Critical Social Inquiry 0242 - Psychoanalysis

How does psychoanalysis understand the treatment of children and adolescents? How have ideas and practices of child psychotherapy within psychoanalysis changed over time? What does an analyst actually do in sessions and with what results? These are the major questions we'll address in this course. Students will engage in intensive reading of primary sources and two major papers, in addition to regularly reviewing concepts through in-class essays and role-plays. We will read classic historical cases beginning with Freud and Klein, and move toward contemporary accounts of psychoanalysis with children. In a mid-semester paper, students will review a child case and apply a different approach to psychoanalysis to that case. In a final assignment, students will read one of four novels and create a fictional treatment relationship with a child character, then give a psychoanalytic explanation of the treatment. Students are expected to prepare for discussions (the reading is not easy), and to participate fully in class.

Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.