An Introductory Course on Contemporary Psychoanalysis
- Eric Anders
- Nov 21, 2024
- 12 min read
Below is the syllabus for a course I put together for Pacifica Graduate Institute in the summer of 2023. I ended up not teaching the course because PGI was unable to pay for the weekly travel and hotel that would have been required.
PGI is a Jungian institution and usually teaches its psychology students a watered-down form of psychoanalysis, much like the proponents of "contemporary psychoanalysis" taught psychoanalysis at my training institute, the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles (ICP).
PGI tasked me with providing an introduction to "contemporary psychoanalysis" with connections made to contemporary Jungian theory. A major part of my course goes over why I define "contemporary psychoanalysis" in a very different way than the sectarian way it has been defined at ICP with its significantly unpsychoanalytic curriculum.
PGI also tends to teach psychoanalysis as a co-equal member of a dual "psychodynamic" tradition with Jungian "analysis" as the other co-equal member to Freudian psychoanalysis. Like many psychoanalytic scholars and practitioners, I don't see the Jungian school as being this important. In fact, I am sympathetic to the view that Jung was more of a cult leader who radically broke from Freud (who was also in some ways a cult leader) to develop a deeply unpsychoanalytic form of psychodynamic psychology based on Jung's mystical and neopagan beliefs, which were often mired in racism and sexism.
In 1909, four years before the Freud-Jung break, Freud supposedly said to Jung, while on their way to America, "They don't realize that we are bringing them the plague." I see Jung's break from Freud as being similar to the break from classical psychoanalysis made by the theorists of so-called "contemporary psychoanalysis" in that both schools reject the profoundly unsettling and profoundly difficult aspects of a theory that takes seriously a truly dynamic, dominant, desire-ladened, and materialist unconscious--what Freud was hyperbolically referring to as "the plague."
I designed my course on contemporary psychoanalysis in a way that would make connections between my conception of contemporary psychoanalysis and Jungian theory or "analytical psychology." My hope was to find a way to both respect that my students had chosen a Jungian path for their counseling training and, at the same time, challenge some of the tenets of those choices.
I would also try to respect some of the much-needed advances of the "relational turn" in psychoanalysis and how the "contemporary psychoanalysis" of Southern California is often an unfaithful derivative of that relational turn. The relational turn in psychoanalysis can be attributed primarily to Object Relations theory (Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn). In America, it was also significantly impacted by Interpersonal Psychoanalysis (Sullivan, Thompson, Fromm-Reichman, Fromm, and Horney, the Self-Psychology of Heinz Kohut, the Relational school of Stephen Mitchell, and later the Intersubjectivity theory of Jessica Benjamin.
My course attempts to realign the name of "contemporary psychoanalysis" more with contemporary Object Relations theorists, Benjamin, and Kohut himself rather than Stolorow and some of the less psychoanalytic contemporary relational theorists--a realignment significantly influenced by the work of psychoanalyst and philosopher Jon Mills.
This realignment had already been done with respect to contemporary analytical psychology with the contributors to Re-Encountering Jung: Analytical Psychology and Contemporary Psychoanalysis (edited by Robin S. Brown). The strength of the book's essays--in particular Brown's comparison of Jung, Ogden, and Benjamin and my mentor and friend Barnaby Barratt's essay, "On the Otherwise Energies of the Human Spirit"--realigned my thinking on Jung and contemporary Jungians: I no longer discounted their work as cultish or completely mired in mysticism, racism, sexism, and other forms of namby-pamby, New Age thinking.
An Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis
Instructor: Eric Anders, Ph.D., Psy.D
PSY 713 Psychoanalytic Based Psychotherapy III Fall 2023
2 quarter unit/20 quarter hours Psy.D. Counseling Psychology
Track LG – Year 3
Course Description
This course continues examining psychoanalytic theory and practice through a critical, scholarly, and clinical introduction to some of the basic concepts and theories of a variety of schools of psychoanalysis.
The focus of this course will be on the currently dominant relational (small “r”) schools and/or theorists of “contemporary psychoanalysis”: the attachment theories of Mills and Fonagy (particularly mentalization); two of the more psychoanalytic theorists of intersubjectivity (Benjamin and Ogden); the Self Psychology theories of Ulman and Brothers; and some of the theories of the Relational school (with a capital “R”: Harris and Barsnass).
Many of these theories and schools are considered “post-Freudian” psychoanalysis. We will also take a close look at contemporary Freudian theory (Barratt, Laplanche) and we do a superficial comparison of both “fields”--Freudian and post-Freudian–with Jungian theory (Brown, Barratt)
The clinical component of this course will do a shallow dive into the treatment of attachment disorders, trauma, and malignant narcissism in order to compare the different theories of these different fields. The goal of these comparisons will be to better understand what constitutes a psychoanalytic approach to psychotherapy, and to be able to judge how the level of psychoanalytic grounding of an approach impacts its therapeutic effectiveness.
The overall goal will be to introduce the class to some basic psychoanalytic ideas which I believe can greatly enhance one’s psychotherapy practice–and also to introduce some clinically powerful ideas that are related to psychoanalysis but might have grown out of schools that are more “psychoanalysis-adjacent” than they are strictly psychoanalytic.
Course Learning Objectives
As a result of successfully passing this class, students will:
Demonstrate a working knowledge of a few of the basic aspects of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with regard to unconscious processes, treatment, and object relations (attachment/relationality/intersubjectivity).
Gain some appreciation for the importance of unconscious processes for psychoanalysis–and for effective psychotherapy.
Have some appreciation for how the treatment of trauma and the theorization of object relations (attachment, relationality, intersubjectivity) relate to the development of psychoanalysis–and the break of “contemporary psychoanalysis” from what these schools consider “classical psychoanalysis”: “the relational turn.”
Have some understanding of why Jung scholar, philosopher, and psychoanalyst Jon Mills argues that “psychoanalysis today is largely a psychology of consciousness” (Mills 2005, ix), and whether or not this criticism would apply to the post-Freudian field of schools we will be exploring.
Gain some appreciation for how “the relational turn” and “contemporary psychoanalysis” have helped psychoanalysis become more effective with respect to psychotherapy–especially with respect to how, within a treatment, therapists experience and use themselves, and how they experience and care for the patient.
Gain some appreciation for what psychoanalysis can offer to the clinical theories of “contemporary psychoanalysis” with respect to the unconscious processes (fantasies, desires) of both therapist and patient (transference and countertransference).
Be able to appreciate (and critique) the attachment theory school’s clinically powerful conception of mentalization from a psychoanalytic perspective. How does mentalization (Fonagy et al.) differ from Self Psychology’s notion of empathy, Kohut’s conception of selfobject functions, for example, or Benjamin’s notion of mutual recognition?
Course Curriculum, Activities, and Assignments
Session 1 (9/9/23): Freud, Jung, Attachment, and “the Otherwise Energies of the Human Spirit” (Barratt)
Assignments Due: Readings, class discussion.
Scheduled Activities: Lecture, class discussion.
(a) This first part of this session will attempt to define the current Freudian and post-Freudian schools by way of writings on Jung. The sample post-Freudian school here will be the Self-Psychology of Kohut (Corbett, Cohen, Dobson).
(b) The second part of this session will focus on Barratt’s “contemporary comparison of Freudian and Jungian approaches” which finds common ground in “the otherwise energies of the human spirit” of both approaches. This short essay is central to the whole class. A discussion of it will be followed by a comparison of the theories of infantile sexuality of a leading post-Freudian, attachment theory’s Peter Fonagy, and a handful of contemporary Freudians: Barratt and Jean Laplanch, in particular.
(c) The third part of this session will look at the trauma treatment approach of Self Psychologists, Ulmann and Brothers, and will show how therapeutically powerful this particular school of “contemporary psychoanalysis” can be and, yet, how it really isn’t very psychoanalytic or very good at understanding Freud or psychoanalysis in general. We will also look at two histories of trauma and psychoanalysis: Makari and Bohleber.
