PSY8600 - General Elective

1. Psychology of Spirituality (2 units) Exploration of the history of the psychology of religion and survey of the variety of theories within the field. Develops understanding of the workings of psychological phenomena within religion and spiritual phenomena within psychology. Includes discussion of ideas of Freud and Jung, post- Freudian developments, contemporary psychoanalysis and a neo-Lacanian framework. Religions examined in relationship to psychoanalysis include Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and native forms of Shamanism.
2. Women’s Life Choices (2 units) Exploration of a woman’s perception of choices in making specific life span transitions. Issues discussed are those which repeatedly surface as presenting problems for female clients: having a child, having a “career,” being single or partnered, caring for parents and “creating” an adult (and aging) body. Multicultural influences on these “choices” will also be explored including ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class and disability.
3. Adolescent Girls/Teen Women (2 units) An examination of the development and identity formation of adolescent girls/teen women from a social constructionist perspective. The impact of social and contextual factors are considered, including cultural attitudes about women and girls, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and class, on young women’s development. Problems that young women frequently bring to therapy are considered (e.g., eating disorders, self-mutilation, teen pregnancy).
4. Psychologists Working in Complex Systems (2 units) Develops a theoretical foundation for intervention with complex systems based upon the cognitive model, social learning principles and general systems theory. These analytical models are applied to organizational case studies which have been investigated and presented by the students. Practical interventions will be designed, critiqued, implemented and refined throughout the course.
5. Supervision (2 units) An examination of the role of the supervisor and supervisee in psychotherapy and related treatment activities from psychodynamic and other perspectives. The course will focus on the major issues and challenges inherent in the supervision process. Theories of supervision, reviews of recent literature, guidelines for practice will be addressed There will be ample opportunity for role play, demonstrations of supervision and guest speakers.
6. Feminist Approach to Supervision, Teaching and Consultation (2 units) This course emphasizes collaboration rather than competitive models in teaching. The course also teaches team building and cooperation in conflict resolution and consultation. The course also emphasizes empowerment and collaboration in supervision.
7. Educational Consulting: Developing Effective Interventions for Behavior and Learning Problems in Children (2 units) An in-depth look at a model intervention program for young children ages two to five and at delivery of effective interventions to school-age children. Core competencies include teacher and parent interviewing, classroom observation and functional assessment, team-based problem solving, evaluating intervention design and outcome and legal and ethical safeguards. Includes discussion of the Individualized Education Plan process, understanding medications for children, AB3632 services, wraparound family team processes and emergency responses to trauma in schools.
8. Self Psychology (3 units) Traces the development, major concepts and clinical application of psychoanalytic self psychology. Emphasis will be placed on current perspectives and interventions.
9. Integration of Individual and Systemic Therapy (3 units) Encourages students to integrate individual and systemic therapeutic approaches. Both theory and practice of integrated model will be taught and discussed.
10. Psychotherapy East and West (3 units) Explores Eastern concepts of consciousness, personal identity and sanity and compares and contrasts these with Western views, especially psychodynamic and existential perspectives. Emphasis is placed on integrating Eastern and Western concepts into a unified view of the nature of change and transformation. Acquaints students with the phenomenology of transcendental experience, including similarities and differences between mystical and psychopathological experience.
11. Metaphorical Interventions in Psychotherapy (3 units) Uses metaphorical/ symbolic interventions in contrast to literal/analytical communication to promote therapeutic change. Through skill training emphasizing visio-spatial, perceptual, imagery, and holistic/systemic skills, students learn to use metaphorical interventions in their therapy. The role of metaphorical therapy in psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral and family systems therapy is explored.
12. Forensic Psychology (3 units) Examines the nature of forensic evaluations, reports and expert witness testimony and the professional and ethical responsibilities involved. Surveys the primary areas of the law including family law, mental health law, criminal law, child abuse and juvenile law, personal injury law and Workers’ Compensation. Students role-play the presentation of testimony in trial simulations.
13. Understanding Violence and Nonviolence (3 units) Focuses on understanding of structural, interpersonal and intrapersonal dynamics that contribute to war and other forms of violence versus the creation of peace. Emphases on processes of problem definition, in creation of theory, research and intervention for prevention of violence and promotion of peace on a community, national and international basis. Dynamics of justice, equality and connectedness are related to peace and processes of separation, dominance and oppression are related to war and violence. Roles for professional psychologists are stressed.
14. Dream Interpretation (3 units) The interpretation of a dream in a psychodynamic setting requires the therapist’s full understanding of and ability to apply advanced analytic concepts. This course will focus on the therapist’s exploration of and development of capacity with the client’s intrapsychic functioning, free association, resistance and censoring, and ability to remember and work through. Students will also explore the therapist’s unconscious process when listening to a dream as well as the therapist’s ability to provide meaning for the dream in relation to the client’s current life and conflict. The reading will cover both Freudian and Jungian perspectives on interpretation.
15. Employee Assistance Programs (1 unit) Includes a history and overview of employee assistance programs, clinical interventions in the workplace, organizational development, substance abuse in the workplace, the role of the psychologist in employee assistance programs and opportunities for employment in the field.
16. Clinical Empathy in Theory and Practice (3 units) Explores the definition and concept of empathy from classical psychoanalytic and self psychology points of view. Designed for internship level clinicians who have already gained experience in the therapeutic process. Provides the opportunity to reflect on their developing clinical style and to sensitively examine those touching moments of “I-thou” interaction that embody the essence of psychotherapy. Covers the factors that contribute to good and poor empathic connection in the clinical situation. Students share interactions from their own case material or personal work.
