Contemporary Psychoanalytic Theories (303)
Instructors:  Christine Erskine, MSW, LICSW and Paul Brinich, PhD

In this course, we will be reading psychoanalytic ideas that have developed, for the most part, since 1980 (an exception is some work by Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion, who pre-figured some of the more recent theory development).  This period of time has seen a paradigm shift in psychoanalysis that frequently goes under the rubric “Relational Theory.”  But what does “relational” mean?  It does have some implications for our theory of technique, but its significance goes far beyond that.  It opens up psychoanalytic thought to research and to interactions with our sister professions; it opens up our practices to a broader spectrum of patients; and it opens up our minds to a larger area of “containment” within which to listen to patients.  The more we expand and deepen our understanding of what we’re actually doing when we help our patients, the more we are free to “learn from experience” (Bion) and to become accustomed to “trusting the process.” 

Prerequisite: This class is open to matriculated Psychoanalytic Adult, Adult/Child or Child-Focused students who have completed all or nearly all of the Core Curriculum which must include having completed Psychoanalytic Models of the Mind, Parts 1 and 2. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy students and graduates who have competed the Core Curriculum and have at least one intensive case may also take these classes. Other interested students must have the permission of the instructors.

Training Program Credit: Students who successfully complete this course can earn credit on the Psychoanalysis training program. If there is a course assignment, students must complete the assignment to receive training program course credit. 

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Where:    900B Franklin Square, Chapel Hill
When:     Tuesdays, August 27 -  December 17, 2019 (no class Oct 8)
Time:       7:10 pm - 8:40 pm
CME Credits: 24 / CE clock hours: 24 / NBCC: 24 clock hours / All others: Letter of Attendance

About the Instructors: Christine Erskine, LICSW and Paul Brinich, PhD

Syllabus: Click here

Registration and Tuition Deadline is  August 20.  $25 Registration Fee is due at time of application.

Tuition: $650
$485 for students matriculated in the training programs 
$600 for residents and graduate students
Payment plans can be arranged with the Administrator
Matriculated students aren't charged a course registration fee.  Students who register for more than one course in a semester pay only one registration fee.  In special circumstances we may accept registrations after the registration deadline, but there will be an additional $20 late registration fee.

Course Cancellation Policy

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Course Learning Objectives: Class participants will be able to

1.  Explain how a patient’s words and/or actions reveal internal unconscious self-and-object interactions as described by Melanie Klein and her followers.
2. Describe the difference between “paranoid-schizoid” and “depressive” position functioning.
3. Use a clinical example to illustrate the differences between the “paranoid-schizoid” and “depressive” kinds of functioning.
4. Describe what is meant by the term “triangular space.”
5. Analyze a patient’s ability to operate mentally and interpersonally in a “triangular space.”
6. Describe Ogden’s concept of the “autistic-contiguous” mode of generating experience.
7. Describe the application of Ogden’s concept of the “autistic-contiguous” mode of generating experience to a patient’s presentation in clinical sessions.
8. Discuss the evolution of relational psychoanalysis as changes from Klein’s work and into the development of Inter-subjectivity.
9. Discuss the “identity crisis” described by Mitchell for analysts shifting from the more traditional observational and authoritative stance to a more relational position.
10. Discuss the shift from “content” to “process” when thinking about psychoanalytic treatment.
11. Demonstrate the difference between the analyst’s “interpreting” and “interacting” in clinical sessions.
12. Describe the impact of trauma on memory as it applies to the changing role of memory in psychanalytic treatment.
13. Explain how an analyst can help to “create a psychoanalytic mind” in a patient whose ability to self-observe is functionally limited.
14. List five manifestations of a patient’s use of dissociative defenses.
15. Explain the concept of “dissociative schema.”
16. Describe how these “dissociative schema” can be integrated within the therapeutic relationship.
17. Use findings from infant observation research to describe a difficulty that arises in a clinical treatment.
18. Describe the distinction between “implicit” and “explicit” knowing and how this invites the exploration of non-verbal dimensions of the mind.
19. Describe how an awareness of the human mind as a metaphor-making organ alerts you as a clinician to a patient’s capacity for vitality affects in sessions and in life.
20. Utilize an understanding of self-organizing systems to counteract your own impulse to merely observe, instruct, or control a patient in a clinical session. 

CE & CME Information: