Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

The interpretation of dreams announced psychoanalysis to the world in 1900. In it, Freud proposed that "the most complicated achievements of thought are possible without the assistance of consciousness." This psychoanalytic position revolutionised our understanding of mental life and the basis of any psychological intervention.



Psychoanalysis is a clinical practice which attends to the hidden, or unconscious, processes of the mind. Its epoch-marking insights shed invaluable light on the fragility of meaning in our lives and on the dynamics of mental health and its collapse in illness. Psychoanalysis stands at the origin of all the major developments in psychotherapy over the past 100 years.



The MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at DBS is designed to introduce students in a thorough and rigorous way to clinical settings and practice and so is a solid basis for work in the field of mental health as well as being a foundation for training in the field of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.



This course offers a postgraduate qualification which meets the current minimum 4-year postgraduate training requirement to enable graduates to apply with confidence for accredited membership of a professional body in the field.



CORU Recognition

CORU is Ireland's multi-profession health regulator whose role is to protect the public through regulating the health and social care professions listed in the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended). It includes the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and the Registration Boards established under the Act 2005 (as amended).



CORU confirmed the establishment of and appointment of members to the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board in 2019, under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (amended) to separately regulate the professions of Counsellors and Psychotherapists.



Currently there is no date for the opening of the CORU registers for Counsellors and Psychotherapists. Please refer to the CORU website here for more information.



DBS will make an application for programme approval to the Registration Board when CORU opens the process.



Programme Specific Regulations

Given the responsibility involved in the practice of psychotherapy it is essential that only learners assessed to be suitable for clinical practice are recommended to progress on the Master of Arts in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy regardless of their academic achievement. For this reason, two exit awards have been embedded in the programme, a Post Graduate Certificate in Psychoanalytic Studies at the end of first year and a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychoanalytic Studies at the end of the third year.



Placements

Supervised placements are organised in years 1 and 2. These start in the second semester of year 1 and each placement comprises 15 weeks, one day a week, totalling 30 weeks over years 1 and 2. Starting in year 2, students arrange their own appointment-based one-to-one sessions with clients within a placement setting. There is a professional body requirement to complete a minimum of 400 client sessions over years 2, 3 and 4.



Over the 14 years the MA has been running, placements have been arranged in the following settings:



Department of Adult Psychiatry, Mater Misericordiae Hospital

Department of Psychiatry, National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street

The Royal Hospital, Donnybrook

Stewarts Hospital, Palmerstown

Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health Research, St. Vincents University Hospital

Navan Mental Health Service

St Audoen’s National School, Dublin 8

Mounttown Neighbourhood Youth Project, Dun Laoghaire

Dolphin Homework Club, Dolphin's Barn

Kilbarrack Coast Community Project

Saol project, Dublin 1

Shine Dublin 1

Tower Probation Project, Clondalkin

Taught/Academic Modules (two per semester)

- Neurosis in the Clinic of Psychoanalysis

- The Clinic of the Unconscious

- The History of Psychoanalysis

- Transference in the Clinic of Psychoanalysis

- Psychosis in the Clinic of Psychoanalysis

- Desire and Anxiety

- The Drive and Repetition

- Infantile Sexuality and Infantile Neurosis

- Sexuality, Sexuation and the Division of the Sexes

- Psychopathology and the Other

- The Ethics of Psychoanalysis

- Research Seminar and Clinical Thesis (4th Year)



Classes start at 3.00 pm on Thursdays



Clinical Modules

- Psychiatric case Conference and Seminar (in St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Thursdays, 9.00 am – Years 2 & 3)

- Clinical Supervision (on DBS campus)

- Supervised Clinical Experience* (various locations)

- Infant Observation** (weekly class on DBS campus; observation - various)



*Placements:

- Year 1 - Semester 2,

- Year 2 - Semester 1.



- One-to-one client work, in years 2, 3, 4.



**24 months of actual observation – though the Infant Observation classes start at beginning of Semester 1



It is also required that students take up their own personal psychoanalysis. Cost associated with personal psychoanalysis is independent of the DBS programme fee.

To be considered for admission to the MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, applicants must :



Hold a minimum second-class honour (2.2) in an undergraduate degree or relevant prior learning in the field. This may include engagement in one’s own psychoanalysis and/or engagement with psychoanalytic theory through attendance at psychoanalytic seminars, reading groups etc.. Evidence to support this will be required. This will include demonstration of competency in academic writing at an appropriate level.



Have the minimum requirement in English Language which is greater or equal to B2+ in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for admission where full-time study has been conducted in a language other than English or applicants whose first language is not English.



Complete a personal statement of approximately 400 words outlining why they wish to pursue this particular course.



Attend two one-to-one interviews with psychoanalytic practitioners, one of whom is typically the Programme Leader.



Application supported by two references Academic and Work/Personal



Applicants with an undergraduate degree in other areas may be considered on a case-by-case basis.



Garda Vetting

4 years, part-time.



All learners are expected to attend in person in class.

Next intake: September 2026

Career Opportunities

For students who wish to pursue training as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist but who have minimal clinical exposure to the phenomena of mental suffering, which include psychiatric illness, addiction, learning disability etc., this MA provides the ideal initial step of that training.



Currently a basic requirement for entry into work in the field of mental health is having experience of mental health settings during training. The MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy is unique in Ireland in providing a very impressive amount of hours in challenging clinical settings. A graduate with this amount of experience should satisfy concerns of any potential employer regarding their ability to work in such settings. In addition the MA provides a basis for developing private practice in the years following graduation. For the duration of the MA students begin their own personal analysis, the cornerstone of any practice calling itself psychoanalytic.



Over the years the MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy has provided a very stimulating basis not only for those graduates who wish to pursue work and practice in the field of psychoanalytic psychotherapy but also for graduates who have taken up social and community care work in artistic and creative settings.