Course Meeting: Saturdays 9:00- 10:30 am EST

Course Dates: Sept 20, 27, Oct 4, 11, 18, 25, Nov 1, 8, 15, 22, Dec 6, 13

Instructor: Wally Fletcher, D Min, NCPsyA

Course Description:

This course will focus on the on-going evolution of modern psychoanalytic technique in America from
World-War II to the present. It will build on the foundation laid in “Part I” in emphasizing innovative
perspectives on:

  • The optimal treatment setting and conditions for effective psychoanalytic treatment
  • The trend toward relational, interpersonal and cultural perspectives in modern psychoanalytic
    theory and treatment
  • All aspects including the critical emotional dimensions of the therapist’s participation in the
    therapeutic relationship
  • Ways of dealing with transference, countertransference and resistance
  • The uses of interpretive, educative and interactional techniques in psychotherapy
  • Investigating the full range of human “problems in living” for which psychoanalysis can offer
    effective help

Course Objectives:

1. Apply relevant knowledge and insight into the historical evolution of psychoanalytic technique to
improve clinical practice.
2. Apply a critical framework for comparing, contrasting and assessing varied approaches to
psychoanalytic treatment.
3. Utilize a peer learning/consultation environment for dialogue in which participants are enabled to
draw practical connections between reading assignments and their own clinical practice.
4. Utilize a greater familiarity with the “literature” of psychoanalysis to enrich their clinical work.
5. Apply modern understandings of the role and importance of therapist self-care for preventing
burn-out and improving treatment outcomes.
6. Utilize modern understandings of working with transference, countertransference and resistance
to improve treatment outcomes.
7. Apply modern relational and interpersonal theories and techniques to improve treatment
outcomes.