Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Overview

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. It 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.



Key Features of the MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

• Aims to direct learners in establishing and maintaining a psychoanalytically informed therapeutic position for the practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

• Aims to provide extensive placement experience – each 15 weeks, one-day-a week – in psychiatric, educational, and social care settings to allow learners to develop a psychotherapeutic position under supervision.

• Designed paying due attention to requirements of psychoanalytic psychotherapy professional bodies and to discussions regarding statutory and European regulation in the field of psychotherapy.

• Offers an opportunity to engage with professionals in fields related to psychoanalysis and psychotherapy through attendance at a weekly Psychiatric Case Conference with a multidisciplinary team in St Vincent’s University Hospital.

• Classes are typically conducted on Thursday afternoon, followed by two small group tutorials on Thursday night.

• The three pillars of the programme are personal psychoanalysis/psychoanalytic psychotherapy, academic study, and clinical experience with clinical supervision.

• The psychoanalytic orientation is Freudian-Lacanian.

• The programme is entirely staffed by practitioner-teachers.



Years 1 & 2: Classes take place on Thursday afternoon into Thursday evening.

• Academic modules are delivered on a rotational basis in years 1 & 2.

• Students begin their clinical placement one day a week in educational, clinical and social care settings in the second semester of year 1.

• In the second year, students begin one-to-one clinical work. Students engage an individual supervisor for this work the fee for which is independent of the DBS programme fee.

• Clinical supervision begins in year 1 and continues throughout the 4 years.

• Infant observation classes begin in year 1.

• There is a suitability appraisal at the end of each year.



Years 2 & 3: Case conference takes place at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin at 9.00am Thursdays.

• Students attend Psychiatric Case Conference at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin.

• Infant Observation continues.

• Further academic modules.

• Clinical experience and supervision continues.



Year 4

• Research Seminar and Thesis.

• Clinical experience and supervision continues.



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



All learners are expected to attend in person in class.



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.

The Master of Arts (MA) in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy programme has the following content:



Taught/Academic Modules (two per semester). Classes start at 3.00 pm on Thursdays

• 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



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 honours (2.2) in an undergraduate degree in the psychological and medical sciences, humanities, arts or social sciences.



• 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.



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



Garda Vetting

The National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Acts 2012-2016 make it mandatory for people working unsupervised with children or vuln

We are now accepting applications for programmes taking place in 2025.

• Continuous assessment of clinical practice

• Continuous assessment and end of year report in infant observation

• Continuous assessment and examination relating to academic components

• Research thesis at the end of the programme

Part-time: 4 years.



Years 1 & 2: Classes take place on Thursday afternoon into Thursday evening.

Years 2 & 3: Case conference takes place at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin at 9.00am Thursdays.

Next intake: September 2025

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.