Jung and Self-Psychology
Jung and Freud
Separate schools: Jungian, Freudian, Post-Freudian (“contemporary psychoanalysis)
A sophisticated take on Freud’s libido theory (Barratt)
Contemporary Freudians and Fonagy on Infantile Sexuality.
Ullman and Brother’s Self-Psychology approach to theorizing and treating trauma.
Bohleber and Makari on the history of the theory of seduction in psychoanalysis and how it relates to the way psychoanalysis theorizes trauma and its treatment.
READINGS:
1a. Brown (2018a) -- Entire Introduction
1a. Corbett/Cohen (1998) -- Entire Chapter
1a. Dobson (2018) -- Entire Chapter
1b. Barratt, B. B. (2018)** -- Entire Chapter
1b. Widlöcher (2001) -- Entire Chapter
1b. Laplanche (2001) -- Entire Chapter
1b. Fonagy (2001)* -- Entire Chapter
1c. Ulman/Brothers (1988) -- Chapters 1
1c. Makari (1998) -- Entire Article
1c. Bohleber, W. (2010) -- Chapter 4
Session 2 (10/14/23): Psychoanalysis, Mentalization, and the Treatment of Trauma and Other Attachment Pathologies
Assignments Due: Readings, class discussion.
Scheduled Activities: Lecture, class discussion.
SESSION TOPICS:
This session will start and end with a relatively deep dive into the treatment of attachment pathology.
(a) We will first look at how the mutual recognition of Benjamin, and the analytic third of Ogden, compares with Jungian theory via Brown. We will do a deep dive into (1) Benjamin’s intersubjectivity theory via her 2016 paper, “From Enactment to Play: Metacommunication, Acknowledgment and the Third of Paradox,” (2) Ogden’s analytic third, and (3) the Self-Psychology of Summers comparing Kohut’s conception of empathy with mentalization.
(b) Second, we will compare Benjamin, Ogden, and Summers with another psychoanalytic take on “mutual recognition” (Tronick). We will then compare all four psychoanalytic forms of “mentalization” (mutual recognition, empathy) with the mentalization of Target and Fonagy et al.. We will consider mentalization as a treatment tool and therapeutic goal.
(c) Third, we will do a deep dive into the attachment theory and treatment approach of Jung scholar, philosopher, and psychoanalyst Jon Mills. Mill's attachment theory has been praised by the main attachment theorist Fonagy and contemporary Freudian-Kleinian Grotstein. We will ask why it is unique for an attachment approach to also be psychoanalytic and begin to ask how this relates to the relational turn in psychoanalysis.
With all of these approaches, we will ask whether or not they are psychoanalytic (how psychoanalytic are they?) and whether or not that matters with respect to the effectiveness of the treatment (therapeutic action). We will also consider what roles are played by defenses, fantasy (or “phantasy”), transference, and countertransference in the various treatment modalities.
Brown on Benjamin, Ogden, and Jung.
Ogden: the analytic third.
Benjamin: Intersubjectivity, Mutual Recognition.
Mills: a psychoanalytic approach to treating attachment disorders.
Fonagy et al.: Mentalization.
Target: using mentalization to treat a borderline patient.
Tronick: Mutual Recognition Model.
READINGS:
2a. Brown, R. S. (2018b) -- Entire Chapter
2a. Benjamin, J. (2016) -- Entire Article
2a. Ogden (2004) -- Entire Article
2a. Summers (2014) -- Entire Article
2b. Fonagy, P. (2015) -- Entire Article
2b. Bateman/Fonagy (2019) -- Chapter 1
2b. Bateman/Unruh/Fonagy (2019) -- Chapter 6
2b. Euler S., and S. Simonsen (2019) -- Chapter 21
2b. Luyten, P., and P. Fonagy (2019) -- Chapter 5
2b. Target (2016) -- Entire Article
2c. Mills, J. (2005) -- Introduction-Ch. 8
Session 3 (11/11/23): Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Intersubjectivity, and how “Contemporary Psychoanalysis” is Rarely Contemporary or Psychoanalytic
Assignments Due: Readings, class discussion.
