Second Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2022-23, 1st Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Donald Schimmel, PhD
Christopher J. Keats, MD
Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to our course on The Origins of Psychoanalysis and Freud's Legacy. Our course objective is to assist you in appreciating the foundations of psychoanalysis and how it has evolved since Freud first began publishing in the 1890s. We have selected summary chapters from Peter Gay's classic book, Freud: A Life for Our Time, plus several of Freud's original writings, all of which have been edited by either Peter Gay or James Strachey.
To facilitate learning, approximately five days before each class, the instructors will email you around five study questions to consider as you wend your way through the often dense and challenging assigned readings. These questions are aimed at assisting you in organizing your thoughts as well as areas that you find particularly confusing. The instructors also plan to review each class’s major points and goals at the beginning and end of each class.
Course Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will be able to identify and describe the most seminal tenets of psychoanalysis originally conceived by Freud.
Texts
- A Life for Our Time, a biography of Sigmund Freud by Peter Gay, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.; initially published in 1988.
- The Freud Reader edited by Peter Gay, W.W. Norton, Inc., 1989.
- New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, edited by James Strachey, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.; published by James Strachey in 1964
- Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety: by Sigmund Freud, edited by James Strachey, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.; published by James Strachey in 1989
Learning Objectives
Upon completing this course, you will:
- be able to identify and describe the most seminal tenets of psychoanalysis originally conceived by Freud
- be able to name the central feature(s) of at least four of Freud’s original case studies
- be able to describe and characterize Freud’s theory of neutrality and abstinence and how contemporary analysts view these theories
- be able to describe and characterize Freud’s recommendations on conducting the beginning stages of psychoanalysis
- be able to describe and characterize at least one way in which Freud applied psychoanalytic concepts to culture and civilization.
September 9, 2022 — Introduction
[39 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to identify at least four features, ideas, or trends that Freud discusses in this chapter.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “An Autobiographical Study”, in The Freud Reader, pp3-41
September 16, 2022
[49 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to describe the historical significance of Freud’s and Breuer’s famous case, “Anna O.”. You will also be able to identify at least one feature of Freud’s work with “Emmy von N” and “Elizabeth von R.”
- You will be able to characterize the “Constancy Principle.”
- You will be able to describe the “Cathartic Method” and how it evolved into “Free Association.”
- You will be able to explain the nature of Freud’s relationship with Fliess and Freud’s famous “Irma Dream.”
- You will be able to describe the historical significance of Freud’s “Project for a Scientific Psychology.”
Questions for week 2:
- What was the significance of the case of Anna O for psychoanalysis? (see pp.63-69)
- What was the significance the of case of Emmy Von N and of Elizabeth Von R? (see p.71)
- What is the Constancy Principle? (see p.80)
- What was the Cathartic method and how does it differ from Free Association?
- What was the significance of the Irma dream? (see pp.80-86)
- What was the Project for a Scientific Psychology? (see pp.78-80)
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 2, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp55-102
Read pages 55-87.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Anna O.”, in The Freud Reader, pp60-78
Read pages 61-78.
September 23, 2022 — Freud on Dreams
[47 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to name and characterize Freud’s four principle dreamwork mechanisms.
- You will be able to explain the difference between “Primary process” and “Secondary process.”
- You will be able to characterize the nature and purpose of “Wednesday Psychological Society.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 3, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp103-149
September 30, 2022
[31 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to describe how Freud applied free association to interpreting dreams.
- You will be able to explain the meaning of what Freud’s meant in his original assertion that dreams always represented a “wish fulfillment” and that dream fragments could always be traced back to repressed sexual wishes.
- You will be able to explain the concept of “compromise formation” in dreamwork.
- You will be able to explain what Freud meant when he said that dreams are the “guardians of sleep.”
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “On Dreams”, in The Freud Reader, pp142-172
October 7, 2022 — Freud on Technique
[23 pages]*The mid-term class evaluation will be conducted during this session. Please use these questions to facilitate your discussion: Midterm Evaluation 2019-02-13
- The Freud Reader: From the History of an Infantile Neurosis: The Wolf Man, pp. 400-426 – 20 pages
Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to explain Freud’s “fundamental rule” of psychoanalysis.
