that deconstructed mental phenomena and helped reveal their deeper meanings. There were 3 such vertices, which Freud referred to as ‘perspectives’. These were (1) The Topographic Perspective, (2) the Dynamic Perspective and (3) the Economic Perspective. A little over four decades later Rapaport elaborated on the metapsychology in further detail and added many other perspectives, two of which are still widely recognized. These are (4) the Genetic Perspective and (5) the Adaptive perspective. The course being offered here will address these five perspectives and illustrate their theoretical basis as well as their clinical relevance At the completion of this course, students will be able to enumerate the perspectives of Freudian metapsychology, distinguish the later additions to this theory, and utilize these new insights to improve his or her clinical approach. Introduction to Psychoanalytic Listening 5 Sessions, Instructor: I. Dyller, P. Boguski The purpose of this course is to introduce some central concepts and techniques of psychoanalytic listening with special attention paid to objective, subjective, empathic and intersubjective approaches. We will consider the advantages and limitations of each approach while applying such concepts both in and out of the clinical setting. Our first class provides an overview of each of these techniques. The following four classes will go over a relevant paper on a particular mode of listening, allowing us to explore the topic at a deeper level and also solidify our understanding of the topic. To facilitate our understanding, we will apply the main modes of listening to works of art as a way to practice listening analytically. We will also use this practical application as a means to constructively critique the particular mode of listening. I encourage students to first read the psychoanalytic paper for each week and then either watch, read, or listen to the work of art, coming up with some ideas of how the ideas presented in the essay might be used to understand the motivations (conscious and unconscious) of the central character(s) of the piece. As you feel more adept with the concepts being presented, I encourage everyone to apply what you learn to patient encounters and share what you come up with. The more discussion we are able to have the more we can all learn. Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns you may have. At the completion of this course, students will be able to describe the four methods of psychoanalytic listening: objective, subjective, empathic, and intersubjective, apply these methods of listening to the material provided as a means to practice applying them to clinical material, begin to develop how different modes of listening lead to different interventions. Development: Infancy 5 Sessions, Instructor: B. Shapiro, Y. Zhang The purpose of this course is to give you some knowledge and understanding about development in the first year. We will also discuss implications for working with older children, adolescents, and adults in the psychoanalytically based psychotherapies, including psychoanalysis. Because this course is about infants and the modes of communicating with infants are largely non verbal, we will be viewing images on slides and videos as a major way of conveying material in a manner that involves the senses, and not just words and intellect. Participants will be able to describe and discuss various developmental processes in the first year of life, specifically those affecting the infant’s growing ability for: psychophysiologic regulation; the senses of self and self-with-other; intersubjectivity; and attunement. Participants will be able to describe the dyadic systems model; non-verbal communication; self and mutual regulation; mood states; the still face paradigm; and cross cultural differences, and begin to apply these concepts to their work with older children and adults. Participants will be able to describe problems that hinder infant development, such as the sequelae of early abuse and neglect, the impact of parental depression for infants, and one time severe trauma, and begin to apply this knowledge to clinical or real life situations. Fundamentals of Technique 5 Sessions, Instructor: J. McLaughlin, K. McCarthy, L. Katz Course description coming soon! Development Over The Lifespan: The Toddlerhood (16 months-36 months) 5 Sessions Instructor: B. Gray, A. Marchese This course focuses on the developmental issues that emerge in the second and third years of life. These include: separation/individuation; autonomy; shame; aggression; language and symbolization; object constancy; the discovery of sexual differences and gender; and the development of inner conflict. We will explore the above issues from a psychoanalytic theoretical perspective while simultaneously making use of a developmental perspective to further our understanding. In addition we will look at the multiple determinants of behavior, intrapsychic functioning, and the dynamic interaction between child and family/environment. These factors provide the underpinnings for technique. While this is not a technique course, and we will concentrate on theory, it is useful to keep in mind how these factors speak to the therapeutic relationship, interpretation, other interventions, and clinical challenges. It is useful to contemplate the interplay between theory, clinical concepts and practice.
Core Psychodynamic Problems 2 sessions, Instructor: R. Summers This course will present a contemporary model of psychodynamic therapy. We begin with a discussion of the notion of the core psychodynamic problem, review each of the six core problems – depression, obsessionality, fear of abandonment, low self-esteem, panic anxiety and trauma – and conclude with a consideration of how to choose the core problem most useful for each patient. Learning objectives:
Assessment 3 sessions, Instructor: M. Moore For many practitioners, assessment entails an initial evaluation of a patient’s presenting problems, often with a focus on symptoms, and creating a treatment plan to alleviate those symptoms. Psychoanalytic psychotherapists also have a keen interest in symptoms, and the history of their formation, but a key feature that distinguishes psychoanalytic assessment is our wider focus on the person in whom the symptom is occurring. To that end, in conducting an assessment, we try to clarify the wider context for understanding a patient’s presenting problems; including their developmental history, relational world, character type and level of psychological functioning (levels of organization). Assessment can help determine the choice of treatment and where on the supportive-expressive-exploratory continuum our work should begin. Assessment is also a continuous process as we need to evaluate the effects of our interventions, and to determine if and how treatment is helping.Students will be able to identify the key elements that differentiate psychodynamic assessments from other clinical forms of evaluation. Students will be able to use techniques of assessment to determine the central concerns of patients and how to engage them in the therapeutic process. Students will be able to articulate potential biases in how they assess and understand patients, and to evaluate their ongoing impact on treatment. Psychopathology 5 Sessions, Instructors: TBD, S. Stehle Trauma 5 Sessions, Instructor: F. Schwoeri, J. Cunliffe & Flibbert This course provides an overview of contemporary analytic thinking about trauma, linking it with classical psychoanalytic views, trauma theory, and current psychiatric thinking. There is particular emphasis on such topics as developmental considerations (with an emphasis on attachment), repetition, enactments, reconstruction, traumatic memory, trauma-related disruptions of memory, the inter-generational transmission of trauma, the impact of trauma upon transference and countertransference, dissociative psychopathology, and modifications of technique in response to trauma-related psychopathology. It will discuss the evolution of a trauma-informed, dissociation-inclusive, and hypnotizability/dissociative-sensitive approach to both the understanding and treatment of mixed relational trauma and Criterion A PTSD severe stress trauma that reintegrates elements marginalized in psychoanalytic scholarship and clinical work since the 1890s. Infantile Genital Phase 5 Sessions, Instructor: F. Tisano, C. Huddleston The course is designed to cover the child developmental period of the infantile genital phase which includes a dyadic preoedipal phase classically called the phallic narcissistic phase and the triadic oedipal phase as well as to understand how the residue of this period is thought to underpin neurosis in adults. Learning objectives are that participants will be able to discuss the differences between the preoedipal genital phase and the oedipal phase proper, will be able to describe the structuralization of the oedipal child’s mind and its future impact on mental functioning, and will be able to identify oedipal conflicts manifesting in adult psychopathology. Balint Group 5 Sessions, Instructor: G. Margo & S.Ware, M. Moore A Balint group is a group of clinicians who meet regularly and present clinical cases in order to better understand the clinician-patient relationship. The focus of the group is on enhancing the clinician’s ability to connect with and care for the patient. A Balint group session begins with a member presenting a case for the group to discuss. The group learns about the patient through the presenter’s story, which includes not only the “facts” of the case but also the presenter’s reactions and responses to the patient. During the facilitated discussion the group members uncover different and new perceptions about the patient's and clinician’s feelings and their experiences with each other. Balint process groups serve to develop a new sensitivity to unconscious processes at work in the therapist-patient relationship, and the role of the facilitators is to help participants examine their experience of the case and also to wonder about the patient’s experience of the treatment. This Balint group will have two leaders to facilitate the process. The success of a group depends on group members being honest, respectful, and supportive of divergent opinions. The group will meet approximately once every month and each student in the class will be encouraged to present a case at least once. The content of the group is confidential.
Writing & Formulation 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Moore The purpose of this course is to help you make psychodynamic formulations that will serve as working hypotheses about why your patients act, think, and feel as they do, and guide you in deciding how best to treat them. Furthermore, the class will prepare you to write case write-ups describing the work you do with your therapy patients. Psychodynamic case writing may be quite different from other forms of clinical report writing that you have mastered. We hope that you will come to experience writing as a helpful and creative process that deepens your understanding of your therapy cases, and that you will feel encouraged to share your writing with your peers in the future. You will be using your ability to construct formulations and to write brief reports throughout your training experience at PCOP. By mid-December, we require that you have a complete 3-page report that provides a brief formulation about one of your patients. You will be assigned a member of faculty who will provide constructive feedback about this report. You will be expected to write a second 3-page report by the year of the Foundation Year, and you will also receive feedback on this later report. If you continue into the Intensive portion of the program you will submit one report towards the end of each year, and we will have assigned tutors use them to highlight how your understanding and competence as a psychodynamic therapist has developed and help address those areas in need of further work. Also whenever you present one of your cases as part of a formal case discussion during the last class of a particular course, or for continuous case conference, you will be expected to provide a 1-page brief history and formulation to the class. _______________________________________________________________________________ Practice Psychoanalysis 4 Sessions, Instructor: M. Field The goal of these four sessions is to give you a broad overview of basic aspects of the psychoanalytic situation, attitude, process and technique. These issues will be dealt with in more depth in future courses. Our aim is to give you a preliminary vision of how all these ideas tie together. These ideas take time to integrate. Please write a short paper describing a situation that incorporates one or more aspects of what you have learned in this course. Neurosis 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Canino Objectives are that students will be able to describe what is meant by the term “neurosis”. Students will be able to assess for and identify different types of neurotic presentations (aka “neurotic styles”). Students will be able to identify the associated developmental drives, affects, defenses, and transference/countertransferences for each neurotic style. Students will be able to apply their understanding of neurotic character toward the clinical encounter to address neurotic problems. At its most basic level neurosis can be understood as repetitive symptomatic patterns of behavior that result from internal conflicts as informed by underlying character structure. These conflicts are typically related to childhood experiences and at times trauma. Patients in psychotherapy and analysis often present in some degree of distress which can be understood as their unconscious compromise between these conflicts. Although each person is unique, there are common clusters of symptoms that have been categorized and described by David Shapiro as “neurotic styles” in his books Neurotic Styles and Psychotherapy of Neurotic Character. Nancy McWilliams defines these more along the lines of personality types and expounds upon them in her book Psychoanalytic Diagnosis. In this course we will review a subset of these categories using these books and additional literature and to better identify, assess, and treat these styles using an understanding of their associated developmental drives, affects, defenses, and transference/countertransferences. Psychoanalytic Process and Psychotherapeutic Progress 5 Sessions, Instructor M. Moore New course, description coming soon!
Structural Theory 7 Sessions, Instructor: S. Stehle New course, description coming soon! Narcissism 5 Sessions, Instructor: D. Lopez We will be reading and discussing how narcissistic difficulties develop, how they disrupt people’s lives, and a range of therapeutic approaches to effectively tailor treatment to the particular needs of your patients. I look forward to hearing any clinical information you would like to bring to class, and hope each of you can share a clinical moment that resonates with something in our readings. Overall learning objectives: At the end of this course the student will be able to describe and effectively assess narcissistic personality disorders and pathology and discuss approaches to treatment.
