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THE METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE
FOR TRAINING IN PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
Courses are scheduled in instructors' private offices on Mondays and Wednesdays at
6:30 P.M. and 8:30 P.M.
There are two (2) semesters per year, fall and spring, each consisting of fifteen (15) weeks of classes.
The course of study may be completed in three (3) years or may be extended over a longer period of time
if taken on a part-time or non-matriculant basis.
Small classes allow individual concerns to be addressed.
Freud's Writings I
Psychoanalytic Technique I: Beginning the Treatment
Psychoanalytic Theories of Development I
Freud's Writings II
Psychoanalytic Technique II: Classical and Contemporary Approaches
Psychoanalytic Theories of Development II
Second Year Fall
Psychopathology I: Theory of Psychic Conflict
Psychoanalytic Technique III: Technique with the More Disturbed Patient
Unconscious Processes
Psychopathology II: Neurosis
Psychoanalytic Technique IV: Transference and Countertransference with the More Disturbed Patient
Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams
Psychopathology III: Borderline and Narcissistic Disorders
Integrative Case Seminar I
Relational Perspectives in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy
Psychopathology IV: Psychosis
Integrative Case Seminar II
Object Relations Theory
Painting-"Sacred Marriage" by Ariyon Deborah Salt www.ariyon.com
First Year Fall
The development of Freud's thought is traced through 1914 with an emphasis on the interdependence of
clinical and theoretical advances. The first part of the course traces the progress of Freud's self-analysis
in order to demonstrate the inseparability of theory and practice in psychoanalysis. The remainder of the
course focuses on the clinical aspects of Freud's thought through 1914.
This course offers an overview of the beginning psychological development of the human infant
from a psychoanalytic perspective. Early development will be considered from
the vantage point of psychosexual stages and of drive and ego development in the
oral and anal phases and from the standpoint of Attachment Theory. The
development of object relations and the emerging sense of self will be
addressed. The contributions from infant research will be covered.
Readings will include Freud, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Spitz, Winnicott,
Mahler, Pine, and Kohut. Students will have the opportunity to think about
clinical material from various theoretical perspectives.
First Year Spring
Freud's basic theoretical thinking from 1914 to 1937 is studied intensively through a close reading of
his essential papers. Central concepts such as narcissism, the dual instinct theory, "beyond the
pleasure principle," masochism and the structural model are highlighted. Application and relevance to
clinical practice is emphasized.
This course focuses on the basic components of psychoanalytic treatment: transference,
countertransference, resistance, acting out and working through. Each concept is explored
theoretically and clinically, integrating classical and contemporary thought. The course
emphasizes the application of theory to clinical work.
This course continues an exploration into the nature of Freud's basic stage theory of development
and its ramifications for normal and psychopathological character structure. There will be
emphasis on the Oedipus complex as the nucleus of neurotic conflict. The
writings of Freud, as well as the writings of more contemporary theorists will
be studied. This will include reading and discussion of gender and
sexuality, including contemporary theories of femininity, female sexuality and
homosexual and lesbian perspectives.
The psychoanalytic theory of psychic conflict will be studied from the
perspective of the various contemporary models of the mind in order to lay the
groundwork for an understanding of psychopathology, specific diagnostic entities
and clinical treatment.
Using readings from the literature, class discussion and case presentations, concepts covered
will include: psychic structure, id, ego and superego functioning, unconscious processes, anxiety,
conflict, regression, defense mechanisms, symptom formation, psychopathology and character structure.
This course will focus on the unfolding treatment process with an emphasis on issues encountered
in the treatment of patients with a variety of ego structures. Work with pre-verbal experiences,
identifications and primitive defenses will be explored. The nature of the therapeutic atmosphere
will also be considered. Students' clinical material will be used in combination with readings from
Freud, Mahler, Spitz, Pine, Leowald, Winnicott, McDougall and Riviere.
This course will study primary process, fantasy and symbolism as essential keys to understanding
the unconscious. This study will attempt to enhance the capacity to listen for unconscious conflict
and fantasy and to decipher their meaning in the clinical material. Both Freudian and Kleinian
approaches toward fantasy and symbolism will be discussed. Emphasis will be placed on the relevance
of understanding character pathology and differential diagnosis in order to communicate effectively
to the patient about unconscious fantasy.
