Curriculum (old)

Curriculum Overview

Our curriculum revolves around the study of existential philosophy and phenomenology, including Fredrich Nietzsche, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty; the Greeks, including Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans (Epicurus), the Stoics (Epictetus), the Sceptics (Pyrrho); and seminal psychoanalysts who to varying degrees embody an existential sensibility, including but not limited to Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, Jacques Lacan, and especially R. D. Laing, the inspiration for how we conceive the interface between existential philosophy and psychoanalysis. Other thinkers and clinicians will also come into play from time to time. Moreover, our faculty enjoy more than three hundred years of teaching among them, and are accomplished thinkers and authors in their own right.

The didactic portion of our training is broken down into four 8-week segments, with liberal breaks in between. We convened one day a week, for two back-to-back 90-minute sessions. The first session will be theoretical, the second devoted to clinical presentations.

Below we provide an outline of our first two years of didactic seminars.

New School for Existential Psychoanalysis Curriculum

2023–2024
AUTUMN 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/5/23 The Unconscious: Freud

1B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/5/23 Case Conference

2A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/12/23 The Unconscious: Sartre

2B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/12/23 Case Conference

3A. Michael Guy Thompson
9/19/23 The Unconscious: Heidegger

3B. Michael Guy Thompson
9/19/23 Case Conference

ONE WEEK BREAK: ESALEN

4A. Michael Guy Thompson
10/3/23 “Unconscious Experience”

4B. Michael Guy Thompson
10/3/23 Case Conference

5A. Jon Mills
10/10/23 Jung and Analytical Psychology I

5B. Jon Mills
10/10/23 Case Conference

6A. Jon Mills
10/17/23 Jung and Analytical Psychology II

6B. Jon Mills
10/17/23 Case Conference

7A. Jon Mills
10/24/23 Merleau-Ponty

7B. Jon Mills
10/24/23 Case Conference

8A. Jon Mills
10/31/23 Foucault

8B. Jon Mills
10/31/23 Case Conference

MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK

WINTER 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Douglas Kirsner
11/21/23 R. D. Laing: Sanity and Madness

1B. Rinat Tal
11/21/23 Case Conference

2A. Douglas Kirsner
11/28/23 R. D. Laing: Authenticity

2B. Rinat Tal
11/28/23 Case Conference

3A. James Norwood
12/5/23 What Is Called Thinking?

3B. James Norwood
12/5/23 Case Conference

4A. James Norwood
12/12/23 What Is Called Thinking?

4B. James Norwood
12/12/23 Case Conference

THREE-WEEK HOLIDAY BREAK

5A. Michael Guy Thompson
1/9/24 What Is Neurosis?

5A. Michael Guy Thompson
1/9/24 Case Conference

6B. Michael Guy Thompson
1/16/24 What Is Psychosis?

6B. Michael Guy Thompson
1/16/24 Case Conference

7A. Sanford Rosenberg
1/23/24 Hillman & Phenomenology

7B. Sanford Rosenberg
1/23/24 Case Conference

8A. Sanford Rosenberg
1/30/24 Hillman & Phenomenology

8B. Sanford Rosenberg
1/30/24 Case Conference

MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK

SPRING 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Astréa Rebeiro
2/20/24 Nietzsche & the Unconscious

1B. Astréa Reburied
2/20/24 Case Conference

2A. Astréa Rebeiro
2/27/24 Nietzsche and the Self

2B. Astréa Rebeiro
2/27/24 Case Conference

3A. Douglas Kirsner
3/5/24 R. D. Laing: On Love

3B. Sandy Rosenberg
3/5/24 Case Conference

4A. Douglas Kirsner
3/12/24 R. D. Laing: On Altered States

4B. Sandy Rosenberg
3/12/24 Case Conference

5A. James Norwood
3/19/24 What Is Called Thinking?

5B. James Norwood
3/19/24 Case Conference

6A. James Norwood
3/26/24 What Is Called Thinking?

6B. James Norwood
3/26/24 Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson
4/2/24 The Divided Self: Schizoid Phenomenon

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
4/2/24 Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson
4/9/24 The Divided Self: Ontological Insecurity

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
4/9/24 Case Conference

MID-TERM TWO-WEEK BREAK

SUMMER 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Jon Mills
4/30/24 Ricoeur

1B. Jon Mills
4/30/24 Case Conference

2A. Jon Mills
5/7/24 Derrida

2B. Jon Mills
5/7/24 Case Conference

3A. Jon Mills
5/14/24 A Critique of Postmodernism

3B. Jon Mills
5/14/24 Case Conference

4A. Jon Mills
5/21/24 Critical Social Justice and Psychoanalysis Today

4B. Jon Mills
5/21/24 Case Conference

5A. Fritjof Capra
5/28/24 The Essence of Life

5B. Rinat Tal
5/28/24 Case Conference

6A. Fritjof Capra
6/4/24 The Essence of Life

6B. Rinat Tal
6/4/24 Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson
6/11/24 Goal of Psychoanalysis: Happiness or
Unhappiness?

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
6/11/24 Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson
6/18/24 Goal of Psychoanalysis: Happiness or
Unhappiness?

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
6/18/24 Case Conference

TWO MONTH BREAK JUNE 19-SEPT 3, 2024
(Tentative date for Esalen Symposium: mid-July 2024)

New School for Existential Psychoanalysis Curriculum

2022–2023
FIRST 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Michael Guy Thompson
What Is Authenticity?

1B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

2A. Michael Guy Thompson
What Is Authenticity?

2B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

3A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freedom and Will

3B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

4A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freedom and Will

4B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

5A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on Freud’s Introductory Lectures

5B. Heather LaFace
Case Conference

6A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on Freud’s Introductory Lectures

6B. Heather LaFace
Case Conference

7A. Douglas Kirsner
R.D. Laing & Jean-Paul Sartre

7B. James Norwood
Case Conference

8A. Douglas Kirsner
R.D. Laing & Jean-Paul Sartre

8B. James Norwood
Case Conference

SECOND 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Phenomenology: Hegel

1B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

2A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Phenomenology: Husserl & Merleau-Ponty

2B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

3A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Onto-Phenomenology: Heidegger

3B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

4A. Jon Mills
Introduction to Onto-Phenomenology: Sartre

4B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

5A. Rebecca Greenslade
Existential Therapy & Mindfulness

5B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

6A. Rebecca Greenslade
Existential Therapy & Mindfulness

6B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

7A. Sanford Rosenberg
Phenomenology of Presence

7B. Sanford Rosenberg
Case Conference

8A. Sanford Rosenberg
Phenomenology of Presence

8B. Sanford Rosenberg
Case Conference

THIRD 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on the Therapeutic Encounter

1B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

2A. Douglas Kirsner
Laing on the Therapeutic Encounter

2B. Rebecca Greenslade
Case Conference

3A. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Hegel and Lacan

3B. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Case Conference

4A. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Hegel and Lacan

4B. Wilfried Ver Eecke
Case Conference

5A. James Norwood
Pyrrhonism

5B. James Norwood
Case Conference

6A. James Norwood
Pyrrhonism

6B. James Norwood
Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freud’s Technical Papers

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson
Freud’s Technical Papers

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

FOURTH 8-WEEK TERM

1A. Jon Mills
Analytical Psychology

1B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

2A. Jon Mills
Poststructuralism: Lacan

2B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

3A. Jon Mills
Hermeneutics: Ricoeur

3B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

4A. Jon Mills
The Postmodern Turn: Foucault & Derrida

4B. Jon Mills
Case Conference

5A. Fritjof Capra
The Essence of Life

5B. Astréa Issler Ribeiro
Case Conference

6A. Fritjof Capra
The Essence of Life

6B. Astréa Issler Ribeiro
Case Conference

7A. Michael Guy Thompson & Douglas Kirsner
Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

7B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference

8A. Michael Guy Thompson & Douglas Kirsner
Critique of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

8B. Michael Guy Thompson
Case Conference