First Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2024-25, Fall Term — Fridays, 1:45-3:15pm
James Basinski, MD
John De Mott, DO
Table of Contents
Introduction
Towards the end of his life, Freud famously compared psychoanalysis to archaeology:
“The analyst, like the archaeologist in his excavations, must uncover layer after layer of the patient’s psyche, before coming to the deepest, most valuable treasure.”
Well, grab a shovel, because you have a century plus of psychoanalytic theory and technique to learn and uncover yourself. In the next four years and beyond, you will be exploring a rich world of ideas, stories, and approaches to understanding the mind and society. This is the first of several “theory” classes in the curriculum. We aim to orient your journey into the pluralistic field of psychoanalysis by beginning at the beginning, with Freud himself; his historical context, biography, and some of his most important and revolutionary ideas. . A cautionary note for completists: long gone are the days of psychoanalytic training programs simply reading Freud’s entire works for the majority of this didactics. In contrast, this course largely offers a sampling of Freud’s writings for you to become familiar with his voice and approach. Rest assured, we also provide some overview ;soup’ to provide context for these various ‘nuggets.’ We also include subsequent and more contemporary from a number of perspectives on specific ‘Freudian’ topics Our hope is that upon completing this course, you will be well prepared for further explorations into Freud and his enduring influence in the last century of psychoanalysis For those interested in learning more background context of Freud’s life and times, we will also include optional references to Peter Gay’s biography of him.
Texts:
The Freud Reader edited by Peter Gay, W.W. Norton, Inc., 1989.
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will:
- Understand the context in which psychoanalysis arose, including the historical/cultural milieu and the personhood of its founder, Sigmund Freud
- Describe S. Freud’s major contributions to psychoanalysis, including the development of the topographic and structural models, focus on narcissism and self/other mental representations, the primacy of free association, dream analysis, transference interpretation, and the role of libido aggression among the drives
- Appreciate reading the entirety of some of Freud’s writings and recognize their enduring influence as common reference points for subsequent psychoanalysts to illustrate their own theories and clinical work, which may build on or challenge the ‘Freudian perspective.’
- Be able to describe and characterize how Freud applied psychoanalytic concepts to culture and civilization
- Be aware of neuropsychoanalysis as a continuation of Freud’s enduring revisions of psychoanalysis as a ‘project for a scientific psychology.’
September 6, 2024
[39 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Outline the origins and intentions of psychoanalysis
- Appreciate the impact of Freud’s life and time on the development of psychoanalysis
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “An Autobiographical Study”, in The Freud Reader, pp3-41
Optional Reading
Colombo, D. (2012) Ch1 "Freud and His Circle.” in Textbook of Psychoanalysis, 2nd Ed (Gabbard, Litowitz, and Williams, Eds.) American Psychiatric Publishing, pp3-17
The optional reading is from the first chapter of the Textbook of Psychoanalysis, written by former SPSI faculty member, Daria Colombo. She outlines Freud’s biography, the cultural/historical context in which psychoanalysis arose, and the major pillars of Freud’s theoretical work.
O’Donnell, P. (2024) “Freud, his passion for travel, and its impact on psychoanalytic discoveries." IPA Podcast. Talks on Psychoanalysis. June 25, 2024. Season 1, Episode 90
An optional podcast is from Dr. Patricia O’Donnell who briefly discusses how Freud’s travel letters relate to early life sensualities and curiosity giving rise to the ‘desire to know’ and experience of passion.
Transcript link: Patricia Odonnell Freud Travel Paper.doc
September 13, 2024
[36 pages]Seminar Objectives:
- Describe the historical significance of Freud’s and Breuer’s famous case, “Anna O.”
- Recognize a feminist perspective of Bertha Pappelheim’s central influence in the development of ‘talking cure’ in psychoanalysis
- Be familiar with another case history of “Katharina” created by Freud in the 1890’s
- Recognize how Freud’s gradual rejection of the ‘Seduction Hypothesis’ contributed to the development of a psychoanalysis of the mind (with ongoing controversy in psychotherapeutic circles between the role ‘psychic reality’ and ‘historical/objective reality’ in development of mental illness)
Hunter, D. (1983) Hysteria, Psychoanalysis, and Feminism: The Case of Anna O., Feminist Studies, 9:3, pp464-488.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Case 4- Katharina”, in The Freud Reader, pp79-86.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Letter to Fleiss”, in The Freud Reader, pp111-113.
September 20, 2024
[44 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will appreciate the enduring value of free association and the topographic model for appreciating the unconscious therapy
- You will recognize the unique value Freud found in dreams as a ‘road to the unconscious” with manifest vs latent content.
- Explain the meaning of what Freud meant in his original assertion that dreams allow “wish fulfillment” of both conscious and repressed desires while simultaneously preserving sleep
- You will be able to explain the concept of “compromise formation,” and mechanisms of condensation, displacement, symbolization, secondary revision
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “On Dreams”, in The Freud Reader, pp142-172
Kris, A.O. (1983) The Analyst’s Conceptual Freedom in the Method of Free Association. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 64:407-411
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 2, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp55-102
(Read pages 80-87 from the Peter Gay reading, starting with the last paragraph at the bottom of page 80.)
September 27, 2024
[29 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Be familiar with Freud’s ‘failures’ in his treatment of a ‘Case of Hysteria (“Dora”)’ and how they led to more recognition of transference (and countertransference limitations of the clinician)
- Recognize how Freud discusses the sexual ‘aberrations’ from a non-moralizing, empirical perspectives seeing them as symptoms/solutions for expression of instincts
- Explain Freud’s contention that neuroses are the negative of perversions
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, in The Freud Reader, pp239-270
Read pages 239-259.
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 6, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp244-292
Read pages 246-255.
October 4, 2024
[40 pages]Seminar Objectives:
- Understand in detail Freud’s descriptions of sexuality in childhood including multiple erotogenic zones (oral, anal, genital), definition of ‘latency,’, bridges of somatic instinct to environment and objects, linkages with aggression/cruelty.
- Recognize how modern conceptualizations of drive expand Freud’s libido and aggression to several other mammalian drives by Solms and colleagues including seeking, rage, fear, lust, care, grief, and play.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, in The Freud Reader, pp239-270
Read pages 259-279.
Solms, M. (2021) Revision of Drive Theory. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 69:1033-1091
Read the first few pages for an introduction, then skip to 1064-1080.
October 11, 2024
[51 pages]Seminar Objectives:
- Understand Freud’s description of puberty as a critically integrative period of an individual’s intrapsychic life and the environment, as well as ‘affectionate’ and frankly sexual currents.
- Appreciate multiple influences of anxiety, strength of drives/instincts, objects in the development of adult sexuality
- Recognize the intricacies and idiosyncrasies of sexuality in all individuals as Nancy Chodorow discusses subsequent psychoanalytic research around sexuality and concludes no sexuality can be considered normative
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, in The Freud Reader, pp279-291
Chodorow, N.J. (1992). Heterosexuality as a Compromise Formation: Reflections on the Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexual Development. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 15:267-304.
October 18, 2024
[28 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to explain Freud’s original view of narcissism
- You will be able to define terms such as auto-eroticism, ego-libido, object libido, and ego ideal, and understand their significance in psychoanalytic theory.
- You will be able to describe Freud’s views of how parents and children mutual narcissism informs relationships with each other
- Recognize Freud’s nascent use of the ego/self in Beyond the Pleasure Principle and be able to define and give examples of the repetition compulsion.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “On Narcissism”, in The Freud Reader, pp545-562
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Family Romances”, in The Freud Reader, pp297-300
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Beyond the Pleasure Principle (III)”, in The Freud Reader, pp601-606
October 25, 2024
[97 pages]Strachey, J., Freud, A., Strachey, A. & Tyson, A. (1955) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume X (1909): Two Case Histories (‘Little Hans’ and the ‘Rat Man’). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud pp
Seminar objectives:
- Consider how starting work with an adult differs from starting work with a child.
- Begin to develop one’s own initial formulation of Hans’ problem.
- Identify relevant considerations in writing about casework.
- Begin to consider how one might approach writing about clinical work themselves.
Strachey, J., Freud, A., Strachey, A. & Tyson, A. (1955) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume X (1909): Two Case Histories (‘Little Hans’ and the ‘Rat Man’). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Read pages 3-100.
November 1, 2024
[50 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Consider ways that the Oedipal complex is a helpful way of thinking about Hans’ treatment and limitations to this approach.
- Notice ways in which Freud conceptualizes transference in this treatment
Strachey, J., Freud, A., Strachey, A. & Tyson, A. (1955) The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume X (1909): Two Case Histories (‘Little Hans’ and the ‘Rat Man’). The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud.
Read pages 100-150.
November 15, 2024
[51 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Recognize how often psychoanalytic literature elaborates or questions aspects of Freud’s original work
- Consider Basam’s rejection of the use of ‘’Oedipal’ to describe all triadic object relations, while focusing on somatic, relational aspects of female development
- Appreciates Blum’s contention of Hans’ underrecognized ‘Preoedipal’ issues with his mother as well as elaborations around therapeutic alliance and transference/countransference issues of all involved in Hans’ case.
Balsam, R.H. (2015). “Oedipus Rex: Where are We Going, Especially with Females?” Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 84(3):555-588.
Blum, H.P. (2007) Little Hans: A Centennial Review and Reconsideration. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55:749-765
November 22, 2024
[31 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with Freud’s landmark study of the “Ego and the Id.”
- Begin thinking of ways that the structural model can be seen as both a metaphorical system as well as attempt to ground the mind in the objective reality of neurobiology.
- (Optional) Recognize how modern neuroscientific findings trace more consciousness to subcortical ‘id’ brain structures and conclude the cerebral cortex (‘ego’) to be more unconscious
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “The Ego and the Id”, in The Freud Reader, pp628-658.
Optional Reading
Solms, M. (2013). The Conscious Id. Neuropsychoanalysis, 15(1):5-19.
December 6, 2024
[51 pages]Seminar objective:
- Become familiar with how Freud applied psychoanalytic concepts, including the pleasure principle, ‘oceanic feeling,’ superego, aggression to socio political philosophy
- Recognize how the life and times of Freud, including World Wars, antisemitism, and death of family member influenced his perspectives on life and society,
- Reflect how any psychoanalyst’s past and present personal background, and sociocultural milieu could influence their understanding and use of theory.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Civilization and Its Discontents”, in The Freud Reader, pp722-772
December 13, 2024
[43 pages]Seminar Objective:
- You will be able to describe Freud’s view on melancholia and how it differed from mourning.
- You will begin to consider the centrality of mourning in psychoanalytic process.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Mourning and Melancholia”, in The Freud Reader, pp84-110
Anderson, M. (2024) Entrenched Grievance as a Harbour for the Unmourned. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 105:153-168