Extension Division
LAISPS provides psychoanalytic education to the mental health community at large, offering a wide range of stimulating and clinically relevant continuing education programs. The Extension Division includes brief topical seminars in psychodynamic theory, practice, and technique. In addition, Scientific Programs and Conferences featured throughout the academic year provide an opportunity to learn from LAISPS members and candidates as well as local, national, and international psychoanalysts as they present original psychoanalytic papers and provide more in-depth study of special topics. These educational programs address contemporary, cutting-edge topics as well as theoretical issues in psychoanalytic technique, and are designed to be of value to therapists with all levels of clinical experience.
Trauma
Studies
Trauma can have profound and far-reaching psychological effects. Mental health professionals are frequently faced with trauma survivors experiencing a wide range of symptoms that are perplexing and seemingly inexplicable.
This in-depth program will address these complex symptoms looking through a theoretical lens informed by multiple psychodynamic theories including attachment theory, object relations, self-psychology, and intersubjectivity to provide a rich and comprehensive understanding of trauma with a heavy emphasis on clinical work. The program is taught by highly skilled psychoanalysts and mental health professionals who have extensive experience in their particular areas of expertise.
The curriculum will address a wide range of topics including:
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Classic and Contemporary Psychodynamic Perspectives on Adult-Onset Trauma
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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Post-Traumatic Nightmares
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Neurobiology and Trauma
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Attachment Trauma
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Cultural Influences on Attachment Styles and Trauma Transmission
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Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma
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Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Incest
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Traumatic and Chronic Illness
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Combat Trauma
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Massive Group Trauma Including Natural Disasters and Terrorism
This program is designed to enhance the clinical skills of mental health professionals who work with adults and/or children, including psychologists, social workers, and MFTs as well as psychiatrists, other medical professionals, and clergy. The course will be of value to those who are new to psychodynamic thinking as well as seasoned clinicians looking to deepen their work with trauma survivors.
This course has been designed specifically for mental health professionals who wish to deepen and broaden their developmental understanding of parenting, infancy and the young child. This course will also help hone each clinician’s observational and technical skills when working with parents, infants and young children.
The optional second year of the program will focus on increasing the participants’ expertise in clinical work with infants, young children and parents through use of small consultation groups. These groups will allow participants to present clinical case material as well as experience and engage in special interest seminars on topics such as understanding childhood dreams, the impact of illness on children and parents, issues relating to divorce, adoption, etc.
Infant, Early Childhood & Parenting
One-Year Psychoanalytic Program
The LAISPS Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program offers an integrated curriculum that combines the latest in psychoanalytic research and theoretical thinking with the classical foundations of our understanding of the development of the personality. Each evening consists of a class on theories of personality development and a class on clinical technique. Over the course of the thirty-week program, we will cover object relations theory, early infant and childhood development, the major psychopathologies, as well as clinical issues such as establishing and maintaining a therapeutic frame, working with transference and counter-transference issues, and understanding and interpreting dreams in the clinical setting.
Our Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program is designed for a wide range of mental health professionals, at all levels of experience, including psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and MFTs who are new to psychodynamic thinking as well as those who are seasoned clinicians looking to sharpen and deepen their work with their patients.
Psychoanalytic theory posits that substance abuse, eating disorders and other addictive behaviors are ways of coping with intensely distressing states of body and mind. The patient is searching for a way to “restore the self,” or to be immune to narcissistic injury, abandonment, rage and, in some cases, the terror of “coming apart.” This 30-week course begins with a review of psychoanalytic concepts pertaining to substance abuse and eating disorders.
We explore the neurobiology of addiction, affect dysregulation and anxious attachment strategies underlying compulsive food and substance use. We examine sexual addiction, gambling, internet, gaming and other high-risk activities. We identify counter- transference enactments and how for some, a psychotic character may underlie a client’s eating or substance use problems. Finally, we uncover the covert dialogue between personality disorders, food and substance use. Our last class gives students an opportunity to reflect on their clinical work and receive consultation from specialists working in the field.