UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE SOCIAL WORK PROGRAM COURSE OUTLINE FALL 2012

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE SOCIAL WORK PROGRAM COURSE OUTLINE FALL 2012 Number and Title of the Course: 8240 Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Semester Credits 2 Prerequisite: Concentration year and/or advanced standing Instructor: Kim Jones, Ph.D., LCSW I. DESCRIPTION OF COURSE This course will start with an overview of Freudian drive/structural theory and the central concepts of early psychoanalytic thinking. The basic principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy will then be covered with a review of how certain concepts proposed by Freud have been adhered to, changed, modified, or abandoned altogether. The theoretical basis for dynamic therapy will then be covered along with a brief overview of current schools of psychodynamic theory. An evidence-based egopsychological/object relations approach to assessment and treatment of neurotic, borderline and psychotic disorders will then be presented. The ego psychological component will address the assessment of person-in-situation factors; issues related to adaptation; and ego functions, including defense mechanisms that span the range of mature-higher/lower level-psychotic. Particular emphasis will be placed on the object relations component of this theory, focusing on the developmental trajectory of object relations and specific fixation points that result in character pathology, organized at a psychotic, borderline or neurotic level. Lastly, expressive and supportive treatment strategies and interventions that derive from dynamic theory will be explored and presented within the context of case situations. This course is meant to be very practice oriented in order to help participants apply the model to a variety of client situations. II. OBJECTIVES OF COURSE To enable the student to: Understand basic concepts of Freudian drive/structural theory Understand how psychodynamic theory has evolved over the past several decades since Freud Learn the language of contemporary psychodynamic theory Assess clients using concepts derived from an evidenced-based ego psychological-objects relations theory Apply interventions that are informed by the theoretical model 1

2 III. UNITS, CONTENT & REQUIRED READING ASSIGNMENTS Unit 1: Introduction Overview of the course: what students will learn Assignments & student responsibilities Instructor responsibilities History of psychodynamic theory, starting with Freud s Drive/structural model: Topics of this section will include Freud s key contributions; tripartite model; psychosexual stages; notion of symptom formation; and classical treatment. Unit 2: Basic Principal of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Fundamental principals of most all psychodynamic psychotherapies Expressive-supportive continuum. Common psychodynamic interventions Getting started: room; space; fee; boundaries; general treatment frame. Unit 3: Theory Guided Practice Why use theory? Contemporary concepts Four central braches of psychodynamic theory American School of object relations: Otto Kernberg, Margaret Mahler, Edith Jacobson and Melanie Klein. Article provided by instructor: Major Theories of Personality Disorders. Lenzenweger, M., & Clarkin, J. (Chapter 3). Unit 4: An Ego-Psychological Object Relations Model of Development Central concepts Early stages of object relations development: affects as building blocks of drives; psychotic defenses; Mahler s symbiotic phase. Mid stages of object relations development: Mahler s differentiation and practicing phase; Klein s paranoid-schizoid position; primitive-image distorting defenses. Later stages of object relations development: Mahler s rapprochement phase; Klein s depressive position; tripartite structure with intact ego functions, neurotic/mature defenses and the establishment of object constancy 2

3 Class text: Chapter 1. Unit 7: Etiology, Assessment and Treatment for Client s with Borderline Personality Organization Borderline personality organization Dominant object relational dyads typical of borderline organization Treatment goals and strategies Class text: Chapters 2-5. View Otto Kernberg lecture on Transference focused psychotherapy in serious personality disorders and other lectures by Suggested Clarkin, J., Yeomans, F., & Kernberg, O. (2006). Psychotherapy for borderline personality: Focusing on object relations. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. (Chapter 1). Unit 8: Etiology, Assessment and Treatment for Client s with Borderline Personality Organization Continued Borderline personality organization Dominant object relational dyads typical of borderline organization Treatment goals and strategies Class text: Chapters Unit 5: Etiology, Assessment and Treatment for Clients with Neurotic Level Development Neurotic-borderline-psychotic continuum Features of neurotic level personality organization Typical neurotic conflicts Dominant and repressed dyadic/triadic self-object representations Treatment goals/strategies: empathic responding; interpretation; confrontation and clarification Article provided by instructor: Caligor, E., Kernberg, O., & Clarkin, J. (2007). Handbook of psychotherapy for higher level personality pathology. American Psychiatric Association. (Chapters 1, 2 & 3). 3

4 Unit 6: Etiology, Assessment and Treatment for Clients with Neurotic Level Development Continued Neurotic-borderline-psychotic continuum Features of neurotic level personality organization Typical neurotic conflicts Dominant and repressed dyadic/triadic self-object representations Treatment goals/strategies: empathic responding; interpretation; confrontation and clarification Article provided Unit 9: Integration of Units 1-8 into Case Material Unit 10: Integration of Units 1-8 into Case Material IV. TECHNIQUES OF INSTRUCTION Instructional method will include lecture, discussion, case presentation and the use of video. V. REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS Clarkin, J., Yeomans, F., & Kernberg, O. (2006). Psychotherapy for borderline personality: Focus on object relations. American Psychiatric Publishing Company. VI. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Case paper (outline for the paper will be provided) for MSW students will be due at the end of the ten weeks. VII. METHOD OF EVALUATION Case Paper: 60% (5 percentage points will be deducted per day for late papers) Four homework assignments 10% each (40% total) VIII. GRADING SCALE 4

5 A B C 0-71 F IX. CLASS ATTENDANCE Learning in a professional program is based in large part on the interaction that occurs between the instructor and students in the classroom. Regular attendance at class is an expected professional responsibility of the student. Absences of greater than 20 percent of the total class time may constitute grounds for course failure. X. HONOR CODE All students registered for courses in the School of Social Work are expected to adhere to the rights, responsibilities, and behavior as articulated in both the UALR Student Handbook and the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) Code of Ethics. An essential feature of these codes is a commitment to maintaining intellectual integrity and academic honesty. This commitment insures that a student of the School of Social Work will neither knowingly give nor receive any inappropriate assistance in academic work, thereby affirming personal honor and integrity. XI. DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES Students with Disabilities: Your success in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you have a documented disability (or need to have a disability documented), and need an accommodation, please contact me privately as soon as possible, so that we can discuss with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) how to meet your specific needs and the requirements of the course. The DRC offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process among you, your instructor(s) and the DRC. Thus, if you have a disability, please contact me and/or the DRC, at (V/TTY) or (VP). For more information, please visit the DRC website at (Revised, September 2011). Revised: