Psychoanalytic or Jungian Analytic Theory

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 7

This module provides a view of the human life cycle through the study of the conjunction of elements of developmental psychology and psychoanalytic or Jungian analytic literature. It provides a forum for critical discussion of the different theories outlined, and explores their application to the other course components and to your own life experience.

Psychoanalytic Stream

• Term 1 begins with an introduction to the core concepts of psychoanalytic thought. Central texts of Freud and Klein are presented together with more modern commentaries.
• Term 2 examines pregnancy and the origins of the relationship between the mother and her baby. It explores the contributions and interactions of the mother, baby, the wider family and environment in the first six months of life to understand how, as Daniel Stern writes, ‘in the short span of the first six months of life, the infant emerges as a social human being’.
• Term 3 explores some of the emotional, social, cognitive and perceptual and especially communicative skills and attributes of the baby’s development as it completes and moves beyond the first year of life and becomes a toddler. It then looks at the key psychoanalytic concepts of symbolisation, transitional objects and oedipal resolutions (classical and modern positions), moving through toddlerhood to the school-aged child.

Jungian Analytic Stream

• Term 1 introduces a Jungian analytic model of the psyche, and the development of the self as it unfolds and develops in dynamic interaction with its internal and external worlds. Key readings facilitate a critical understanding of the structure of the self as both the centre and totality of the psyche. It focuses on individuation, the personal and collective unconscious, archetypal theory, the transcendent function, symbol formation and dreams.
• Term 2 examines the development of the self and mind in infancy. It starts with Fordham’s integration of clinical work with children, infant observation studies and Jungian analytic theory, and the work of Klein, Bion and Winnicott. It considers their contributions to the discussion of central issues in infancy: the self; defences; creativity and the capacity to symbolise.
• Term 3 considers the unfolding of the self during the life-long process of individuation. It focuses on the developmental stages and the archetypal contexts throughout the life cycle, from childhood, adolescence, through young adulthood, mid-life, the third age to death.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand and critically evaluate significant psychoanalytic or Jungian analytic concepts
• understand the human developmental process and key developmental tasks.