Psychoanalysis Course

Lesson 1 • Structural Model: Id, Ego, Superego

Introduces the tripartite structural model replacing the topographic model. Demonstrates how structural conflicts generate anxiety and neurotic symptoms.

Lesson 2 • Drive Theory and Psychic Energy

Examines Freud's libido theory, Eros, and Thanatos as motivational forces. Connects drive economics to clinical phenomena like repetition compulsion.

Lesson 3 • Origins and Historical Context

Traces psychoanalysis from 19th-century neurology and hypnosis to Freud's early clinical work. Establishes the intellectual lineage shaping modern analytic thought.

Lesson 4 • The Unconscious and Repression

Defines the dynamic unconscious and repression as the cornerstone of psychoanalytic explanation. Links these concepts to symptom formation and clinical observation.

Lesson 1 • Hartmann and Ego Autonomy

Introduces Hartmann's conflict-free ego sphere and adaptation concepts. Expands psychoanalytic scope beyond pathology to include healthy functioning.

Lesson 2 • Resistance in Clinical Work

Defines resistance as defence enacted within the analytic relationship. Provides strategies for identifying and working through resistance therapeutically.

Lesson 3 • Primitive and Mature Defences

Distinguishes primitive defences like splitting and projection from mature ones like sublimation. Correlates defence maturity with developmental level and diagnosis.

Lesson 4 • Character and Defence Structure

Examines how habitual defences crystallise into character traits and styles. Teaches recognition of character resistance as a clinical priority.

Lesson 1 • Kleinian Theory and Positions

Covers Klein's paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions as organising mental states. Connects positions to envy, gratitude, and reparation in clinical work.

Lesson 2 • British Independent School

Surveys contributions of Balint, Bollas, and Rycroft bridging Kleinian and ego psychology traditions. Highlights the independent emphasis on creativity and regression.

Lesson 3 • Winnicott on Development and Self

Explores Winnicott's concepts of holding environment (Winnicott's concept of safe therapeutic space), transitional phenomena, and true/false self. Links maternal provision to the emergence of authentic selfhood.

Lesson 4 • Fairbairn's Endopsychic Structure

Presents Fairbairn's radical revision placing object-seeking over drive satisfaction. Illustrates how internal object structures perpetuate relational patterns.

Lesson 1 • Empathy as Clinical Instrument

Defines vicarious introspection and its role in data gathering and intervention. Distinguishes empathy (accurate understanding of another's inner experience) from sympathy and explores its limits and misuses.

Lesson 2 • Narcissism: Development and Pathology

Distinguishes healthy narcissistic development from narcissistic personality disorder. Connects empathic failures to fragmentation and narcissistic rage.

Lesson 3 • Relational Psychoanalysis

Covers Mitchell's relational model integrating drive, object, and self dimensions. Emphasises co-construction of meaning between analyst and patient.

Lesson 4 • Kohut's Self Psychology Framework

Introduces the bipolar self, selfobject needs, and empathy as the primary analytic tool. Reframes narcissism as a developmental line rather than pathological fixation.

Lesson 1 • Countertransference: History and Redefinition

Traces countertransference from Freud's blind spot to a valued clinical tool. Distinguishes concordant from complementary countertransference responses.

Lesson 2 • Erotic and Hostile Transferences

Addresses the clinical management of intense erotic and aggressive transference (psychodynamic concept) manifestations. Provides frameworks for maintaining analytic frame under affective pressure.

Lesson 3 • Classical Transference Theory

Defines transference (psychodynamic concept) as displacement of past object relationships onto the analyst. Traces evolution from obstacle to primary vehicle of therapeutic action.

Lesson 4 • Using Countertransference Clinically

Teaches methods for monitoring, processing, and utilising countertransference reactions. Addresses disclosure decisions and the risk of enactment.

Lesson 1 • Free Association and Evenly Suspended Attention

Teaches the fundamental rule of free association and the analyst's complementary listening stance. Links both to accessing unconscious material and analytic process.

Lesson 2 • The Analytic Frame and Setting

Defines the analytic frame as the structural container enabling therapeutic regression. Examines how frame violations communicate and disrupt the analytic process.

Lesson 3 • Termination of Analysis

Establishes criteria for termination and the clinical tasks of the ending phase. Addresses termination as a recapitulation of core conflicts and separation themes.

Lesson 4 • Working Through and Change

Examines working through (psychodynamic processing of unresolved material) as the repeated elaboration of interpretations across contexts. Distinguishes intellectual insight from structural psychic change.

Lesson 1 • Neurosis: Conflict and Compromise

Analyses neurotic conditions as compromise formations between drive and defence. Covers obsessional, hysterical, and phobic neuroses with clinical examples.

Lesson 2 • Depression and Mourning

Applies Freud's mourning and melancholia framework to depressive conditions. Integrates object relations (psychodynamic theory of internal representations) perspectives on loss, aggression, and self-attack.

Lesson 3 • Psychosis and Severe Pathology

Examines psychoanalytic understanding of psychotic processes and ego disintegration. Addresses modified analytic approaches for severely disturbed patients.

Lesson 4 • Borderline Personality Organisation

Presents Kernberg's structural diagnosis of borderline personality organisation. Distinguishes borderline from neurotic and psychotic levels of organisation.

Lesson 1 • Lacanian Psychoanalysis

Introduces Lacan's return to Freud through structural linguistics and the three registers. Examines the subject of the unconscious, desire, and the Other.

Lesson 2 • Feminist and Gender Critiques

Surveys feminist revisions of Freudian theory on femininity, sexuality, and development. Integrates gender-aware perspectives into clinical formulation.

Lesson 3 • Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis

Examines neuropsychoanalysis as a bridge between brain science and analytic concepts. Evaluates empirical support for unconscious processing and affect regulation.

Lesson 4 • Psychoanalytic Research and Evidence

Reviews empirical research methods applicable to psychoanalytic claims and outcomes. Addresses the scientific status of psychoanalysis and process-outcome research.