Analytic Core Concepts I

First Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2024-25, Fall Term — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Charlotte Malkmus, MA LMHC
Randall Paulsen, MD

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Introduction

Welcome to “Psychoanalytic Core Concepts.”  This introductory course prepares you for the case conferences in which you will participate during your time as a Candidate. Throughout our 9 weeks together, we will discuss the concepts fundamental to psychoanalysis and we will explore the practice of listening psychoanalytically. Each week will involve a reading that introduces one or more core concepts, followed by a brief presentation of case material to the group. The instructors will provide a brief summary of the week’s reading and answer any questions you may have about it. As each candidate takes a turn presenting, the rest of the group will have the opportunity to hone their skills in deep, multilayered listening. Through this two-part framework, candidates will begin to develop an understanding of what distinguishes psychoanalysis from other modes of therapy, and familiarize themselves with some of the central tenets of psychoanalytic theory.

There are two broad goals for this course. The first is to orient you to psychoanalytic listening as a clinical concept. Listening is foundational to psychoanalysis, and to a psychoanalytic stance. Almost all components of analytic work flow in some way from your ability to listen. In most case conferences you will attend at SPSI, one Candidate per term presents an ongoing case that is discussed by everyone in the class. The presenter shares process material from the previous week, or from another selected period in the treatment. The task of the listeners in the conference is to reflect on the case, think about what is happening between the patient and the analyst from multiple viewpoints, and identify analytic process. The group discussions may include examining transference and countertransference, developmental themes, motivations, unconscious processes, and theoretical perspectives — all of the areas you will be learning about. These are the basic parameters of a case conference.

In this course, which again is an introduction, each student will present for one session only. The intent is to allow you to begin listening to yourselves and one another with a psychoanalytic sensibility. Psychoanalytic training, like analysis and therapy, is a deeply personal, intimate endeavor. It is not uncommon for students to feel exposed or judged in the classroom. But judgment and competition are not the point of a case conference. Curiosity, an openness to new experience, a sense of collegiality, and an appreciation for the vulnerability of presenters and discussants alike, can result in a rich, rewarding and creative experience.

With this in mind, the second goal of the course is to support your cohort in developing a sense of cohesion, community and trust. You will be learning a great deal in the next four years about the history, theory and practice of psychoanalysis. You will learn a great deal about yourselves and each other. This journey requires that we listen to each other with the same respect, safety and attention that we give our patients. We can do this best when we know each other well and actively learn together.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, candidates will be able to:

1. Recognize the core concepts fundamental to psychoanalytic thought
2. Identify important psychoanalytic themes when listening to case presentations
3. Begin to formulate case conceptualizations and describe psychoanalytic process when listening to and presenting clinical material

September 6, 2024 — The Frame

[12 pages]

Freud, S. (1912). “Recommendations to Physicians Practising Psycho-Analysis” in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XII (1911-1913): The Case of Schreber, Papers on Technique and Other Works, pp109-120.