Scheduled Activities: Lecture, class discussion.
SESSION TOPICS:
This session will do a shallow dive into the history of intersubjectivity in philosophy and a somewhat deeper dive into the intersubjective and Relational theories of psychoanalysis (Mitchell et al., Benjamin, Ogden) and “contemporary psychoanalysis” (Self-Psychology, Summers).
The first third of this session will be a historical and theoretical exploration of the relational turn in order to query how contemporary, how psychoanalytic, and how theoretically (philosophically) sound these theories are–and how well these various relational schools read Freud and the other major thinkers of psychoanalysis (Bohleber, Mills, Frie/Reis).
The second third will be used by hearing a few of your case presentations and, as a class, using what we have learned in this class to give productive feedback to our volunteer presenters.
The final third will be used to review some of the major issues that came up during our time together.
Philosophy and intersubjectivity and how it relates to the post-Freudian field.
Mills critique of the post-Freudian field.
Class presentations.
Course review.
READINGS:
3a. Bohleber, W. (2010) -- Chapter 1
3a. Frie, R., and B. Reis (2005) -- Entire Article
3a. Giovachini, Ph. (2005) -- Entire Chapter
3b. Harris, A. (2018) -- Entire Article
3b. Mills, J. (2018) -- Entire Article
CASE PRESENTATION:
Write a 7-12 page fictional case presentation highlighting an issue, school, or theory we covered during the course. I want you to use this case presentation to expand on, criticize, or both, one of the chapters in Barsness (2018) describing a “core competency” in Relational Psychoanalysis. I am hoping you will discuss how your case presentation chose to incorporate (or not incorporate) ideas from what the Relational folks would call “classical psychoanalysis”--and/or chose to incorporate (or not incorporate) some aspect of Jungian theory and practice, analytic psychology. Indicate, on a scale of one to ten, how much you’d like to present this case presentation in class (your grade will not be gauged on your enthusiasm to volunteer or not).
My suggestion is to read through all of Barsness (2018) and write a draft case presentation before the class starts. You will then be able to revise your analysis and the case presentation itself with ideas that get sparked by the class.
Required Reading (please refer to the session schedule rubric for specific chapter/page requirements and document source)
Barratt, B. B. (2018). On the Otherwise Energies of the Human Spirit. In Robin S. Brown (ed.), Re-Encountering Jung: Analytical psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis (pp. 47-67). Routledge: London and New York.
Bateman, A., and P. Fonagy (2019). Chapter 1: Introduction. In A. Bateman and P. Fonagy (eds.), Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice (pp. 3-20). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington D.C.
Bateman, A., B. Unruh, and P. Fonagy (2019). Chapter 6: Individual Therapy Techniques. In A. Bateman and P. Fonagy (eds.), Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice (pp. 3-20). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington D.C.
Bohleber, W. (2010). Destructiveness, Intersubjectivity and Trauma: The Identity Crisis of Modern Psychoanalysis. Karnac: New York.
Brown, R. S. (2018a). Introduction. In Robin S. Brown (ed.), Re-Encountering Jung: Analytical psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis (pp. xiii-xv). Routledge: London and New York.
Brown, R. S. (2018b). Where Do Minds Meet? Mutual Recognition in Light of Jung. In Robin S. Brown (ed.), Re-Encountering Jung: Analytical psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis (pp. 160-180). Routledge: London and New York.
Corbett, L. and A.-L. Cohen (1998). The Freud–Jung Break: Reflections and Revisions in the Light of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. In Arnold Goldberg (ed.), Progress in Self Psychology, V. 14: The World of Self Psychology (pp. 293-229). Routledge: New York.
Dobson, M. D.-S. (2018). Weaving the dream fields of Jung and Kohut: An integrative approach. In Robin S. Brown (ed.), Re-Encountering Jung: Analytical psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis (pp. 1115-126). Routledge: London and New York.
Euler S., and S. Simonsen (2019). Chapter 21: Avoidant and Narcissistic Personality Disorders. In A. Bateman and P. Fonagy (eds.), Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice (pp. 3-20). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington D.C.
