The certificate program consists of a four-year curriculum of coursework and case conferences, three supervised analyses, and a personal analysis.

Curriculum: The academic year is divided into four quarters of eight weeks each, for a total of thirty-two weeks of class meetings. Classes are held on Wednesday mornings and case conferences on Tuesday evenings. There is one weekend course per semester. Required courses are emphasized in the first two years, electives in the third and fourth years.

Our multi-theoretical, comparative approach is reflected in each of the four curriculum areas:

Theory:

The course sequence in psychoanalytic theory offers candidates a comprehensive understanding of psychoanalytic concepts and a firm grounding in psychoanalysis as a dialectic mode of inquiry. From our comparative psychoanalytic orientation, we teach Freud, Klein, ego psychology, and object relations, including Fairbairn, Winnicott, Bion, French schools of psychoanalysis, self psychology and contemporary American relational perspectives. The sequence is designed to enable candidates to critically examine the underlying assumptions of psychoanalytic theories, while viewing the emergence of both contemporary and earlier concepts within their social and historical contexts.

Technique:

The course sequence in analytic technique investigates the evolution of psychoanalytic technique from Freud to the present. The focus of each year's courses parallels the general movement in technical focus during the unfolding of an analysis. The first year technique series deals with the development of an analytic space. The second year focuses on the middle, working-through phase. The third and fourth years examine specific technical concepts such as negative therapeutic reaction, self-disclosure, and termination. Central issues of transference, countertransference, and dreams are woven throughout the various phases.

Development:

The course sequence in development explores the context in which theories and debates in analysis are articulated. For example, the sequence investigates the implications of developmental thinking for metapsychology and clinical work, and the relationship between early childhood experience and adult development. Attachment behavior and gender development are examined.

Adult psychoanalysis is studied in the context of typical developmental themes that arise in the course of a treatment.

Psychopathology:

This course sequence approaches psychopathology by examining those aspects of character formation most at risk during each developmental phase, rather than by following the traditional diagnostic category model. For example, the course "Primitive States," examines the earliest stages of psychic life and the vicissitudes that contribute to the most severe pathologies. Various theories of pathogenesis, including concepts of deficit, conflict, and trauma, are investigated.