- You will be able to explain Freud’s view on the role of the psychoanalyst and his recommendations on how to begin treatment, e.g., Freud’s recommendation regarding ‘suggestion,’ fees, transference, and resistance.
- You will be able to list at least three salient features of Freud’s classic case study of “The Wolf Man.”
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Recommendations to Physicians Practicing Psycho-Analysis and On Beginning Treatment”, in The Freud Reader, pp356-378
October 14, 2022 — Freud on Sexuality
[56 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to describe the differences among positive, negative, and erotic transferences.
- You will be able to characterize Freud’s ideas about handling transference love. You will have an opportunity to discuss this in the context of contemporary practice and ethics.
- You will be able to explain at least five aspects of Freud’s landmark book, “Three Essays of the Theory of Childhood Sexuality.” For example, you will be able to describe at least one aspect of Freud’s view of bisexuality and homosexuality, pathology, love and authority, sadism and masochism, and shame and disgust.
- You will be able to list at least one tenant of Karen Horney’s view on Female sexuality
Freud, S. (1933) New Introductory Lectures On Psycho-Analysis. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud 22:112-135
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, in The Freud Reader, pp239-270
Optional Reading
Horney, K. (1926). The Flight from Womanhood: The Masculinity-Complex in Women, as Viewed by Men and by Women. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 7:324-339.
NPR Podcast: The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/204/81-words
Unearthed Letter from Freud Reveals His Thoughts on Gay People
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sigmund-freud-gay-cure-letter_n_6706006
October 21, 2022 — Freud on Narcissism, Instincts, Repression, Mourning, and the Unconscious
[47 pages]Seminar objectives:
- You will be able to explain Freud’s original view of narcissism.
- You will be able to name at least one tenant of Freud’s concept of instincts.
- You will be able to describe Freud’s view on melancholia and how it differed from mourning.
- You will be able to define terms such as repression, object-cathexis, anticathexis, auto-eroticism, ego-libido, object libido, and ego instinct.
- You will be able to list the central aspects of Freud’s metapsychology.
- You will be able to define how Freud used the term “repression,” “defense,” “ego,” and “self.”
- You will be able to name and describe Freud’s phases of repression.
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 8, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp361-416
Read pages 361-374.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “On Narcissism”, in The Freud Reader, pp545-562
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Instincts and Their Vicissitudes, Repression, The Unconscious, Mourning and Melancholia”, in The Freud Reader, pp562-589
October 28, 2022 — More of Freud’s Classic Case Studies
[49 pages]Seminar objective:
- You will be able to explain at least three central features of Freud’s work with Dora
- You will be able to characterize at least three central features of Freud’s work with Little Hans.
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 6, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp244-292
November 4, 2022 — Freud on Culture and Society
[50 pages]Seminar objective:
- Become familiar with how Freud applied psychoanalytic concepts to the foundations of culture and society, focusing on Freud’s “Totem and Taboo” and the origin of the “Oedipus Complex.”
- The Freud Reader: Totem and Taboo, pp.481-513 – 32 pages
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 7 in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp306-360
Read pages 324-342 (18 pages; ignore the automatic page count above).
Optional Reading
Stoute, B.J. (2017) "Race and Racism in Psychoanalytic Thought: The Ghosts in Our Nursery", The American Psychoanalyst, 51:1
November 11, 2022 — Freud on Aggression and Freud’s Revised Theory of Anxiety
[64 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with how Freud’s psychological theories differ from his metapsychological theories. Review what Freud means by “drive.”
- Become familiar with Freud’s theory, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 8, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp361-416
Read pages 398-416 (18 pages; ignore the automatic page count above.)
Freud, S. (1925). “Inhibitions, Symptoms, and Anxiety” in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XX (1925-1926), pp87-156.
Read pages 87–123. (46 pages; ignore the automatic page count above).
November 18, 2022 — Freud and the Structural Model
[31 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with Freud’s landmark study of the “Ego and the Id.”
- Review course to date.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “The Ego and the Id”, in The Freud Reader, pp628-658.