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MA in Psychoanalysis

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This program can be fully virtual, in-person, or hybrid.

Students from all walks of life enroll in the Master of Arts degree program in Psychoanalysis in order to understand how people develop their emotional and mental lives, how people operate from motivations that are outside their own awareness, and why people interact and behave in characteristic ways.

Whether as a supplement or preparation for clinical work, as preparation for post-master’s training in psychoanalysis, or as a way to enrich their work with people in other fields (such as law, education, or organizations), students gain a deeper understanding of people in their full complexity through ICPS’ integrative approach to learning.


Program Objectives

In this program, students:

  • Gain a psychoanalytic perspective on human development and clinical work
  • Learn about the development of the human psyche from infancy onward
  • Study unconscious processes such as repetition, defenses, transference, resistance, and symbolism
  • Develop a psychoanalytic framework for understanding psychopathology across a wide range of diagnoses
  • Learn to understand diagnosis from psychoanalytic and psychiatric (DSM) perspectives
  • Develop basic skills for establishing a therapeutic relationship with regressed or narcissistic clients
  • Learn to understand a client’s contacts
  • Understand different responses to stimulation
  • Grasp symbolic communications
  • Observe emotional responses induced in themselves and use self-knowledge in order to understand others

Course of Study

Degree Requirements

Graduation from the Master of Arts program requires successful completion of the

  • 48 credit curriculum, which includes 16 courses over two years,
  • 400 hour Field Placement Externship with accompanying supervision groups, and accepted presentation of fieldwork cases indicating sufficient understanding of case dynamics
  • Required 70 hours of training analysis

Program Catalog

Please refer to the program catalog for exact graduation requirements.

Coursework

Through this program, students gain psychoanalytic insights into clinical and interpersonal situations and will be prepared for post-graduate psychoanalytic training at ICPS or its partners, ACAP and CMPS. The program neither offers a complete course of clinical training nor leads to licensed practice, but provides an introduction to psychoanalytic approaches to regressed patients and a solid basis for further clinical study.

Curriculum
Theory (12 credits required)
GPSA161 Psychoanalytic Theory II: Fundamentals of Freud (3 credits) (required)
GPSA521 Psychoanalytic Counseling: Basic Concepts (3 credits) (required)
GPSA522 Comparative Psychotherapies I: Modern Concepts & Techniques (3 credits) (required)
GPSA824 Treatment Techniques: Symbolic and Emotional Communication (3 credits) (required)

Human Growth & Development (6 credits required)
Required:
GPSA507 Human Development: Through the Lifespan (3 credits)
Select one:
GPSA501 Human Development: The Developing Mind (3 credits)
GPSA502 Human Development: Age Three to Adolescence (3 credits)
GPSA503 Human Development: Adolescence to Adulthood (3 credits)
GPSA504 Human Development: Adulthood – Middle to Later Years (3 credits)


Maladaptive Behavior (3 credits required)
Select One:
GPSA181 Psychopathology: Severe Emotional Disorders (3 credits)
GPSA184/541 Psychopathology: Primitive Mental States (3 credits)


Research and Evaluation (6 credits required)
GPSA552 Introduction to Research in Human Sciences: Quantitative and Qualitative studies (3 credits)
Supplemental:
GPSA554 Masters Research Seminar (3 credits)
GPSA556 Advanced MA Thesis Seminar (Optional) (3 credits)
GPSA559-562 Directed Research (0.5 – 3 credits)


Fieldwork Seminars (meets clinical hour requirements – 12 credits required)
Practicum, First Semester of Fieldwork: (required):
GPSA700 Fieldwork Practicum Seminar

Internship, Semesters 2 through 3 of Fieldwork Select at least Two:
GPSA701 Fieldwork Internship Seminar – When and How to Intervene: Transference and Countertransference & Supervised
Group Studies (SGS) (4 credits)
GPSA702 Fieldwork Internship Seminar: Issues of Bias in the Treatment of Mental Illness &
Supervised Group Studies (SGS) (4 credits)
GPSA703 Fieldwork Internship Seminar: Continuing Fieldwork Seminar & Supervised Group Studies (SGS) (4 credits)
GPSA704 Fieldwork Internship Seminar – Clinical Interventions & Supervised Group Studies (SGS) (4 credits)

Electives (12 credits) (additional courses added as needed)
GPSA104 Multicultural Issues in Mental Health Work (3 credits)
GPSA526 Resistance and Defense (3 credits)
GPSA780 Clinical Supervision (3 credits)
GPSA831 Intervention Strategies for Working with Regressed States (3 credits)
GPSA833a Child Treatment: Theory and Practice (3 credits)
GPSA833b Adolescent Treatment: Theory and Practice (3 credits)


A Total of 70 hours of analysis to be required – 15 before beginning fieldwork

Click here to see current courses>> (By clicking this link, you will go to the ACAPNJ site)

Fieldwork

Students in the Master of Arts program complete a three semester Field Placement Externship, which provides direct contact with regressed patients in mental hospitals or comparable settings, giving students the opportunity to observe extremes of pathology at the earliest levels of fixation or regression. The field placement provides the opportunity to learn how to develop the basic skills in establishing a therapeutic relationship with clients in regressed states. It fosters an ability to read the client’s contacts, responses to stimulation, and symbolic communications while observing the emotional responses induced in oneself. These skills are basic to working with people at all levels of functioning.

First semester courses and the training analysis prepare the student to begin the field placement. The Field Placement Externship includes 400 hours in placement-related activities, including ongoing individual contacts with psychotic patients, administrative supervision and team meetings. Students take the externship in conjunction with the Fieldwork Externship Seminar and small group supervision for three semesters. The experience culminates in a presentation of fieldwork cases and completion of a case study paper.

Training Analysis

Each student participates in a training analysis, with an ICPS approved, certified psychoanalyst, working individually with an analyst throughout the program. The training analysis is an important part of the educational process. It deepens the student’s understanding of course material through personal experience and helps the student tolerate the feelings aroused by psychoanalytic study. It offers a fuller appreciation of one’s own emotional dynamics, increases the student’s access to all emotional states, and increases self-understanding, which is particularly critical for understanding others. Master’s students complete at least 70 hours of analysis, typically on a weekly basis.

Time to Completion

Students can complete the program in two years if they complete the Fieldwork Research Paper concurrently with coursework. Students with high curiosity, openness to new experiences, and tolerance for ambiguity tend to proceed more successfully through the program. Some students take one or more additional semesters to complete the paper.

Admissions Criteria

At a minimum, applicants to the MA in Psychoanalysis program are required to have earned a baccalaureate degree from an approved undergraduate institution. Beyond this credential, however, applicants demonstrate through their personal statement and interviews (when invited) their motivation to learn, capacity to understand oneself and others, academic and applied interests, and readiness to engage in studies of unconscious processes.

In order for ICPS to determine academic readiness for graduate level study, applicants submit transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a writing sample. For those applicants who meet the academic criteria, there will be two admissions interviews scheduled with the faculty. During the interview process, the applicant is asked to write a brief response to a psychoanalytic text

Applicants who are non-native speakers of English may be asked to submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Those educated outside the United States also submit transcripts to a credential equivalency service. ICPS is not accepting international applicants at this time. International students are encouraged to visit BGSP’s main campus’ Master of Arts in Psychoanalysis.

ICPS does not discriminate in its admission policy or other aspects of its program against persons on the basis of race, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, color, creed, national or ethnic origin or employment status.

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