Argosy University
COURSE SYLLABUS
PP8040
Psychoanalytic Theory & Therapy
Tuesdays 12:30-3:15
Spring 2010
Faculty Information:
Faculty name:
Campus:
Contact Information:
Office Hours:
Short Faculty Bio:
Kaveh Zamanian, Ph.D.
Chicago
kzamanian@argosy.edu or x7683
Mondays 4pm-7pm
Dr. Zamanian is Associate Professor of Clinical
Psychology. He has maintained an independent practice for
over fifteen years and has extensive clinical experience
with children, adolescents and adults. His area of emphasis
is psychoanalytic theory and practice, developmental
psychology and addictions and compulsive disorders.
Clinically he works from a developmental, psychodynamic
and systemic perspective using individual and family
interventions.
Course Description
The first part of this course will introduce students to the major theoretical tenets of psychoanalytic
theory and to its technical and clinical application. Fundamental psychoanalytic concepts as outlined
by Sigmund Freud will be discussed in some depth followed by subsequent development of
psychoanalytic theory and practice as it pertains to theories of Object Relations, Self-psychology,
Relational Psychoanalysis and Lacanian Model. Emphasis will be placed on the role of the
unconscious, infantile sexuality, instinctual impulses/drives, psychic tension/conflict, use of
language and derivative communication as well as understanding defense structure in lieu of
character and emotional development.
The second part of the course will review the basic technical principles underlying psychoanalytic
psychotherapy. Using actual case material the focus will be on the nature of therapeutic action and
important aspects of patient-therapist interaction. Various aspects of technique, including but not
limited to, psychoanalytic listening, importance of therapeutic frame, use of interpretation, analysis
of resistance and transference, understanding and use of countertransference reactions, projective
identification and therapist disclosure will be examined. Finally, sensitivity to cultural difference will
be examined throughout the course in particular as it pertains to countertransference issues of
working with matters of diversity.
Course Objective
To develop a basic understanding of major
psychoanalytic concepts through
summarizing and critiquing ideas.
Program
Goal
Goal 4Scientific
Foundations
Method of Assessment
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
To formulate hypotheses about personality,
relationships and a range of contextual
factors on human behavior utilizing
Freudian and Neo-Freudian approaches.
Goal 1Assessment
Goal 2Intervention
Goal 3Diversity
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
To learn about the listening process from a
psychoanalytic perspective including how
meaning is developed in the therapeutic
process.
Goal 1Assessment
Goal 2Intervention
Goal 3Diversity
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
To formulate hypotheses about intrapsychic and interpersonal patterns and their
adaptive and maladaptive impacts in
significant life and therapeutic relationships.
Goal 1Assessment
Goal 2Intervention
Goal 3Diversity
Goal 1Assessment
Goal 2Intervention
Goal 3Diversity
Goal 2Intervention
Goal 3Diversity
Goal 5Scholarship
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
To apply these ideas to the practice of
psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
To integrate contextual factors related to
human diversity into the application of
psychoanalytic perspectives.
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
Weekly reading assignments,
Participation in Class,
Writing Assignments,
Midterm and Final exams
Required Reading
Casement, P. (1991). Learning from the Patient. Guilford Press. (ISBN: 0-89862-157-7).
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003). Psychoanalytic Theories: Perspectives from developmental
psychopathology. New York: Routledge. (ISBN: 0-415-93488-5).
McWilliams, N. (2004). Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A practitioner’s guide. New York: The
Guilford Press. (ISBN: 1-59385-009-3).
Evidence Based Practices
This course addresses evidence based practice issues among course readings, discussion and
assignments. For example, all readings addressing clinical process are grounded in empirical data
such as quantitative data, qualitative data, idiographic data, etc.
2
Course Expectations
1. Attendance is mandatory. Please inform the instructor in advance if you must miss a class
under special circumstances. Students who miss two classes will lose one letter grade.
Students who miss more than two classes will not receive credit for the course. In order to
be respectful of all class participants please arrive for class on time.
2. Adequate preparation for class discussion is a must. All assignments should be read critically
and thoughtfully. For all class discussion, student presentations, and student written work:
a. Students will be expected to generate thoughtful observations and reactions from
course readings for class discussion.
b. Students will be expected to discuss critically concepts as they apply to data reviewed
in class.
c. Students will be expected to discuss the utility and impact of these readings and
discussions on their own clinical work.
d. All class members will be expected to comment on the case material, using the
clinical concepts of focus in their comments.
Course Format
The primary format for this course will be that of an interactive seminar in which students and
faculty will generate critical and in-depth discussion about the theory, research and practice covered
in course readings. Additionally, student case presentations will serve as points of departure for
discussion about various topics related to psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Class Assignments
By the end of the course, students will have a working understanding of basic psychoanalytic
concepts and be able to apply these concepts to clinical material. All assignments will emphasize
conceptual skills, critical thinking and writing skills.
Course assignments:
1) Students are expected to read the assigned material prior to class and be ready to contribute
comments and questions to the discussion.
2) Writing assignments will be given based on reading and class discussion material. Each
writing assignment is due a week from the assigned date and should be limited to 2 double
spaced pages in length.
3) Midterm and Final exams will be distributed that will assess the students understanding and
command of the material on both theoretical and practical levels.
Class Evaluation
Grading requirements
Class Participation
Midterm
Writing Assignments
Final Exam
3
10%
30%
20%
40%
100%
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
100 – 93
92 – 90
89 – 88
87 – 83
82 – 80
79 – 78
77 - 73
72 – 70
69 – 68
67 – 63
62 – 60
59 and below
Course Schedule
Week
Topic
Reading
1
Freud & the discovery of the
unconscious: Significance of dreams
and role of the unconscious; models of
psychic apparatus; and from seduction
to Oedipus
McWilliams, N. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
A practitioner’s guide, Chapter 1.
Langs, R. (1987). Psychoanalysis as an
Aristotelian Science: Pathways to Copernicus
and a Modern-Day Approach. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 23:555-576. (PEP Database)
Langs, R. (1984). Freud's Irma Dream and the
Origins of Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic
Review, 71:591-617. (PEP Database)
2
Basic concepts of psychoanalytic
theory: Psychosexual theory of
development and infantile sexuality;
from pleasure to reality; role of
instincts/triebe/drives/needs/impulses
and relevance of desire; primary
narcissism & masochism and early
object relations; theory of neurosis; and
conflict and symptom formation
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003). Psychoanalytic
Theories: Perspectives from developmental
psychopathology. New York: Routledge.
Chapters 1 & 2.
Recommended Reading
Langs, R. (1986). Clinical Issues Arising from a
New Model of the Mind. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 22:418-444. (PEP Database)
Langs, R. (1981). Modes of 'Cure' in
Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic
Psychotherapy. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 62:199214.
Pine, F. Drive, Ego, Object, & Self, Chapters 1
& 2 (course packet).
3
Ego Psychological Theory: Heinz
Hartmann, Anna Freud, & Margaret
Mahler
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003). Psychoanalytic
Theories: Perspectives from developmental
psychopathology. New York: Routledge.
Chapters 3 & 4.
4
Object Relations Theory: Melanie
Klein, Alfred Bion, and D.W. Winnicott
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003). Psychoanalytic
Theories: Perspectives from developmental
psychopathology. New York: Routledge.
Chapters 5, 6, & 7.
5
Self Psychology & InterpersonalRelational Theory: Heinz Kohut, Otto
Kernberg & Sullivan
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003). Psychoanalytic
Theories: Perspectives from developmental
psychopathology. New York: Routledge.
Chapters 8, 9, & 10
Recommended Reading
Burke, N. Gender and Envy, Chapters, 7 and
4
8.
Zanardi, C. Essential Papers on the
Psychology of Women, Chapters 9, 15, 16, 20,
21, and 22 (course packet).
6
Introduction to the therapeutic
technique: Conditions of safety, the
frame, psychoanalytic listening and the
therapeutic relationship
McWilliams, N. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
A practitioner’s guide, Chapters 2-4.
