After Freud: Development of Psychoanalytic Thought and Theory

Second Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2022-23, 2nd Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Julie Wood, MA

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Introduction

At the conclusion of this course, we hope that each clinical associate will feel a personal connection from Freud to their own place in the classroom at SPSI, including a broadened perspective on their identity as psychoanalysts. We will study major transition points between schools of thought, including the social and historical context that may have influenced shifts in thinking.

We will move from the Anschluss in 1938 (when Freud was forced to move to London) which occasioned the diaspora of psychoanalysts from Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest, out to London, the United States, and South America. We will first look at these early analysts and their theories, spanning roughly 1938-1960, including “The Controversies” and early middle school in London, psychoanalysis in France and South America, and, in the States, the neo-Freudians, ego psychology, object relations.  Next we will circle back through the regional and historical movements into a next generation, roughly 1960- 90, and look at self-psychology, attachment theory, relational thought, and intersubjectivity.

Throughout our learning together, we hope to ground theory in the capacity to consider “otherness”. Psychoanalysis emerged from a marginalized intellectual culture, Judaism in Central Europe. It could be argued that Freud set the groundwork for a more inclusive climate by advocating for lay analysts, women psychoanalysts, and offering ground-breaking ideas about sexuality. We hope to look at the shifts over time and consider the stereotype of a USA-centric psychoanalysis that can privilege power, class, and exclusion.

Along the way we encourage you to consider why you like or dislike a theory, where you feel an affinity or a prejudice, how you practice now, and how you envision your future practice. We encourage you to wonder about why theory is valuable or not, how is it clinically useful and how it can be limiting. And we hope that you will feel the aliveness and vitality of where you sit at SPSI; that you are now a new branch in the family tree of psychoanalytic thinking.

Learning Objectives

Clinical associates will:

1. learn the history of psychoanalysis, a theory of mind that emerged from a marginalized yet intellectual class of men and women who carried a multigenerational transmission of trauma and exclusion. We will think critically together about psychoanalysis through the lens of race, power, inclusion/exclusion, religion and science; thus facilitating the associate’s increased awareness of “otherness” that is rooted in the field.
2. be able to articulate key shifts in the social and historical context that may have influenced each emerging new school of thought; thus enabling the associate to practice locating both patient and analyst experience within a larger social and historical context, leading to improved patient outcomes.
3. reflect on the deeply personal nature of psychoanalysis, including why they may be drawn to or avoidant of various schools of thought; thus improving patient outcome by increasing associate awareness of personal theoretical biases.
4. be able to identify a theoretically grounded intervention from each major school of thought; thus improving patient outcome by expanding associate’s clinical repertoire and capacity to keep in mind the value and limitation of theory guided practice.

December 2, 2022 — Psychoanalytic Diaspora: Vienna 1938 – Seattle 2020

[94 pages]

Gaztambide, D. (2015). A Preferential Option for the Repressed: Psychoanalysis Through the Eyes of Liberation Theology. Psychoanal. Dial., 25(6):700-713.

We begin with a recent article by Gaztambide in which he talks about his relationship to psychoanalysis, and the connection he makes to social justice and a sense of the “other.”

Freud, S. (1926). “The Question of Lay Analysis” in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XX (1925-1926), pp179-258.

Our second reading this week is portions from Freud’s “The Question of Lay Analysis.” Using the vehicle of a spirited conversation, Freud lays out his vision of what psychoanalysis is, how it works, whom it’s for, who should practice it, and how it should be practiced. While it is too long to read in its entirety, we’ve pulled out key passages for us to think about and discuss.

Read only pages 177-190; 229-233; 251-258.

Begin with the editor’s note on page 177 (don’t skip it – the context is helpful) and continue through all of section I (to page 190).  Next we’re including a portion from section VI (pages 229-233) to hear some of Freud’s thoughts about the impact of medical training on learning to practice psychoanalysis.  Finally, in the Postscript (pages 251-258) Freud summarizes his views and ends with advice for “the Americans”.

Optional Reading

Gay, P. (1988) “Anna” in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp428-446

Falzeder, E. (1998). Family tree matters. J. Anal. Psychol., 43(1):127-154.