Second Year Spring
The psychoanalytic theory of neurosis will be reviewed and discussed in order to develop an
understanding of the classical neuroses, e.g., hysteria, obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and phobias, etc.,
their etiology or origin in earlier developmental conflicts and their role in the formation of character.
Critical concepts such as the Oedipus complex, infantile neurosis, drives vs. object relations and the role
these concepts and developmental issues play in the formation of neurosis will be considered. The adequacy
and relevance of the classical formulation of neurosis in the context of changing patient presentations
(e.g., borderline and the more severe character disorders) which seem to predominate in treatment at this
time will be addressed. The course will use readings from the literature, case presentations, class discussion
and presentation of assigned material.
Special transference and countertransference problems in the treatment of patients who present borderline,
narcissistic and psychotic pathology will be addressed. Specific technical problems with
these patients, e.g., acting out, negative therapeutic reactions, eroticized and psychotic transference,
silences, perversions and treatment crises will be considered. Readings will be drawn from authors who
are or have been making major contributions to the literature on transference and countertransference.
Both theoretical and clinical aspects of the use of the dream in psychotherapy will be covered.
Approximately half of each class meeting will be devoted to a discussion of an aspect of dream
theory and half to clinical case material. Readings will cover historical and current theoretical
issues including the works of Freud, Sharpe, Erikson, Altman, Jones, Brenner and Arlow, and Grinstein.
Ample opportunity will be provided to each student to present pertinent case material including dreams.
Third Year Fall
Narcissistic and borderline disorders will be studied from the point of view of psychic structure, developmental
deficits, the aggressive drive and the world of internal objects. Attention will be given to the dynamics of the
treatment process, transference and countertransference problems special to this group, and the use of parameters.
Students will take turns presenting in-depth case material from an issue-oriented standpoint. They
will be expected to conceptualize their work and formulate a question or clinical issue which, when
resolved, will enhance understanding of the interaction. Emphasis will be placed on conceptualizing
transference and countertransference. Students will use relevant background
material and actual process recording as a basis for group discuss
This seven week course will provide an overview of relational perspectives in
psychoanalysis. The evolution of relational ideas will be traced from
their beginnings to contemporary theory with its roots in object relations and
interpersonal psychology. Concepts of the two-person transference-countertransference
matrix, mutuality and a shift in views about authority, the role of affect,
trauma, and the phenomenon of neurological information processing will be
explored. Readings will be drawn primarily from Ferenczi, Fromm.
Mitchell. Bromberg. Aron and Altman. Clinical applications of theoretical
concepts will be emphasized.
This course will focus on the historical development of both the theory and clinical practice of
self psychology. Emphasis will be given to such key issues as the empathic mode of observation,
self-object transferences, and psychic structure building. A re-evaluation of major concepts will
include countertransference, resistance, drive theory and the self as the superordinate agency of the mind.
Students' clinical work will be discussed in-depth to demonstrate self-psychologically informed psychoanalysis.
Readings will include the writings of Kohut, Ornstein, Wolf, Bacal, Fosshage and Stolorow.
Third Year Spring
More serious psychopathology, e.g., schizophrenia and severe ego disturbances, is viewed in terms of
differential diagnosis. Drive derivatives, affect states and internalized object relations are considered.
Clinical material is used to enhance understanding of psychotic states, with an emphasis on how technique
must be adapted to work with these conditions.
This seminar will continue the work done in Integrative Case Seminar I, with special emphasis on the Final
Case Presentation: selecting the most appropriate case from the student’s caseload, conceptualizing the nature
of the treatment process, selecting an organizing focus for the presentation that will best convey that process,
and putting together the various elements of a formal presentation. Readings may be suggested when appropriate.
The emphasis will be on facilitating a discussion in the class wherein a focus and structure for each student’s
case presentation can emerge, and on strengthening each student’s conceptual, organizational, and writing skills.
Each student will have a number of class meetings in which to discuss the
selected case and to present one or more
preliminary versions of their written presentation. By semester’s end, it is hoped that each student will have
achieved a sense of direction with regard to their Final Case Presentation requirement.
This course will examine the concept of the object and object relations in the work of different theorists.
Freud's concept of the object will be the starting point; further attention will be given to Mahler, M. Klein,
Fairbairn, Winnicott, M. Balint, Bion, Loewald, and Ogden. How each theorist's understanding of the importance
of the object in individual development conditions, his/her understanding of pathology, diagnosis, and treatment
approach, especially in regard to the use of transference, will be studied.