MA/ PhD in Depth Psychology | Research and Praxis Courses

The attitude toward research in the Depth Psychology Program is one of epistemological and methodological diversity. Students cultivate research skills to be used in the dissertation process through a series of intensive methodological and praxis courses in phenomenological, participatory, hermeneutic/theoretical, and imaginal approaches. In community and ecological fieldwork, students address the interface between psychological suffering and well-being and cultural pathology and community health. Through participatory and dialogical fieldwork and research, they are challenged to apply new theories and practices of depth psychology to cultural transformation and healing. Dreamwork, dialogue, and ritual are studied as psychological ways of knowing.

Conceiving Depth Psychological Community and Ecological Fieldwork
DP 765........ 0 Units
Working closely with their fieldwork advisors and small cohort, students will explore bridges between their academic coursework and their community and ecological interests and callings. Issues such as gaining entry to a community , ethical concerns, possible methodologies for their work, and fieldwork proposal writing will be addressed. This course helps students plan and prepare for their first summer's community and ecological fieldwork.

Foundations for Research in Depth Psychology I:
DP 782........ 2 Units
This course introduces students to the distinctive theory and practice of research in depth psychology, a radical gnosis that includes a variety of academic disciplines and traditions. Following a consideration of the unique character of depth psychology and of the special demands it places on researchers in the field, four basic, general kinds of research methodologies will be considered: namely, 1) phenomenological, 2) hermeneutic, 3) participatory, and 4) other qualitative, interdisciplinary methodologies. Core concepts and processes will be addressed with respect to four fundamental heuristics of research: questioning, exploring, understanding, and communicating. Technical, ethical, cultural, and interdisciplinary questions and concerns will be addressed throughout as each student is guided in the process of developing the knowledge, attitudes, and skills for identifying and investigating evocative and significant research questions.

Community/Ecological Fieldwork:
Tending the Soul of the World
DP 783........ 4 Units
The first year of coursework endeavors to open a sensibility of soul which is no longer tightly contained in the experiences of personal interiority and subjectivity. “Tending soul” is then envisioned as including the consulting room, and going beyond it to address cultural and ecological suffering and well-being in other contexts. This summer’s community fieldwork asks that students respond to the call of soul’s suffering in the world through their work. Here, listening is tied to responsibility and to responding. Pass/No Pass.

Selected Topics in Depth Psychology
DP 799, 899, 999........ 1-4 Units each
Course content varies.

Orientation to Scholarly Research and Publishing
DP 812........ 0 Units
Drawing from their coursework and/pr community/ecological fieldwork students are introduced to techniques of scholarly research and are guided in choosing the field, topic, and approach to produce a publishable paper to satisfy a doctoral degree requirement. This includes an exploration of options for publishing both online and in print media.

Conceiving Community and Ecological Research
DP 865........ 0 Units
Working closely with their fieldwork and research advisor and small group cohort, students will create and refine a fieldwork and research proposal that they carry out in their second summer's community and ecological fieldwork and research. Attention will be given to choice of appropriate research methodologies, collaborative strategies, ethical concerns, and research proposal writing.

Approaches to Group and Community Process I, II, III, IV, V
DP 871, 872, 873, 874, 875........ 0 Units
Depth psychology community and ecological fieldwork and research draw on a rich variety of group and community processes. These courses will introduce students to varied methodologies such as council, Bohemian dialogue, process work, authentic movement, compassionate listening, shared memoir/testimony, restorative justice, public conversation, dreamwork, psychodrama, processes for community truth and reconciliation art.

Phenomenology of Depth Psychological Cultural Work
DP 880........ 2 Units
In this course students present their community fieldwork and research, examining how depth psychology oriented their work, their transferential relation to the work, and what they learned through their application of depth psychological methods. Through reflection on the array of fieldwork, students work toward discerning a phenomenology of how depth psychology and cultural work are and can be related. Attention to the interfaces between culture and intrapsychic experience, between cultural/ecological symptom and individual suffering or psychopathology, ecological/cultural/institutional transformation and psychological healing will be stressed. Students study how such community based depth psychological work is of value to cultural work and to the evolution of depth psychological theory and practice. Pass/No Pass.

Research Methodologies:
Participatory Research
DP 881........ 2 Units
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the methodological tools and contextual perspective to engage in community depth psychological research. This form of research draws on the radical theories of feminist and third world research. It requires that the researcher participate collaboratively with those being studied to foster community self-reflection, knowledge, and empowerment. Theories and courses of action are derived from participation in community. This course will explore the theoretical frameworks of various participatory strategies and provide for practical fieldwork experiences with one or more methodologies currently in use for depth psychological research. Methods covered in this course may include: phenomenology, participatory action research, feminist research, grounded theory, and ethnography.

Imaginal Perspectives in Research and Praxis
DP 882........ 2 Units
Depth psychologists are known for their ability to use the gifts of imagination and bring fresh perspectives to research, therapeutic practice, and concerned action in the world. This course explores research methodologies as imaginal constructs, and examines the special knowledge obtainable from dreams, reverie, images, active imagination, aesthetic sensibility, communications of the body, and related modes of experiencing. Students have an opportunity to enter into imaginal ways of knowing through a series of demonstrations and class presentations.

Community/Ecological Fieldwork and Research
DP 883........ 4 Units
In the second summer students either return to the site of their original fieldwork or choose a new one. Some fieldwork may involve the student in the ongoing work at that site; some may involve depth psychologically oriented work that is initiated by the student in consultation with members of the community. This summer students also have the option to engage in a pilot piece of research in order to hone the research skills that will assist them in the work of their dissertation. Through deep listening to or dialogue with the community they are working with, research question(s) are generated which may be explored using various phenomenological/heuristic methodologies and/or participatory action research approaches. Pass/No Pass.

Dissertation Development I
DP 932A........ 2/3Unit
This first course in the three-course Dissertation Development sequence provides the framework for implementing a research idea and writing the concept paper, which serves as the basis for the dissertation proposal. The focus of the first course is on working with one’s research question, writing an Introduction, and outlining the Brief Review of the Literature for the concept paper. Students also work on understanding and mastering American Psychological Association style. Pass/No Pass. Prerequisite: DP 782

Dissertation Development II
DP 932B........ 2/3Unit
The second course in this sequence focuses on drafting the Brief Review of the Literature, Statement of the Problem, and Method sections of the concept paper. Students also learn about strategies and techniques for conducting library research in psychology. At the end of this class, students should have a draft of a complete concept paper. Pass/No Pass. Prerequisite: DP 932A

Dissertation Development III
DP 932C........ 2/3 Unit
The third course in this sequence focuses on finalizing the concept paper and submitting it to members of the research faculty and to the Ph.D. administration for approval. Students also discuss the ethical standards for conducting research with human subjects and draft an application to the Ethics Committee for "Approval for the Use of Human Participants." Strategies for publishing one’s dissertation are also presented. Pass/No Pass. Prerequisite: DP 932B

Research Writing:
Conceiving the Dissertation
DP 933........ 5 Units
For students who do not yet have an approved concept paper, this course will be another opportunity to have their concept paper submitted and approved. For students who have an approved concept paper, work on the literature review of their dissertation will begin. Students will read about the construction of a literature review, propose the bodies of literature that will need to be reviewed for their dissertation and the rationale for these, submit an initial bibliography of works to be read for each section, and write one section of their literature review.

Dissertation Writing
DP 980........ 15 Units
During this course, students assemble their dissertation committees, write their proposals, complete the dissertation process, and defend their dissertations in a public forum. This course may be taken concurrently with other courses. Additional fees will be assessed for this course. Pass/No Pass.

Research Process
DP 990........ 2 Units
As students approach their dissertation research, this class will enable them to practice the research approaches and methodologies they will be using in their own research. A variety of approaches—such as phenomenological, heuristic, ethnographic, hermeneutic, feminist and participatory—will be available as students begin to move from their coursework and fieldwork to the engaged research of their dissertation. Pass/No Pass.

The Hermeneutic and Phenomenological Traditions
DP 991........ 2 Units
This course introduces students to two broad philosophical traditions, hermeneutics and phenomenology, that underlie the theory and practice of research in depth psychology. Historical, conceptual, and methodological foundations of both traditions will be examined. Critical problems and conundrums in the theory and practice of hermeneutics and phenomenology will also be examined. Critical problems and conundrums in the theory and practice of hermeneutics and phenomenology will also be examined, as well as cultural and ethical perspectives and implications.

Enacting the Oral Tradition
DP 992........ 2 Units
Students are invited to re-member the oral tradition—so much a part of the long history of soul—through an oral presentation which addresses the ways that they have been informed by their three years of studies. In this course each student makes a research presentation to other members of the class in a seminar format. This presentation constitutes the oral examination requirement of the program. Pass/No Pass.

Depth Transformative Practices
DP 997........ 6 Units
Various schools of depth psychology have created therapeutic contexts for personal transformation and/or healing. These practices are dynamically linked to transformative rituals and rites across cultures and through time. The provision of a witness, a guide, or teacher has been seen as essential to the containing vessel for such transformative experiences. During the course of the program, students are expected to engage in a minimum of 60 hours of depth transformative practice, within a relational context. Latitude is given to students to choose the form of this practice in accordance with their needs and interests. Examples of such practice may include, but are not limited to: individual depth psychotherapy, group dialogue work, facilitated vision questing, rites of passage, meditation, artistic engagement, or other psycho-spiritual practice.