Frie, R., and B. Reis (2005). Intersubjectivity: From Theory through Practice. In Jon Mills (ed.), Relational and Intersubjective Perspectives in Psychoanalysis: A Critique (pp. 3-34). Jason Aronson: New York.
Fonagy, P. (2001). Infantile Sexuality as a Creative Process. In D. Widlöcher (Ed.), Infantile Sexuality and Attachment (pp. 55-64). Other Press: New York.
Giovachini, Ph. (2005). Object Relations and Intersubjectivity. In Jon Mills (ed.), Relational and Intersubjective Perspectives in Psychoanalysis: A Critique (pp. 117-130). Jason Aronson: New York.
Harris, A. (2018). The Relational Tradition: Landscape and Canon. In R. Barsness (ed.), Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis: A Guide to Practice, Study and Research (pp. 43-64). Routledge: New York, London.
Laplanche, J. (2001). Sexuality and Attachment in Metapsychology. In D. Widlöcher (Ed.), Infantile Sexuality and Attachment (pp. 37-54). Other Press: New York.
Luyten, P., and P. Fonagy (2019). Chapter 5: Mentalizing and Trauma. In A. Bateman and P. Fonagy (eds.), Handbook of Mentalizing in Mental Health Practice. (pp. 79-102). American Psychiatric Association Publishing, Washington D.C.
Makari, G. J. (1998). The Seductions of History: Sexual Trauma in Freud's Theory and Historiography. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. Vol. 79, pp. 857-870.
Mills, J. (2018). Critique of Relational Psychoanalysis. In R. Barsness (ed.), Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis: A Guide to Practice, Study and Research (pp. 321-341). Routledge: New York, London.
Mills, J. (2005). Treating Attachment Pathology. Jason Aronson: New York.
Ogden, T. (2004). The Analytic Third: Implications for Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique. Psychoanalytic Quarterly. 2004. Vol. 73 (1), pp. 167-196.
Summers, F. (2004). The Bonds of Empathy: Beyond the Selfobject Concept. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology. 2014. Vol. 9 (3), pp. 222-247.
Target, M. (2004). Mentalization within Intensive Analysis with a Borderline Patient. British Journal of Psychotherapy. 2016. Vol. 32 (2), pp. 202-215.
Ulman, R. and D. Brothers (1988). The Shattered Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of Trauma. The Analytic Press: New York.
Widlöcher, D. (2001). Primary Love and Infantile Sexuality: An Eternal Debate. In D. Widlöcher (Ed.), Infantile Sexuality and Attachment (pp. 1-36). Other Press: New York.
Recommended Readings:
Barratt, B. B. (2013). What is Psychoanalysis? 100 Years after Freud’s ‘Secret Committee.” Routledge: New York.
Barsness, R. Ed. (2018), Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis: A Guide to Practice, Study and Research. Routledge: New York, London.
Bohleber, W., J. P. Jiménez, D. Scarfone, S. Varvin, S. Zysman (2014). Unconscious Phantasy and its Conceptualizations: An Attempt at Conceptual Integration. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 2015. Vol. 96 (3), pp. 705-731.
Eshel, O. (2016). Psychoanalysis in Trauma: On Trauma and its Traumatic History in Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Review. Vol. 103 (5), pp. 619-643.
Laplanche, J. and J.-B. Pontalis (1967) The Language of Psychoanalysis. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. W. W. Norton and Company: New York.
Mills, J. Ed. (2005). Relational and Intersubjective Perspectives in Psychoanalysis: A Critique. Jason Aronson: New York.
Mills, J. (2013). Jung’s Metaphysics. International Journal of Jungian Studies. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 19-43.
Scarfone, D. (2001). Sexual and Actual. In D. Widlöcher (Ed.), Infantile Sexuality and Attachment (pp. 97-110). Other Press: New York.
Sugarman, A. (2006). Mentalization, Insightfulness, and Therapeutic Action: The importance of mental organization. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 2006. Vol. 87 (4), pp. 965-988.
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