Transference 5 Sessions: R. Gross, R. Fishkin Course description coming soon! Object Relations 5 Sessions, Instructor: S. Pulver In Object Relations II we will look at dimensions of how Object Relations further evolved. After both Melanie Klein and Anna Freud came to London, there was great controversy between them {the Controversial Discussions). A Middle Group emerged that was neither Kleinian nor purely Anna Freudian (Ego Psychological). The writers from ORI (except Klein) were all in this group and had varying concerns. Fairbairn argued directly that libido was, from birth, object seeking and elaborated theory growing from this. Bowlby developed attachment theory from an ethological perspective. Winnicott never broke openly with either group but developed theories unique to his clinical observations that stress the emergence and empowerment and creativity of the self. All the theorists we are reading in this course focus on the earliest experiences of the infant as profoundly formative. Labeling these as “preoedipal” (as Ego Psychologists do) assumes that the Oedipal Complex is the given and defining moment for all. This is often questioned indirectly in these formulations. Countertransference 5 Sessions, Instructor: R. Fishkin, L. Katz Countertransference class objectives are for students to gain an understanding of the history of countertransference. Students will be able to articulate ways in which hate in the countertransference can be understood and managed in therapy. Students will be able to describe different types of countertransference love and how to avoid pitfalls, and students will gain a preliminary understanding of how to manage projective identification and enactments in treatment. The therapeutic encounter can stir up strong emotional responses in the therapist as well as in the patient. Understanding and sensitively handling countertransference is an integral part of therapeutic work. We will consider ways to listen for, become aware of, and determine how to handle our reactions to our patients. We will discuss the nature of enactments and how to understand and use them to advance the therapy. Bring questions and case examples to discuss in class. Modern Conflict Theory 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Nayar-Akhtar In this course we will examine the primary tenets of modern conflict theory. Focusing on psychic structure we will explore both pathological and non-pathological solutions to conflict as well as introduce the notion of adaptation and defensive structures in coping with life experiences. We will briefly examine countertransference and implications of intersubjectivity in modern conflict theory and implications for technique and practice. Compromise formation as an organizing principle will be the central theme of the course as it defines the quintessential nature of modern conflict theory practice. Continuous Case Conference I 5 Sessions Instructor: S. Holtz There will be a description of an adult case and then discussion by group members about the case. Learning objectives are to improve understanding of adult psychodynamics, to improve understanding of the technique of psychotherapy with adults, and to better understand countertransference issues. Free Association 5 Sessions, Instructor: D. Cornfield Course description coming soon! Borderline Organization 5 Sessions, Instructor: F.Schwoeri At the completion of this course, students will be able to describe the development and evolution of psychoanalytic theory and technique in the understanding and treatment of borderline level disorders. Understand the concepts of splitting, projective identification, and countertransference and their particular relevance to treatment of persons with borderline level disorders. As well as understand the use of the therapist’s self in treatment. Throughout the course, participants are encouraged to discuss identity-disguised clinical examples from their own practices when relevant to the topic being presented. PsA Reading of First Person Short Stories As Case Studies 5 Sessions, Instructors: D. Sachs, R. Fishkin, M. Moore How do we assess and select a patient who is suitable for analysis? How does this assessment method aid us in setting up the analytic treatment frame and influence how we listen and think about the clinical material? To address these questions, we are reading five short stories, most written in the first person. Adolescence 5 Sessions, Instructor: A. Wortman, D. Lopez At the completion of this course, students will be able to 1: To broaden your knowledge of the psychoanalytic understanding of adolescent development. 2: To examine several concepts that are key to a contemporary analytic conception of the adolescent period: separation from parents, movement toward adulthood, sexual identity, consolidation of the superego and the ego ideal. 3: We will address adolescent themes, struggles and conflicts in the treatment of adult patients Continuous Case Conference II 5 Sessions There will be a description of an adult case and then discussion by group members about the case. Learning Objectives are to improve understanding of adult psychodynamics, to improve understanding of the technique of psychotherapy with adults, and to better understand countertransference issues Psychoanalytic Process and Psychotherapeutic Progress 5 Sessions Instructor: M. Moore Course description coming soon!
Transference 5 Sessions, Instructor: L. Fishkin The course will provide a sample of important papers on the topic of transference with the goal of providing both a historical perspective and showing the evolution and use of the concept over time. Much of what has been written about transference is in relation to psychoanalytic treatment, but I encourage you to consider how it is also present in your therapy cases. Please prepare a brief (no more than one page) vignette from one of your clinical cases which demonstrates transference material. Goals are that students will be able to define the concept of transference, students will be able to explain how transference applies to their work, and students will be able to distinguish various forms of transference and understand their clinical implications. Development: Latency 4 Sessions, Instructors: R. Cruz, A. Wortman This course focuses on child development that takes place between the ages of approximately six and twelve years. Historically, this had been referred to as the period of Latency, a supposedly quiet periodcharacterized by a “biological lessening of drive activities” (Freud, 1926), during which ego defenses are reorganized and behavior is static.Through our readings, observations and discussions, however we will quickly see that this is in fact a rich, complex, fascinating and delightful period during which a great many physical, emotional and cognitive changes take place. We will explore paths of normal development as well as deviations and interruptions which can complicate adaptation and lead to more pathological means of adjustment. Implications for treatment will also be explored as well as some more specific changes characterizing preadolescence Defense and Resistance 4 Sessions, Instructor: Jill Mc Elligott & C.DiOrio The purpose of this course is to provide you with a brief overview of defense and resistance as it manifests itself within the clinical process. We will explore this seminal aspect of clinical theory and practice in all of its dynamic complexity, starting from the nature of its discovery, to its mid-century resurgence, swiftly moving to a contemporary examination of some of the bedrock motives for defense and resistance and the mutuality of defense and resistance in the analytic process. We will examine the notion of intrapsychic danger in all of its complexities (e.g. defense and resistance come in many forms, defend against various painful contents and serve many conflictual purposes); why it is an inevitable part of any treatment (along with the inevitable countertransference); and how it is connected to gaining access to increasingly deeper layers of warded off feelings, deepens the therapeutic process and creates the context for an emotionally transformative experience for everyone involved. I hope you leave this course with a picture of its historical context, intrigued by its emotional intricacies; and supported and strengthened by appreciating the intellectual and emotional excitements and rigors facing the analyst working in the throes of defense and resistance. Gender & Sexuality 5 Sessions, Instructor: TBD We will be reading and discussing how narcissistic difficulties develop, and a range of therapeutic approaches. The classes will start with a lecture period and be followed by the group dividing into two groups to discuss the material more in depth. This will be an opportunity to include any clinical information you would like to discuss. At the completion of this course, students will be able to assess narcissistic personality disorders and pathology and discuss approaches to treatment. Describe different presentations of narcissistic pathology and some of the developmental contributions to these difficulties. Identify common defenses, conflicts and effects in patients with narcissistic personality disorders and describe approaches to the patient with intolerance to shame and connection. Ethics 5 Sessions, Instructor: Multiple Faculty In this course on Ethics, which we view as a life-long and evolving foundation for psychoanalytic practice, we hope to highlight ethical concerns, conflicts, and dilemmas that surface in beginning, conducting, terminating, and even following a psychoanalytic treatment. As you all know, the most conspicuous ethical matter that has garnered attention within and from outside our field has been that of boundary violations, most notoriously of the sexual kind, and we will be focusing on that subject within our course. We will also be focusing on non-sexual boundary matters, such as self-disclosures, gift exchanges, dual relationships, fee negotiation, and potential conflicts of interest for the analyst. We will discuss how ethical considerations regarding some of these issues may shift over the course of a long treatment. We will touch on reporting obligations for the analyst, and on the candidate’s perspective regarding breaches of ethical conduct. We will assign some readings about ethical considerations inherent in writing about the clinical experience. We will talk about institutional dynamics surrounding an ethical violation. And finally, we will have one class devoted to the ethical perspective regarding informed consent when you begin a psychoanalytic treatment, and engage your patient in a dialogue about the pros and cons of analytic treatment while you are candidates, subject to the impingements of the educational system and the supervisory process. Of course, for each of these subjects, we will welcome students’ case vignettes from their own clinical experiences. Working With Dreams 5 Sessions, Instructor: L. Blum In our five classes we’ll plan to learn some general knowledge and theory of dreaming, to read a few classic articles, and study one of the most famous dreams in history (along with some additional remarkable dreams). At the same time, we’ll try to maintain a clinical focus, discussing the place of dreams in the therapeutic process, and considering vignettes from your practices and mine. In the first session, I’ll give a small lecture on sleep, dreams, and analytic theory of dreams. We’ll read a chapter by Charles Brenner and a brief paper by Elio Frattaroli, a member of our faculty. An optional recently published paper provides a contemporary review of psychoanalytic dream theories in relation to empirical research. In each of the following sessions we will discuss one important article, and then discuss a case which will afford us the opportunity to consider dreams in relation to psychotherapeutic processes. Enactments 5 Sessions, Instructor: L. Blum This class will examine the concept of Enactments in relation to the history of technique. The first class will address the handling of enactments prior to the advent of the use of the concept, along with the introduction of the concept to the literature. The second class will explore the expansion of the use of the concept in our literature. Our third class will include some articles from the relational part of the analytic literature. Our final class contains an odd mixture of readings which I will explain when we meet. There is a fair amount of reading, but I think you’ll find it worthwhile. The readings will be discussed in some detail, including in the first class, so be ready. Pay careful attention to the clinical vignettes in the readings for these classes. As always, come prepared to question, comment, critique, etc. ______________________________________________________________________ Our Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training Program offers a comprehensive curriculum designed to equip students with advanced skills and insights in treating a range of psychological issues. Participants will engage in specialized courses tailored to deepen their understanding and practice in key areas of psychodynamic theory and clinical application. Courses combine theoretical lectures and case studies to ensure participants gain both theoretical knowledge and hands-on clinical skills. Experienced faculty members facilitate discussions and provide personalized feedback to enhance learning and application. Upon completion, participants will be equipped with enhanced clinical competencies and a deeper understanding of psychodynamic principles and their application across diverse clinical contexts. They will be prepared to integrate advanced techniques into their practice, contributing to improved patient outcomes and enhanced therapeutic relationships. Classes are held weekly on Tuesdays from 6:00pm to 9:00pm, beginning in September, at Rockland Mansion, E. Fairmount Park, 3810Mt. Pleasant Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19121. All class sessions are one hour and thirty minutes long. Specific class information (date, time, location, instructor) will be provided to students upon acceptance to the program.
Eating Disorders 5 Sessions, Instructor: P. Walsh Integrating Psychodynamic Psychotherapy with other modalities (Cognitive Behavioral/Educational, Biological, Cultural/Feminist, and Family Theory) to treat the whole person. This course introduces the history and treatment of eating disorders, reviews current theories in eating disorders, and encourages the clinician to think in a multifaceted way when evaluating and treating a person with disordered eating. At the completion of the course, the participant will be able to name and differentiate three distinct eating disorders as well as how they fit into a continuum of disordered eating. Identify and apply two or more techniques of psychodynamic psychotherapy in a complementary way with other treatment modalities to deepen the treatment of a person with disordered eating. As well as identify and use transference and countertransference responses specific to work with persons with disordered eating, particularly the therapist’s body, as material. Adulthood 5 Sessions, Instructor: D. Livney Development does not cease once childhood and adolescence have been negotiated. Adulthood brings new challenges and opportunities to develop and to rework his/her core conflicts.
Together, we will read Vallaint’s views on what development means in the context of adulthood, and Levinson, who will provide us with a model of adult stages of development. We will also look at articles which will help us to connect developmental models with the psychoanalytic, and to help us to think about areas where other models of adult development are appropriate.
At the completion of this course, students will be able to describe developmental adaptation processes across the adult life cycle. Be able to describe a stage model of adult life cycle development, and be able to identify multi-cultural and non-stage models of adult life cycle development.
Varieties of Therapeutic Action 5 sessions, Instructors: F. Engel & T. Ruutiainen This course attempts to answer a simple question regarding psychoanalytic treatment: how does this work? The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with various perspectives on therapeutic action in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the hopes of allowing students to elaborate and articulate their own philosophies of therapeutic action. The class will follow a structure of 1) understanding theoretical concepts 2) understanding how these concepts are used (as technique) by experts in the field and 3) examining how our understanding and application of theory may be similar or different from the ideas presented. We will survey perspectives on therapeutic action from the major schools of contemporary psychoanalysis including: ego psychology, object relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. We will apply each perspective to actual clinical material from case histories in order to see how theory translates or fails to translate into specific forms of technique. Through clinical application we will interrogate how theories of therapeutic action (how psychoanalytic therapy is supposed to work) may correspond or differ from our actual intended therapeutic actions (how we actually practice psychoanalytic therapy). In doing so, we will create the foundation for a creative dialectic between theory and practice, which will render theory more realistic but also render our practice more considered and yet flexible. Objectives through reading are to describe the defining features of therapeutic action as described by ego psychology, object-relations, self-psychology, and relational psychoanalysis. Understand the similarities and differences regarding therapeutic action for each school. Practice translating theories of therapeutic action into different therapeutic techniques. Articulate your own theory of therapeutic action and understand how this theory implicitly and explicitly influences your technique with patients. Substance Abuse 5 sessions, Instructors: F. Baurer & C. Giannasio This course provides an overview of the psychoanalytic concepts and theories of substance abuse and addictive disorders. Emphasis will be on current ideas and approaches. We will explore issues including differentiating symptomatic substance abuse vs. addiction, etiologic factors in addictive disorders, the biology/psychology interface in addictions, integration of 12-Step programs with psychotherapeutic approaches, trauma, helplessness, and addiction. Learning objectives are to describe Baurer’s model for addiction psychotherapy in these areas, separate addictive illness from addicted person, contain addictive illness, find empathy for addicted person, and function as “primary care therapist” (Khantzian) Utilize Khantzian's 4 dimensions of self-regulation vulnerability as a model for understanding genesis, progression and reversal of addictive illness. Conceptualize addiction and recovery as co-occurring processes simultaneously active within the individual. Relate the dynamics of trauma to those of addiction. Describe Dodes’ ideas on narcissistic rage and helplessness. Discuss Wurmser’s views of the harsh superego in the addicted person. Discussions on Difference 5 Sessions, Instructor: S. Adleman This course will consider human diversity including race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, religion, and ability. In this course, we will not explicitly cover sexual orientation or gender differences, as these are covered in two other curriculum courses. Within a context of thinking psychodynamically, we will examine these questions: What can we understand about how difference and the dynamics of diversity, privilege, and oppression shape the intrapsychic and play out in the relational field? How do our theories aid us in understanding and working with difference and in what ways do they limit us or perpetuate harm? Learning objectives are that at the conclusion of this course students will be able to apply and communicate an understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences, the unconscious mind, the interpersonal, and the treatment process. As well as articulate ways that psychoanalytic theory helps and limits us in working successfully with different patients. Mind & Body 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Peterson An understanding of mind/body relationships is integral for psychotherapists, as body and mind are inextricably connected in various and complex ways throughout human development, from infancy through old age. The interrelated expressions of psyche and soma are ubiquitous in human experience and clinical practice. We experience ourselves and communicate with others with our bodies as much as we do by words. Our most central and continuous experience lies in our bodies - the core self. Affect itself is embodied, psychosomatic. Children, adolescents, and adults may present with their primary concerns being bodily symptoms not associated with any defined medical disease. These symptoms include pain, fatigue, dizziness, paralysis, and so forth. (You will find the term ‘medically unexplained symptoms’ in the contemporary literature.) The symptoms may be part of a transient developmental twist or stressor, or may be part of more major and enduring struggles. We will focus on understanding how mind and body are interrelated, how these connections become problematic and symptomatic, and implications for clinical practice. Many of the readings are of clinical cases, and we will discuss clinical cases, yours and mine, throughout the course.
Psychosis 5 Sessions, Instructor: I. Hurford At the completion of this course, students will be able to develop an understanding of a psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory of the origins of psychosis, understand the general principles of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic treatment of psychosis, and appreciate the effort involved in the psychodynamic treatment of those at the psychotic level of organization. Case Conference IV 5 Sessions, Instructor: J. Jessar Course description coming soon!
Depression and Masochism 4 sessions, Instructor: TBD This course will explore the theoretical underpinnings of depression, both as a clinical state and as an effect. The course begins with Freud’s concepts of depression as rooted in early object loss and its relation to mourning, through Freud’s differentiation of mourning from the state of depression. Brenner’s reformulation of depression as an affected state in response to an experienced calamity will be presented in contrast to Freud. The relationship of masochism to depression though identification with a hated object will be discussed. The course will have a heavy focus on the presentation and discussion of clinical material provided both by the students and faculty. Students should be prepared to present case vignettes several times during the course. Learning objectives are to summarize the basic psychoanalytic theory of depression and of masochism, recognize the clinical presentation of conflict based depression and masochism, and apply the technique of psychodynamic psychotherapy to depression and to masochism. Continuous Case Conference: Termination 5 sessions, Instructor: TBD Participants will be able to define various aspects of the patient’s termination process, including resolution of the transference neurosis in both termination and post termination phases. Participants will be able to define the aspects of the analyst’s countertransference, including mourning. Trauma and Dissociative Disorders 5 Sessions, Instructors: R. Kluft & I. Brenner This course provides an overview of contemporary analytic thinking about trauma, linking it with classical psychoanalytic views, trauma theory, and current psychiatric thinking. There is particular emphasis on such topics as developmental considerations (with an emphasis on attachment), repetition, enactments, reconstruction, traumatic memory, trauma-related disruptions of memory, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, the impact of trauma upon transference and countertransference, dissociative psychopathology, and modifications of technique in response to trauma-related psychopathology. It will discuss the evolution of a trauma-informed, dissociation-inclusive, and hypnotizability/dissociative-sensitive approach to both the understanding and treatment of mixed relational trauma and Criterion A PTSD severe stress trauma that reintegrates elements marginalized in psychoanalytic scholarship and clinical work since the 1890s. Technique VII: Group Psychotherapy 5 sessions, Instructor: A. Smolar In this course, we will be discussing group psychotherapy as a psychotherapeutic treatment modality. We will briefly discuss the origins of group psychotherapy as a modality, its having branched away from psychoanalysis, and its re-entry into the psychodynamic field as a treatment option. Most of the course will focus on the nuts and bolts of establishing a long-term psychotherapy group: the indications for the treatment modality, patient selection, stages of group development, therapeutic factors in operation, leadership stance and techniques, and combining individual with group psychotherapy. We will spend some time on other kinds of group therapy, such as short-term issue-focused groups and support groups, and we will discuss how they differ from long-term therapy groups. We will rely mostly on the standard group psychotherapy textbooks, those by Yalom, and Rutan and Stone. I will also assign several other articles to illustrate some of the points that will be the stimulus for discussion. Most of all, I hope to share with you my excitement about leading groups, and their potential benefit when added to some patients’ individual treatments. Moreover, it is fun to learn, and has the ability to increase the breadth and depth of your therapeutic skills. Queer and Trans/GNC Identities 5 Sessions, Instructor: M. Peterson Psychoanalytic Review 5 Sessions, Instructor: K. Fritsch This course is designed to provide a capstone experience for your learning and experience in the PPTP program, incorporating the principles and practices of “outsider witnessing.” Each of you will be expected to develop a final presentation which asks you to reflect on your experience, drawing upon your various learning experiences during the past three years: didactic, clinical presentations, and group experiences. Your classmates will reflect on your presentation, and they will present those thoughts as part of our concluding exercise _____________________________________________________________________________ For more information for about CME credits for these classes click here for PSA Year 3, PSA Year 4, PSA Year 5, PPTP Year 3, FOPT Year 1, FOPT Year 2, Child Seminars, and Child Group Supervision.
Continuing Education for Psychologists (CE): The Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Continuing Education for Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors (CE): In accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth of PA dated 12/23/06 [PA Code: Title 49, Ch. 47-49], The State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors recognizes American Psychological Association (APA) as a preapproved provider of continuing education programs for social workers and clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and professional counselors in the State of Pennsylvania. The Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education programs.
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