Check out this syllabus. Contact KPI for registration information: kypsychoanalytic.org. Address: 1326 South Third Street; Louisville, KY 40208. Phone: 502-637-2639.
The
Kentucky Psychoanalytic Institute
Spring
2013
104/Human Development:
Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the Second Half of Life
Instructor:
Dr. Susan Eichenberger, NCPsyA
Meeting
Time: First class meets on Saturday, March 30, 2013.
Subsequent 9 classes, which continue on April 9, 2013, meet on
Tuesdays. All classes are held 10:00 – 11:30 AM.
Syllabus
Course Description: This
course will focus and expound upon the specific developmental and
psychological needs of the aging population in our society. While
growing old is typically viewed as a sad and negative experience that
involves losses of relationships, health, beauty and finances, in
this course aging will be treated as a developmental process.
Clinical work with the elderly will envision human growth as ongoing
throughout life. Mental illness or symptomatology is no longer seen
as a disease entity affecting a fully developed human organism, but
in the model of a functional disturbance that impedes the development
of a still-evolving psychic structure. Through readings and
discussions, new concepts in adult development, psychoanalytic
diagnosis and treatment, and theoretical inquiry into midlife
transitions will be explored.
Objectives:
Improvement
of Professional Competency: To gain an in-depth understanding of
current thinking in adult development; to understand the bio-medical
and psychosocial domains of investigation; to address “age-ism”
or “genophobia” and the clinicians' personal biases; and to
integrate analytic concepts into the treatment approach.
Acquisition
of New Skills: To address the obstacles, barriers, and stereotypes
in work with older people. To fully incorporate resistances,
dependencies, narcissistic features, sexuality, inner conflicts,
anxiety, time constraints, and transference and countertransference
issues in the treatment process.
Integration
of Theory and Practice: To examine clinical cases of analytic
treatment with adults in each decade of life after forty. To
examine life cycle issues and strategies for treatment in adults in
the second half of life. To gain a familiarity with Jungian writing
on midlife transitions to apply a deeper perspective on the quest
for meaning in our lives.
Texts:
Colarusso, C. A. & Nemiroff,
R. A. The Race Against Time: Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the
Second Half of Life. New York: Plenum Press, 1984.
Gerzon, Mark. Listening to
Midlife: Turning Your Crisis into a Quest. Boston: Shambala Press,
1996.
Prosen, H. & Sperry, L.
Aging in the Twenty-first Century. New York: Garland Publishing,
Inc., 1996.
Stein, Murray. In Midlife: A
Jungian Perspective. Connecticut: Spring Publications, 2004.
Course
Requirements: Students
will be expected to be prepared with the assigned readings and
presentations. Weekly logs are to be submitted reviewing reactions
to readings, responses to class discussions, and any relevant
associations to the material. Evaluations will be completed at the
end of the course. This course is intended primarily for the
experienced mental health professional, however people from all
backgrounds may find the material relevant and stimulating.
Week
One:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso; Chap. 1 and 2: A Review of Adult Development and
Current Literature of Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis in the Second
Half of life.
Objectives:
1.Learn and discuss basic historical themes: a chronological life
cycle can be described; adulthood is not static, but always in a
state of fluidity; there is a continual need to define the adult self
in regard to the internal vs. the external environment; adults must
come come to terms with their limited time span; the development and
maintenance of the adult body and its relationship to the mind is a
universal preoccupation; and narcissism, or love of self, vs.
responsibility to society and other individuals is a central issue in
all civilized cultures. 2. Learn basic hypotheses for adult
development to differentiate child from adult. 3. Address stereotypes
and fears specific to aging and working with the elderly or aging
client.
Week
Two:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 3: Adult Development and Psychoanalytic
Diagnosis.
Sperry
and Prosen: Page 3: Aging as a Developmental Process: Myths and Major
Trends.
