The Taught
Part of the
Course
The taught course has four strands:
Theoretical seminars
Clinical seminars
Life cycle seminars
Professional development
seminars
Theoretical seminars
The theoretical seminars form part of a
spiral curriculum, in which students are
introduced to core themes and theoretical
concepts, to which they return in greater
and greater depth during all four years of
the training.
Year 1: The underpinnings of
psychoanalysis, with a particular emphasis
on Freud, are studied in conjunction with
seminars on attachment theory, introduced
via the pioneering work of John Bowlby,
Mary Main, Mary Ainsworth and Daniel
Stern.
Year 2: Introduces students to relational
theories from Melanie Klein to Stephen
Mitchell through Fairbairn, Winnicott,
Sullivan and Kohut. There is an emphasis
on how each describes the strategies
adopted by the human mind to deal with
deprivation and trauma, and different clinical practice associated with each
model.
Year 3: This year concentrates on affect,
the body and sexuality, exploring the
relationship between social experience and
the inner human world of feeling and body
awareness, and considering the impact of
power and oppression on the
development of the emotions, the body,
gender and sexuality. Authors studied
include Orbach, de Zulueta, Jessica
Benjamin and Davis and Frawley.
Year 4: This year builds on the previous
work to consider more severe disturbances
of the self and the communication of
dissociation, psychosis and the interface
with psychiatry. For the final term students
are given a budget to choose their own
invited speakers.
Clinical seminars
Clinical seminars meet weekly from the
start of Year 2 until the end of Year 4. The
seminars cover the discussion of practical
issues such as beginning clinical practice
and practice issues such as working with
transference and counter-transference,
defences against anxiety, unconscious
communications, dreams and working with
difference and diversity. The seminar enables students to share clinical
experience and learn from peers in a
confidential setting, where boundaries are
clear and in which they can be supported
and engaged with, without fear of ridicule.
Life cycle seminars
In Years 1 and 2 students observe an
infant from birth until 18 months. The
seminar meets weekly and integrates
theory, observation and subjective
experience and links with adult clinical
work. These emphasise the centrality of
attachment to the development of a
healthy sense of self. Key authors studied
are: Mahler, Fraiberg, Stern and Brazleton.
"A baby cannot exist alone, but is
essentially part of a relationship."
Winnicott, The Child, the Family and the
Outside World
Students begin observing an infant once a
week from the second term of the training.
The weekly observations provide a unique
opportunity for experiencing first-hand the gradual unfolding of the infant's
development. Students find that in these
sessions the theoretical material really
begins to come alive.
"Observing the process of how Amy and
her mother communicated and shared
their experience was both a privilege and
a joy. It enabled me to see how an infant
begins to create a sense of who they are
in relation to others around them."
In Years 3 and 4, child and adolescent
development, adulthood, ageing and death
are studied. Students trace significant life
issues through the different stages of the
life cycle: such as sex and sexuality; social
inequality; identity; disability; parenting
and different models of family; work and
play. Clinical issues of working with
different age groups are also addressed.
Professional development
seminars
This strand of seminars aims to allow
students to explore together the issues that
are relevant to their stage of development
as a therapist. Covering themes as diverse
as getting to know each other and dealing
with diversity to practicalities of setting up
a practice and becoming self employed, to
looking after yourself as a therapist or
presenting work. |
