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. We convened one day a week, for two back-to-back 90-minute sessions. The first session will be theoretical, the second devoted to clinical presentations.
Below we provide an outline of our first two years of didactic seminars.
New School for Existential Psychoanalysis Curriculum
2023–2024
1A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/5/23 The Unconscious: Freud
1B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/5/23 Case Conference
2A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/12/23 The Unconscious: Sartre
2B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/12/23 Case Conference
3A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/19/23 The Unconscious: Heidegger
3B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/19/23 Case Conference
ONE WEEK BREAK: ESALEN
4A. Michael Guy Thompson
10/3/23 “Unconscious Experience”
4B. Michael Guy Thompson
10/3/23 Case Conference
5A. Jon Mills
10/10/23 Jung and Analytical Psychology I
5B. Jon Mills
10/10/23 Case Conference
6A. Jon Mills
10/17/23 Jung and Analytical Psychology II
6B. Jon Mills
10/17/23 Case Conference
7A. Jon Mills
10/24/23 Merleau-Ponty
7B. Jon Mills
10/24/23 Case Conference
8A. Jon Mills
10/31/23 Foucault
8B. Jon Mills
10/31/23 Case Conference
MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK
1A. Douglas Kirsner
11/21/23 R. D. Laing: Sanity and Madness
1B. Rinat Tal
11/21/23 Case Conference
2A. Douglas Kirsner
11/28/23 R. D. Laing: Authenticity
2B. Rinat Tal
11/28/23 Case Conference
3A. James Norwood
12/5/23 What Is Called Thinking?
3B. James Norwood
12/5/23 Case Conference
4A. James Norwood
12/12/23 What Is Called Thinking?
4B. James Norwood
12/12/23 Case Conference
THREE-WEEK HOLIDAY BREAK
5A. Michael Guy Thompson
1/9/24 What Is Neurosis?
5A. Michael Guy Thompson
1/9/24 Case Conference
6B. Michael Guy Thompson
1/16/24 What Is Psychosis?
6B. Michael Guy Thompson
1/16/24 Case Conference
7A. Sanford Rosenberg
1/23/24 Hillman & Phenomenology
7B. Sanford Rosenberg
1/23/24 Case Conference
8A. Sanford Rosenberg
1/30/24 Hillman & Phenomenology
8B. Sanford Rosenberg
1/30/24 Case Conference
MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK
1A. Astréa Rebeiro
2/20/24 Nietzsche & the Unconscious
1B. Astréa Reburied
2/20/24 Case Conference
2A. Astréa Rebeiro
2/27/24 Nietzsche and the Self
2B. Astréa Rebeiro
2/27/24 Case Conference
3A. Douglas Kirsner
3/5/24 R. D. Laing: On Love
3B. Sandy Rosenberg
3/5/24 Case Conference
4A. Douglas Kirsner
3/12/24 R. D. Laing: On Altered States
4B. Sandy Rosenberg
3/12/24 Case Conference
5A. James Norwood
3/19/24 What Is Called Thinking?
5B. James Norwood
3/19/24 Case Conference
6A. James Norwood
3/26/24 What Is Called Thinking?
6B. James Norwood
3/26/24 Case Conference
7A. Michael Guy Thompson
4/2/24 The Divided Self: Schizoid Phenomenon
7B. Michael Guy Thompson
4/2/24 Case Conference
8A. Michael Guy Thompson
4/9/24 The Divided Self: Ontological Insecurity
8B. Michael Guy Thompson
4/9/24 Case Conference
MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK
1A. Jon Mills
4/30/24 Ricoeur
1B. Jon Mills
4/30/24 Case Conference
2A. Jon Mills
5/7/24 Derrida
2B. Jon Mills
5/7/24 Case Conference
3A. Jon Mills
5/14/24 A Critique of Postmodernism
3B. Jon Mills
5/14/24 Case Conference
4A. Jon Mills
5/21/24 Critical Social Justice and Psychoanalysis Today
4B. Jon Mills
5/21/24 Case Conference
5A. Fritjof Capra
5/28/24 The Essence of Life
5B. Rinat Tal
5/28/24 Case Conference
6A. Fritjof Capra
6/4/24 The Essence of Life
6B. Rinat Tal
6/4/24 Case Conference
7A. Michael Guy Thompson
6/11/24 Goal of Psychoanalysis: Happiness or
Unhappiness?
7B. Michael Guy Thompson
6/11/24 Case Conference
8A. Michael Guy Thompson
6/18/24 Goal of Psychoanalysis: Happiness or
Unhappiness?
8B. Michael Guy Thompson
6/18/24 Case Conference
TWO MONTH BREAK JUNE 19-SEPT 3, 2024
(Tentative date for Esalen Symposium: mid-July 2024)
New School for Existential Psychoanalysis Curriculum
2022–2023
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
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
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
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