Objectives:
1. Extend psychoanalysts' vision beyond adolescence to address issues
of continued complex adult growth and identity formation; to reverse
the notion of an inevitable decline in cognitive function, and to
understand the mourning process as it applies to adaptation and
growth. 2. To learn, review and discuss the life stages and
developmental tasks of adulthood. 3. To apply the concept of
developmental arrest to development in adults.
Week
Three:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap.4: Adult Development and Transference. Chap. 5:
Friendship in Midlife.
Objectives:
1. Gain the ability to address the “adult past” as a source of
transference; understand the adult oedipal complex and the negative
oedipal complex and its effect on transference. 2. Discuss the
developmental tasks of midlife as they relate to object loss and
friendship. 3. Learn the impact of midlife changes (illness,
mortality, retirement) on analytic work.
Week
Four:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 6: Turning Forty in Analysis.
Stein:
Chap. Four: The Return of the Repressed during Midlife Liminality.
Objectives:
Examine the significance of “birthdays” and their meaning for
life review. 2. Discuss clinical data on the opening, midphase, and
terminal phase of the assigned analysis. 3. Discuss the Jungian
concepts that present to the unconscious during the midlife phase of
life.
Week
Five:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 7: The Development of Intimacy at Age Fifty.
Stein:
Chap. Five: The Lure to Soul-Mating in Midlife Luminality.
Gerzon:
Chap. Three: Searching for Your Soul/Mate.
Objectives:
1. Read and discuss the transference themes and life developmental
tasks present in the assigned case. 2. Explore the Jungian themes of
“the return of the shadow” and possible new directions for life
at this life stage. 3. Apply theory to practice through clinical
examples.
Week
Six:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 8: Short-Term Psychotherapy with a Sixty-Two
Year Old Man.
Sperry
and Prosen: Page103: The Experience of Retirement for Active, Older
Adults.
Gerzon:
Chap. Four: Finding a Voice in Your Vocation.
Objectives:
1. Examine treatment course of an older patient and relevant issues
of this developmental stage. 2. Discuss the impact of retirement on
the sense of self. 3. Explore the experience of separating from an
outmoded identity.
Week
Seven:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 9: New Beginnings at Seventy: A Decade of
Psychotherapy in Late Adulthood.
Sperry
and Prosen: Page 203: Empathy, Aging and Intergenerational Issues.
Stein:
Chap. Six: Through the Region of Hades: A Steep Descent in Midlife's
Luminality.
Objectives:
1. Discuss extensive clinical material from a significant older
adult analysis. 2. Develop an understanding for issues of aging and
intergenerational relations to inform clinical work. 3. Incorporate
Jungian theory of “death anxiety” and its relationship to aging.
Week
Eight:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 10: Psychotherapy with an Eighty-Year-Old
Patient.
Sperry
and Prosen: Page 215: Revisioning Psychotherapy with Older Adults.
Gerzon:
Chap. Five: Growing Whole: The Quest for Meaning.
Objectives:
1. Address aspects of treating the elderly who were formerly deemed
ineligible for analytic treatment. 2. Explore both traditional and
emerging views about psychotherapy with older adults. 3. Address the
notion of “aging deeply” as the body ages chronologically.
Week
Nine:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 11: Object Loss and Development in the Second
Half of Life. (Additional readings: Chap 12: When a Husband Dies and
Chap. 13: When a Wife Dies)
Objectives:
1. Explore Erikson's eighth stage of the life cycle: integrity vs.
despair. 2. Discuss the concept and reality of “object loss”. 3.
Discuss the therapeutic process of working through grief.
Week
Ten:
Nemiroff
and Colarusso: Chap. 16: Issues and Strategies for Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis in the Second Half of Life.
Sperry
and Prosen: Page 223: The Practice of Psychotherapy with the Aging
Adult.
Objectives:
1. Review and summarize relevant material in dealing with an aging
population. 2. Review specific age-related issues when dealing with
transference, countertransference, sexuality, body image, and death.
3. Discuss the benefits of offering psychotherapy and psychoanalysis
to adults in the second half of life.
