Fourth Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2020-21, 1st Trimester — Fridays, 1:45-3:15pm
Charlotte Malkmus, MA LMHC
Donald Schimmel, PhD
Table of Contents
Introduction
Welcome to our course on The Origins of Psychoanalysis and Freud's Legacy. Our objective with this course is to assist you in appreciating the foundations of psychoanalysis, i.e., how psychoanalysis began and how it has evolved. During this seminar we will also make reference to, and encourage, discussion of how the theory and practice of contemporary psychoanalysis has changed since Freud. The course readings are divided between a biography of Freud and his original writings. We have selected chapters for you to read from Peter Gay’s classic book, Freud: A life for Our Time. And, to compliment these biographical chapters, we have included many of Freud’s original writings from The Freud Reader edited by Peter Gay.
The texts are:
- A Life for Our Time, a biography of Sigmund Freud by Peter Gay, W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.; originally published in 1988.
- The Freud Reader edited by Peter Gay, W.W. Norton, Inc., 1989.
Learning Objectives
You will:
- learn the central tenets of psychoanalysis as originally conceived by Freud.
- learn how Freud’s theories evolved, and, at times, were altered. For example, you will learn about Freud’s original topographic model of the mind and how it evolved into the structural model. You will also learn how Freud’s theories of anxiety radically changed.
- learn how Freud viewed repression, narcissism, mourning and the role of sexuality and aggression. You will also learn about Freud’s dream theory and how it compares and contrasts with contemporary theories of dreams.
- become familiar with some of Freud’s original cases studies, such as Anna O.
- ith Freud’s theory of neutrality and abstinence and how these theories are viewed by contemporary analysts.
September 11, 2020 — Introduction
[58 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Begin the study of the origins and meaning of psychoanalysis.
- Place Freud in his temporal and geographic surroundings.
- Learn about Freud’s early life and family and the possible impact of his childhood and youth on the development of psychoanalysis.
Gay, P. (1988) Preface in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp xv-xx
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 1 in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp3-54
September 18, 2020
[48 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with Freud and Breuer’s famous cases, including Anna O., Emmy von N, Elizabeth von R.
- Understand the Constancy Principle.
- Learn about the Cathartic Method and how that evolved into Free Association.
- Learn about Freud’s relationship with Fliess and his famous Irma Dream.
- Become familiar with Freud’s “Project for a Scientific Psychology.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 2, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp55-102
September 25, 2020 — Freud on Dreams
[47 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with Freud’s landmark book: “The Interpretations of Dreams.”
- Understand the four principle dreamwork mechanisms.
- Become familiar with concepts such as primary and secondary process.
- Learn about the “Wednesday Psychological Society.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 3, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp103-149
October 2, 2020
[31 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with how Freud applied free association to the interpretation of dreams.
- Discuss Freud’s assertion that dreams represent “wishes as fulfilled,” and that dream fragments can always be traced back to repressed sexual wishes.
- Understand the concept of compromise formation in dreamwork.
- Understand 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 9, 2020 — Freud on Technique Early and Later
[42 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
Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with Josef Breuer’s account of Anna O and how it served as a precursor to the psychoanalytic method.
- Understand Freud’s ‘fundamental rule’ of psychoanalysis.
- Become familiar with Freud’s view of the role of the psychoanalyst and his recommendations for how to begin treatment, e.g. Freud’s recommendation regarding ‘suggestion,’ fees, transference and resistance.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Anna O.”, in The Freud Reader, pp60-78
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Recommendations to Physicians Practicing Psycho-Analysis and On Beginning Treatment”, in The Freud Reader, pp356-378
October 16, 2020 — Freud on Sexuality
[32 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Understand the differences among positive, negative and erotic transferences.
- Become familiar with Freud’s ideas about how transference love should be handled. Discuss this in the context of contemporary practice and ethics.
- Become familiar with Freud’s landmark book, “Three Essays of the Theory of Childhood Sexuality.” For example, learn about Freud’s view of bisexuality and homosexuality, pathology, love and authority, sadism and masochism, and shame and disgust.
Gay, P. (ed) (1989) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality”, in The Freud Reader, pp239-270
Optional Reading
Spiegel, A. (2002) "81 Words", This American Life, January 18, 2002.
The story of how the American Psychiatric Association decided in 1973 that homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.
Sieczkowski, C. (2015) "Unearthed Letter from Freud Reveals Thoughts on Gay People", HuffPost, February 18, 2015
October 23, 2020 — Freud on Narcissism, Instincts, Repression, Mourning and the Unconscious
[46 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Understand Freud’s view of narcissism.
- Become familiar with Freud’s concept of instincts.
- Understand Freud’s view on melancholia and how it differed from mourning.
- Become familiar with terms such as repression, object-cathexis, anticathexis, auto-eroticism, ego-libido, object libido and ego instinct.
- Become familiar with Freud’s metapsychology.
- Understand Freud’s use of the term “repression” and “defense.”
- Become familiar with Freud’s phases of repression.
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 30, 2020 — More of Freud’s Classic Case Studies
[49 pages]Seminar objective:
- Become familiar with more of Freud’s classic case studies, e.g. Dora and Little Hans.
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 6, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp244-292
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.
Karen Horney on Female sexuality
November 6, 2020 — Freud on Culture and Society
[55 pages]Seminar objective:
- Become familiar with how Freud applied psychoanalytic concepts to the foundations of culture and society with special focus on Freud’s “Totem and Taboo” and Freud’s “Oedipal Complex.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 7 in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp306-360
Optional Reading
Stoute, B.J. (2017) "Race and Racism in Psychoanalytic Thought: The Ghosts in Our Nursery", The American Psychoanalyst, 51:1
November 13, 2020 — Freud on Aggression
[56 pages]Seminar objectives:
- Become familiar with how Freud’s psychological theories differ from his metapsychological theories.Review what Freud means by “drive.”
- Learn about Freud’s theory of “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.”
Gay, P. (1988) Chapter 8, in Freud: A Life for Our Time, pp361-416
November 20, 2020 — 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.