Ph.D. Program in Depth Psychology with Emphasis in Psychotherapy

The study of Depth Psychotherapy is anchored in a lineage of psychological theory that includes Freudian, Jungian and archetypal perspectives, and includes explorations at the frontiers of theoretical development in the field.

Introduction to Depth Psychotherapy
DPP 730........ 2 Units
This course explores the foundations of contemporary psychotherapy with particular emphasis on depth approaches. It traces the cultural, philosophical, and historical contexts for the development of classical psychoanalysis, object relations theory, self psychology, and feminist reappraisals of psychoanalysis.

Jungian Psychotherapy I
DPP 761........ 2 Units
Classical Jungian concepts such as ego, persona, shadow, animus/anima, Self, complex, archetype, collective unconscious, transcendent function, and individuation, are studied. In addition, the centrality of dreams, active imagination, typology, and transference/countertransference considerations are all reviewed in the context of the practice of psychotherapeutic practice. Further clinical application of Jungian thought is demonstrated through readings of primary texts and secondary source material as they elucidate Jung’s original work. Particular attention is paid to how various forms of psychopathology can be viewed on multi-dimensional levels from the personal and cultural-historical, to the archetypal, mythic, and imaginal.

Jungian Psychotherapy II
DPP 861........ 2 Units
This course explores the phenomena of synchronicity and paranormal experience, which marked a new creative phase in Jung’s later work that has far-reaching theoretical and psychotherapeutic implications. Synchronicity involved a redefinition of reality based on acausality, nonlocality, and the participation of consciousness and imagination, leading towards what Jung calls creatio continua, continuing creation. Students examine the implications of these shifts for clinical practice including the centrality of the dream and the power of anomalous experience during waking consciousness, and the religious function of the psyche.

Jungian Psychotherapy III
DPP 961........ 2 Units
In this course the later work of Jung is reviewed within the context of those post-Jungians who have focused on the application of these ideas to psychotherapy. Jung wrote extensively on the cultural/historical background to his psychology of the unconscious and its archetypal foundation in part because symbols and mythic images from cross-cultural sources (and their modern variants) appear in patient’s dreams, fantasies, and symptoms. Knowledge of this background is useful in understanding, amplifying, and providing a foundation for such case material. Topics for this course may include Jung’s alchemy studies as applied to clinical practice by Edward Edinger and Marie Louise von Franz; the archetype of the feminine and its extensive amplification by von Franz, Mary Esther Harding, Marion Woodman, and others; the archetype of the shadow and its exploration by Adolph Guggenbuhl-Craig; a Jungian developmental model by Michael Fordham and others. Fairy tales, creation myths, the mystery traditions, or various mythologies (Greek, Egyptian, etc.), as they represent psychological processes, may also be addressed.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy I
DPP 763........ 2 Units
With the publication of "Interpretation of Dreams" (1901) Freud set the foundation for psychoanalytic scholarship for the first one hundred years. This first course provides an overview of the seminal, clinical insights harvested by Freud and his early followers with specific attention paid to clinical technique in the psychoanalytic situation. Building on Freud's ideas, two major theoretical paradigms have emerged in the last century. Students engage the clinical ideas of Melanie Klein and Heinz Kohut and discuss how they both elaborate and depart from Freud's initial vision. The core concepts of technique studied include the transference/countertransference field, the therapeutic alliance, projective identification, the psychoanalytic frame, insight and interpretation, and termination.

Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy II
DPP 863........ 2 Units
This course continues explorations of the work of Freud, Klein, Bion, and others and focuses primarily on current trends in psychoanalysis and in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Students look at approaches to specific problems and pathological structures and delineate the dynamics and treatments of various psychological symptoms including borderline and psychotic conditions.

Archetypal Psychotherapy
DPP 762........ 2 Units
Focusing primarily on the work of James Hillman, this course first examines his critique of clinical psychology and analytical practice and his call to enlarge the frame of practice to include the greater community and culture. Students learn the theoretical connections and differences between Archetypal Psychology and the works of other depth psychologists including Freud, Adler, and Jung. In addition there is particular focus on moving from theory to practice, specifically regarding the use of images to deepen one's work.

Depth Approaches to Psychopathology
DPP 760........ 2 Units
This course examines various psychoanalytic and Jungian approaches to psychopathology, beginning with Freud’s original formulations and continuing with contemporary psychoanalytic and Jungian views. Students study the psychodynamic view of character formations and look at the major character disorders, neuroses, and psychotic states both from the point of view of their phenomenology and their unconscious underpinnings. In each case we describe the ways in which theorists of different schools have approached these disorders, and various psychotherapeutic approaches, especially noting Freudian, Kleinian, self-psychological, intersubjectivist, and Jungian attitudes to them.

Selected Topics in Theory and Traditions
DPP 895........ 2 Units
This course provides opportunities to explore theoretical orientations which are important to consider in the practice of Depth Psychotherapy. They may represent current trends in theory or practice, special populations such as children, seniors, and veterans; or themes related to practice such as psychopharmacology, law and ethics, and business issues. This course provides varying exposure to content and faculty who offer a high degree of specific academic, theoretical, or clinical expertise.