Curriculum

Curriculum Overview

Our curriculum revolves around the study of existential philosophy and phenomenology, including Fredrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty; the Greeks, including Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans (Epicurus), the Stoics (Epictetus), the Sceptics (Pyrrho); and seminal psychoanalysts who to varying degrees embody an existential sensibility, including but not limited to Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, Jacques Lacan, and especially R. D. Laing, the inspiration for how we conceive the interface between existential philosophy and psychoanalysis. Other thinkers and clinicians will also come into play from time to time. Moreover, our faculty enjoy more than three hundred years of teaching among them, and are accomplished thinkers and authors in their own right.

The didactic portion of our training is broken down into four 8-week segments, with liberal breaks in between. The date of our first meeting will be determined once we have a cohort ready to begin. We will convene one day a week, for two back-to-back 90-minute sessions. The first session will be theoretical, the second devoted to clinical presentations.

Once a start date has been determined (sometime in 2022) we will convene for a one-week Retreat at a location to be determined (Hawaii? Spain? Mexico?) for the purpose of spending some time together, and to bond. Our Retreat will include brief morning sessions designed to prepare candidates for the training; the rest of each day will be devoted to relaxing and having fun. Our rationale is simple: distance learning via Zoom can be alienating when you don’t know the people who comprise your cohort. Spending a week together before we get started should serve as a way to mitigate this problem.

Below we provide an outline of our first year of didactic seminars. The curriculum for our second year of training will be provided not long before the beginning of our second year, with input from candidates.

New School for Existential Psychoanalysis Curriculum

2022 – 2023
FIRST 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Michael Guy Thompson
What Is Authenticity?

1B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

2A. Michael Guy Thompson
What Is Authenticity?

2B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

3A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freedom and Will

3B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

4A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freedom and Will

4B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

5A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on Freud’s Introductory Lectures

5B. Heather LaFace
Case Conference

6A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on Freud’s Introductory Lectures

6B. Heather LaFace
Case Conference

7A. Douglas Kirsner
R.D. Laing & Jean-Paul Sartre

7B. James Norwood
Case Conference

8A. Douglas Kirsner
R.D. Laing & Jean-Paul Sartre

8B. James Norwood
Case Conference

SECOND 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Phenomenology: Hegel

1B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

2A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Phenomenology: Husserl & Merleau-Ponty

2B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

3A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Onto-Phenomenology: Heidegger

3B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

4A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Onto-Phenomenology: Sartre

4B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

5A. Rebecca Greenslade
Existential Therapy & Mindfulness

5B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

6A. Rebecca Greenslade
Existential Therapy & Mindfulness

6B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

7A. Sanford Rosenberg
Phenomenology of Presence

7B. Sanford Rosenberg
Case Conference

8A. Sanford Rosenberg
Phenomenology of Presence

8B. Sanford Rosenberg
Case Conference

THIRD 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on the Therapeutic Encounter

1B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

2A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on the Therapeutic Encounter

2B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

3A. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Hegel and Lacan

3B. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Case Conference

4A. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Hegel and Lacan

4B. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Case Conference

5A. James Norwood
Pyrrhonism

5B. James Norwood
Case Conference

6A. James Norwood
Pyrrhonism

6B. James Norwood
Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freud’s Technical Papers

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freud’s Technical Papers

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

FOURTH 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Jon Mills
Analytical Psychology

1B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

2A. Jon Mills
Poststructuralism: Lacan

2B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

3A. Jon Mills
Hermeneutics: Ricoeur

3B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

4A. Jon Mills
The Postmodern Turn: Foucault & Derrida

4B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

5A. Fritjof Capra
The Essence of Life

5B. Astréa Issler Ribeiro
Case Conference

6A. Fritjof Capra
The Essence of Life

6B. Astréa Issler Ribeiro
Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson & Douglas Kirsner
Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson & Douglas Kirsner
Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference