Seminars
Participants are taught in small seminar groups of up to 10 students, and receive two one-on-one tutorials with their tutor.
Sunday
Seminar 1 and 2:
The course starts with a brief history of Freud’s original idea of emphasizing the influence of unconscious processes on feelings and behaviour. This is paralleled with those based on the experimental contribution of Behaviorists.
In the introductory overview the main controversies are discussed such as is psychotherapy a science or an art?; the value of a medical model versus one of client/ therapist and client-based treatments; the place of research, quantitative and qualitative? Further various practitioners such as psychiatrist, psychologist, counsellor, psychotherapist is described.
Monday
Seminar 3 and 4:
The 1960s gave rise to the so-called Third Wave, lying between the original major views of human functioning. This could be thought of as Humanism or Existentialism. The 60s also brought a rise in research and observational studies such as that of Bowlby on Attachment, Margaret Mahler on Separation/Individuation. We will also discuss Carl Rogers’ client-centered approaches.
Tuesday
Seminar 5 and 6:
In the 1970s, the field expanded with the ‘baby watchers’, for example Beebe and Lachmann, and Daniel Stern’s ‘The Interpersonal World of the Infant’ (1985). At the same time, increasing value was placed on ‘evidence-based’ treatments. Cognition is now included with Behaviour, giving rise to approaches like CAT, CBT, Schema therapy. The research also includes Neuropsychology, and a better understanding and treatment of trauma with hard evidence from ‘brain scans’ and other measurable variables.
Wednesday
Seminar 7 and 8:
In the second half of the course, we will look more closely at treatment. Issues such as the value and importance of diagnosis. Various categories of patients/clients including Personality Disorders will be introduced with special focus on Narcissistic/Borderline Presentations.
Thursday
Seminar 9 and 10:
This segment focuses on the therapist’s key treatment concerns such as projection, transference/countertransference, positive and negative transferences, ‘the ordinary good enough mother’ and the ‘use of the object’. This will lead to a discussion of the process of therapy, for example in my view, it’s all about you and nothing to do with you’ at the same time; the power of ‘experience near’ conversations, and what I have come to call ‘me/you’ processes.
Friday
Seminar 11 and 12:
The final day will focus on ‘Cure’ and healing; What does it mean? What gets better? What do we talk about? And how do we know? Coming back to questions of evidence-based and evaluating research and outcome studies and their relevance to practitioners and patients/clients.
Programme timetable
The daily timetable will normally be as follows:
Saturday
14.00–16.30 - Registration
16.30–17.00 - Orientation meeting
17.00–17.30 - Classroom orientation for tutor and students
17.30–18.00 - Drinks reception
18.00–20.00 - Welcome dinner
Sunday – Friday
09.00–10.30 - Seminar
10.30–11.00 - Tea/coffee break
11.00–12.30 - Seminar
12.30–13.30 - Lunch
13.30–18.00 - Afternoons are free for tutorials, individual study, course-related field trips or exploring the many places of interest in and around Oxford.
18.00–19.00 - Dinner (there is a formal gala dinner every Friday to close each week of the programme).
A range of optional social events will be offered throughout the summer school. These are likely to include: a quiz night, visit to historic pubs in Oxford, visit to Christ Church for Evensong and after-dinner talks and discussions.
