Diploma in Psychoanalysis

Course details

This module presents an in depth introduction to the basic concepts in Psychoanalysis. This introductory module will help students to understand the history and origins of psychoanalysis, the theory developed by Freud and the analysis of some of his most important cases where theory meets clinical work.

Over the course of ten classes, the student will be brought through a series of lectures dealing with concepts which are central to psychoanalysis, such as the unconscious, hysteria, obsessional neurosis, libido theory, repression and the Oedipal complex. These will be addressed theoretically and with reference to case studies. The last four weeks of the module will address the post-Freudian developments in psychoanalysis, with an emphasis on the respective aspects of Freudian theory upon which they are based. Finally, the module will address the position of psychoanalysis in relation to the challenges thrown up by the movement towards evidence based treatments and prevailing psychiatric diagnostic categories.

Outline

• Week 1: What it is psychoanalysis? Freud: neuropathology to psychoanalysis. ‘The psychopathology of everyday life’ – case analysis
• Week 2: The unconscious and the Freudian unconscious. Primary and secondary processes. Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.
• Week 3: Studies in Hysteria: Charcot’s hypnoses and suggestion, Freud and Breuer concept of abreaction.
• Week 4: Neurosis 1: Dora’s case. Transference and femininity. Papers on technique 1.
• Week 5: Neurosis 2: Rat Man’s case. Repetition and obsession. Papers on technique 2.
• Week 6: Freud’s Libido theory. Psychoanalytic Breaks: Jungian (Analytic Psychology) Adler (Individual Psychology)
• Week 7: Child analysis: Anna Freud’s Oedipus Complex and Melanie Klein’s partial object
• Week 8: Relation to the object: Winnicott’s transitional object and Bowlby’s attachment theory
• Week 9: Jacques Lacan: return to Freud
• Week 10: Psychoanalysis’ ethical framework and the challenges of today’s empirical research, neuroscience and DSM