A unique emphasis of this program is a commitment to honoring the full complexity of psychological life in society. Toward this end, the program provides advanced training in depth psychological and human science traditions. Guided by a scholar-practitioner model, the program provides foundational education in clinical psychology in order to prepare students to become skilled professional psychologists. The program integrates theory, practice, cultural competency, and ethics. The curriculum offers a broad range of perspectives in psychopathology, assessment, intervention, and research. Pacifica provides the unique opportunity for the developing clinical psychologist to study unconscious processes in clinical practice.
Students in the doctoral program obtain specialized training in depth psychological and human science traditions, as well as interdisciplinary studies in mythology, religion, and literature.
Jonathan Shedler, Ph.D., on the Value of a Depth Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
A Lecture at Pacifica Graduate institute, May 19, 2011| | | Jonathan Shedler, Ph.D. is a leading expert on personality and psychotherapy. His recent article, "The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy," has won international acclaim and establishes psychodynamic therapy as an evidence-based treatment. His writings on personality patterns and disorders are shaping contemporary views of diagnosis and treatment. He is author of the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) for personality diagnosis and case formulation and the QPD Panel for primary care mental health assessment. |
Dr. Shedler leads workshops for professional audiences nationally and internationally and consults with health care organizations and government agencies. He is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Director of Psychology at the University of Colorado Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry Service.
The faculty of the Clinical Psychology program supports Dr. Shedler's landmark research. Clinical students are exposed to his research methods and his conclusion that psychodynamic psychotherapy is not only effective, but often more effective than some of the current psychotherapies. Through his research he has also come to the conclusion that many psychotherapeutic schools utilize psychodynamic principles called by another name.
Students in the Clinical Psychology Program receive a strong foundational curriculum in clinical psychology which is significantly enriched by our depth traditions and by our specialty focus in depth psychology. With our interest in the most current research and evidence-based best practices, our students are at the forefront of an evolving and changing field of clinical psychology.
James Hillman, Ph.D.
"The talk going on in depth analysis is not merely the analysis of one persons' story by the other, and whatever else is going on in a therapy session—ritual, suggestion, eros, power, projection—it is also a contest between singers reenacting one of the oldest kinds of cultural enjoyments that we humans know. This is partly why therapy pretends to being creative, and I use that word advisedly to mean originating of significative imaginative patters, poisis. Successful therapy is thus a collaboration between fictions, a re-visioning of the story into a more intelligent, more imaginative plot, which also means the sense of mythos in all parts of the story." - Hillman, Blue fire
Psyche and Soul Psychodynamic Diagnosis of Personality Disorder with Matthew Bennett and Leigh McCloskey
A workshop at Pacifica Graduate Institute, July 29-31, 2011
Pacifica faculty and clinical psychologist Matthew Bennett and his colleague, artist and visual philosopher Leigh McCloskey have undertaken a bold, depthful, and innovative approach to personality theory where the boundaries of psyche and soul meet. Together, the psychologist and author have taken up the challenge articulated by C. G. Jung: that psychology can and must be enriched through inclusion of the autonomous spiritual principle in clinical work. The workshop, Psyche and Soul, reflects the evolving outcome of their continuing work to recapture the vibrant wisdom of Renaissance models of mind and integrate it with contemporary models of psychodynamic psychology. Based on Leigh McCloskey’s tour de force master work entitled the Heiroglyph of the Human Soul, the presenters articulate a visual mythology of startling beauty and emotional resonance.
Following the ancient archetypal trajectory described the Golden Spiral, Matthew and Leigh trace the development of the nascent self as it emerges from darkness and spins itself out into increasing complexity. As the artist explores visual representations of “keys of consciousness” prevailing at different stages of psychological and spiritual development, the psychologist interprets those keys of consciousness as identifiable defensive structures and personality styles. Aided by fine arts, music, and video media, the presenters offer a compelling narrative which illuminates the human suffering arising from personality disorder in a way that inspires empathy and clinical wisdom.
The "visible" self is a constellation of emotions, perceptions, assumptions, memories, and many other psychological determinants, many of which are unconscious.
Coming to Pacifica Graduate Institute, January 20-21, 2012. Nancy McWilliams
Psychological Health and the Whole Person: Reflections on Psychoanalytic Diagnostic Approaches
In the current era, psychotherapy has been increasingly construed in terms of overt symptom relief and behavior change, with minimal attention to the overall mental and emotional well-being of the individual reporting specific symptoms. Dr. McWilliams will argue that such a focus reflects the interests of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, each of which has a stake in defining psychological health narrowly, as the absence of observable symptoms and problematic behaviors. It may also reflect the legitimate needs of researchers to operationalize therapy outcomes in statistically manageable ways. She will suggest, however, that the research paradigm has been inappropriately applied to the very different realm of clinical practice, with results that have not been in the best interests of most patients. Summarizing both traditional and more recently formulated aspects of overall mental health (e.g., ego strength, affect tolerance, security of attachment, mentalization, and capacity for intimacy), she will elaborate on their implications for psychotherapy. In the process, Dr. McWilliams will discuss the clinical values that underlie diagnosis and case conceptualization in the psychodynamic tradition, including the humanistic assumptions that have sometimes put it at odds with prevailing theoretical models. She will provide an overview of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM), focusing on personality assessment and case formulation as described in that classification system, with attention to their relevance to treatment, . Finally, she will present clinical material that illustrates the value of a more inferential, dimensional, and contextual approach to understanding human suffering and healing.
Short videos about Pacifica Graduate Institite's Ph.D. Program in Clinical Psychology
