About the Centre
What is the Centre like?
Founded in 1993, the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies
at Essex is internationally recognised as one of the leading centres for work
that focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in mental health as well as in
culture and society generally. Its work is deeply grounded on knowledge deriving
from clinical practice, to which the highest standards of academic thinking are
then applied. The Centre enjoys an outstanding reputation for research and has
consistently achieved the highest rating in the UK's Research Assessment
Exercises, most recently in 2008. It is also distinctive in its provision of a
pluralistic and non-sectarian environment in which various depth psychological
models of the unconscious (especially Freudian, Jungian, and British Object
Relations) are critically examined. Centre programmes make use of experiential
components and clinically-oriented teaching. Many members of staff are
clinicians as well as scholars. And strong links are maintained with the local
NHS and other services, institutions, and centres of excellence.
The Centre shares in the international character of
the University. At any one time there are over 120 students, from many countries
including Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico,
Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States, and
Zimbabwe, as well as the UK. These students come from a wide variety of
professional and educational backgrounds and are of all ages. Members of
teaching staff comprise the Director, Professors of
Psychoanalysis, Professors of Analytical Psychology, Senior Lecturers, Honorary
Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, and several Fellows including academics and
qualified adult and/or child psychoanalytic psychotherapists and group analysts.
Located within the best Faculty of Social Sciences in the UK, the Centre is
surrounded by strong departments that support its work. At Essex you will gain
the opportunity to work with and be taught by senior clinicians and world-class
scholars.
The Centre's teaching programmes draw on its research
excellence, as well as on the clinical expertise of many of its members of
staff, and include the
MA in Psychoanalytic Studies and
MA
in Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies and various collaborative courses.
There are collaborations with other institutions, as in the
MA in Refugee
Care, with its unique psychosocial focus, which is offered jointly with
the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust; with other departments at
Essex, as in the interdisciplinary
MA in Management and Organisational
Dynamics (with the Essex Business School),
MA in Philosophy and
Psychoanalysis (with Philosophy), and
MA in Myth, Literature, and
the Unconscious (with Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies); and with
employers, as in the Foundation Degree/BA in Therapeutic Communication and
Therapeutic Organizations, aimed at those working with children and
young people with special educational, social, and emotional needs. The Centre
also has a thriving international community of about 50 students researching for
a PhD or Professional Doctorate. In addition the
Centre offers experiential days and residential
short courses on
working with groups. The Centre's research and teaching are thus both
theoretical and applied and have local, national, and international impact on
the psychotherapy professions, on other professional fields such as refugee
care, business management, and education, and on a wide range of academic
disciplines, especially in the humanities and social sciences.
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What is 'Psychoanalytic Studies'?
At Essex 'psychoanalytic studies' refers to both the
clinical study of psychoanalysis in any of its varieties and to the
psychoanalytic understanding of phenomena outside the consulting room, in both
clinical and non-clinical settings. Whilst the Centre's programmes do not
provide a clinical training in psychoanalysis, Jungian analysis, or other
psychoanalytic psychotherapies, they do deepen the understanding of helping
professionals in a variety of fields.
Psychoanalytic study is a new field, which analyses
the root, structure, historical development, philosophical orientations, and
problems of psychoanalysis, and explores the profound influence of
psychoanalysis on modern culture. It also contributes to understanding of
modern culture and, in a more specialist way, to understanding the importance of
relationship in therapeutic processes and institutions.
By introducing the unconscious dimension,
psychoanalysis has much to offer to therapeutic practice, in both mental health
and other fields, and also to scholarly and scientific disciplines, such as
anthropology, economics, history, literature, management, philosophy, political
science, psychology and sociology. Psychoanalysis has also contributed to
understanding current issues that foment controversy, such as the sense of
social disintegration, violence, criminality, changing gender identities and
relationships, religiosity, ethical conundrums pressed upon us by scientific and
medical advances, and indeed the driving momentum of scientific and
technological change itself.
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How will I be supported throughout my studies at
Essex?
- The Centre offers a lively and friendly learning environment and its
taught programmes have consistently achieved excellent student satisfaction
ratings;
- Most teaching takes place in relatively small seminars and fora, with a
focus on group discussion;
- Students of the Centre on taught programmes also have a personal tutor
and a dissertation supervisor, who advise them about their work on an
individual basis and help them to develop improved capacities for structured
independent study;
- The wide variety of cultural, professional, and educational backgrounds
of our students further enriches the learning environment.
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What are the key features of the courses in the Centre
for Psychoanalytic Studies at Essex?
The Centre offers programmes at both undergraduate and
postgraduate level, which
- Are designed for both clinical and non-clinical students, each aspect
supporting the other;
- Provide a solid foundation of knowledge as well as cutting-edge
insights;
- Foster both academic rigour and creative thinking;
- Deepen understanding of unconscious factors influencing mental health as
well as culture and society more broadly;
- Enrich healthcare workers' and others' knowledge of the emotional and
other unconscious aspects of their relationships with clients, with
colleagues, and with their workplace;
- Can be studied full-time or part-time, with some modules available
individually for Continuing Professional Development (CPD);
- Are specially timetabled to make attendance manageable for those who are
in employment or are living at a distance.
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What learning resources are available?
- Students will be taught by internationally acclaimed clinicians and
academics;
- The University's Albert Sloman Library is well stocked with books,
journals, electronic resources, and major archives relevant to the Centre's
work. In addition the Centre has its own library of specialist books and
journals;
- The Centre's strong connections to the local NHS and other organisations
facilitate placements and institutional observations.
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