Casement, P.J. Learning from the Patient,
Chapters 1 & 2.
Recommended Reading
Freud, S. Therapy & Technique, pp.117-127,
135-157.
7
Therapeutic Technique: Use of
interpretation, analysis of resistance
and therapeutic action
Required Reading
McWilliams, N. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
A practitioner’s guide, Chapters 5-6.
Recommended Reading
Freud, S. Therapy & Technique, pp.157-167
(on reserve).
Greenson, R. The Technique and Practice of
Psychoanalysis, pp. 59-149 (course packet).
8
Therapeutic Technique: On
Transference
Freud, S. (1912). The Dynamics of
Transference. The Standard Edition of the
Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund
Freud, Volume XII (1911-1913): The Case of
Schreber, Papers on Technique and Other
Works, 97-108. (PEP Database)
Loewald, H.W. (1971). The Transference
Neurosis: Comments on the Concept and the
Phenomenon. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn.,
19:54-66. (PEP Database)
Winnicott, D.W. (1956). On Transference.
International Journal of Psychoanalysis,
37:386-388. (PEP Database)
9
Therapeutic Technique: On
Countertransference
Winnicott, D.W. (1949). Hate in the CounterTransference. International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 30:69-74. (PEP Database)
Racker, H. (1957). The Meanings and Uses of
Countertransference. Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
26:303-357. (PEP Database)
Casement, P.J. Learning from the Patient,
Chapters 3 & 4.
5
10
Therapeutic Technique: Therapeutic
action of analysis
Casement, P.J. Learning from the Patient,
Chapters 5 & 8
Tansey, M.H., Burke, W.F. (1985). Projective
Identification and the Empathic Process—
Interactional Communications. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 21:42-69. (PEP Database)
Burke, W.F., Tansey, M.J. (1985). Projective
Identification and Countertransference
Turmoil: Disruptions in the Empathic Process.
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 21:372-402.
(PEP Database)
11
Gender and Psychoanalysis
Laplanche, J., Fairfield, S. (2007). Gender, Sex,
and the Sexual. Studies in Gender and
Sexuality, 8:201-219.
Benjamin, J. (1995). Sameness and Difference:
Toward an “Overinclusive” Model of Gender
Development. Psychoanal. Inq., 15:125-142.
(PEP Database)
Tabin, J.K. On the way to Self, Chapters 5 and
6 (handout).
12
Culture & Psychoanalysis
Akhtar, S. (1995). A Third Individuation:
Immigration, Identity, And The Psychoanalytic
Process. J. Amer. Psychoanal. Assn., 43:10511084. (PEP Database)
Altman, N. (2000). Black and White Thinking:
A Psychoanalyst Reconsiders Race.
Psychoanalytic Dialogue, 10:589-605. (PEP
Database)
Altman, N. (1993). Psychoanalysis and the
Urban Poor. Psychoanalytic Dialogue, 3:29-49.
(PEP Database)
Roland, A. (1984). Psychoanalysis in
Civilizational Perspective: The Self in India,
Japan, and America. The Psychoanalytic
Review, 71:569-590. (PEP Database)
13
Case Conceptualization & Analysis
McWilliams, N. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
A practitioner’s guide, Chapter 8.
Recommended Reading
Yalom, I.D. Love’s Executioner, Chapters 1 &
2 (course packet).
6
14
Case Conceptualization & Analysis
McWilliams, N. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
A practitioner’s guide, Chapters 9.
Recommended Reading
Yalom, I.D. Love’s Executioner, Chapters 3 &
4 (course packet).
15
Case Conceptualization & Analysis
Psychoanalytic Research
Papers on Efficacy
Blatt, S.J., Auerbach, J.S. (2003).
Psychodynamic Measures of Therapeutic
Change. Psychoanal. Inq., 23:268-307
Blatt, S.J., Shahar, G. (2004). Psychoanalysis—
with whom, for what, and how? Comparisons
with Psychotherapy. Journal of American
Psychoanalytic Association., 52:393-447.
7