17. Family Violence and Sexual Abuse (2 units) Critically examines differing theoretical models that seek to explain the existence and continuity of family violence in our society. Explores current research in the areas of family violence and sexual abuse. Studies individual, family and societal characteristics that are associated with domestic violence. Examines multiple types of abuse and victims of abuse. Familiarizes students with therapeutic models of intervention for domestic abuse and how to determine the efficacy of those treatment models and programs.
18. Suicidality/HIV Treatment (1 unit) The first part of this course focuses on suicide rates, demographics, correlates and explanatory theories. The second half of the course is an up-to-date review of treatment approaches for HIV-positive clients.
19. HIV Treatment (1 unit) Update on treatment approaches for HIV positive clients.
20. Eating Disorders (1 unit) The historical and sociocultural context of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is discussed. Course focuses on diagnosis, testing, assessment and treatment.
21. Gay and Lesbian Issues from a Multicultural Perspective (1 unit) This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the theoretical and applied issues related to working with ethnic minority gay and lesbian clients. The course takes a historical/social approach to the issues related to population and balances with perspective to issues related to intrapsychic development.
22. Suicidality (1 unit) Suicide rates, demographics, correlates and explanatory theories.
23. Spirituality and Spiritual Development in Psychotherapy (3 units) An examination of the role of religion and spirituality in psychotherapy and the psychological healing process. Course focuses on critical analysis of representative literature, discussion of the ethical implications of the use of spirituality in psychotherapy and identifying and understanding countertransference issues that relate to religion and spirituality. Spiritual factors within faith traditions and their impact on mental health and mental health service delivery is explored. Attention is given to the role of the therapist’s spirituality, the process of spiritual development, spirituality as an integral part of one’s cultural heritage and community ties and therapeutic approaches that are appropriate with religiously oriented clients both at the individual and community levels in prevention as well as intervention efforts.
24. Belief Systems and Psychotherapy (3 units) This course explores interrelationships between spirituality, cultural diversity and the process of psychotherapy. Examines recent literature in this area. The goal of this course is to expand awareness of the range of diverse belief systems held by human beings and to increase the student’s skills in working with culturally diverse clients. Integrates didactic material with group and individual learning experiences to facilitate exploring potential areas of transference and countertransference. Students are challenged to examine personal values, beliefs and assumptions and how these impact their work as psychotherapists.
25. Clinical Aspects of Dream Interpretation (3 units) Clinical implications and the implementation of dream interpretation in the psychotherapeutic process will be discussed. Freud’s thoughts on dreams as well as later psychoanalytic revisions or modifications of these ideas will be reviewed to provide a conceptual context for dream interpretation. The amount of emphasis given to the interpretation of dreams, the timing of such interpretations, the repetitive dream and childhood dreams are among the technical aspects to be considered.
26. Interprofessional Collaboration for Psychologists: Individual, Group, Organizational and Cultural Contexts (2 units) Given the need for psychologists to work effectively with professionals from a diversity of disciplines and backgrounds (e.g., school, law enforcement, probation, medical, legal, social service), this course presents the philosophy, theory, ethics and practice of interprofessional collaboration. With the goal of preparing psychologists for the evolving healthcare environment, multiple professional roles and creative/effective interventions for underserved populations in diverse settings (schools, hospitals, community mental health, child welfare, etc.), the course will present practice skills in interprofessional collaboration. These include: diagnosis and intervention in dysfunctional collaboration, eco-systemic and transorganizational systems thinking, team development and leadership, negotiation/ conflict resolution, unconscious group dynamics and self-assessment of interpersonal needs.
27. The Creative Imagination in Psychotherapy: A Case Seminar (3, 3 units) The goal of this year-long track sequence is to help students develop and use their own and their clients’ creative imagination in psychotherapy. Through lectures, in-class supervision, role-playing, student presentations and experiential exercises, students will (1) learn to use client-generated metaphor and imagery in language, dreams, early memories and behavioral patterns to increase the depth and perhaps accelerate the rate of change in their therapy; (2) deepen their empathy for their clients and increase their ability to use their own inner experience, affective metaphoric imagery and creative imagination, to resolve therapeutic impasses; and (3) develop an understanding of resistance as co-created by both client and therapist as a conflict of their unconscious goals. Class discussion will include comparative/ integrative case conceptualization and interventions using psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral and family systems approaches.
28. Clinical Case Conference with Multicultural Populations (3, 3 units) This course will examine multiculturalism and its impact on the treatment process. Through readings, lectures, classroom discussion and formal case presentations students look at the issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, age and sexual orientation as critical factors in psychotherapy. Explores how these factors interact with psychological theories and traditional psychotherapeutic approaches to enhance the treatment of multicultural populations.
29. Analytic Dream Interpretation (2 units) Introduction to Jungian dream interpretation. Will review the basic working techniques of association and amplification and clarify dream functions as well as subject and object levels of interpretation.
30. Psychodynamic Case Conference  This course will provide students with a rudimentary understanding of the theory ad techniques of dynamic psychotherapy. Building on the skills developed in the Introduction to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, students who successfully complete this course should be able to evaluate a client from a dynamic point of view and be able to perform basic psychotherapeutic interventions using dynamic therapeutic strategies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy or its equivalent
31. Sociocultural Diversity: Intersectionality of Identities in the LGBT Community (3 units) The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the social, political, and psychological issues impacting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color, including immigrants, all ethnic groups, those with primary languages other than English, socioeconiic issues, and to provide appropriate clinical interventions. This course will cover critical issues including: development and maintenance of multicultural identity; the intersection of racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism; relationships, religion/spirituality; politics; health and the importance of integrating potentially conflicting cultural demands.