Existential Psychoanalysis & Phenomenology
The 2-year diploma program in existential psychoanalysis and phenomenology is designed for M.A./Ph.D. students or graduates in psychology, counseling, social work, philosophy, anthropology, history, or a related field who are interested in the theoretical and clinical aspects of psychoanalysis (both traditional and existential), phenomenology, and critical philosophy (primarily of the European tradition, 18th-21st centuries).
The program is a full two years, spanning 24 months in duration and should be of particular interest to practitioners who want intensive study in psychoanalysis in a program that includes competitive tuition, publishing opportunities, and a curriculum that is broader, deeper, and richer than other programs of this type.
EPIS also has 4-year and 7-year programs that require additional study, clinical and research experience, and personal analysis; a student who completes the 2-year program may transfer directly into the 3rd year of the 4-year program without interruption.
Please note that we have two program tracks: One is purely academic; the other is both academic and clinical.
Curriculum
Each of the 3 delivery methods starts on September 1 and runs 24 months.
Students may enter the program on September 1 or March 1.
All delivery methods use the same substantive schedule so a student could transfer from one program to another seamlessly.
Students can be full time, half time, or quarter time depending upon their professional schedules. While the program can be finished within 2 years, EPIS allows up to 5 years within which a student must finish in order to receive a diploma. Exceptions may be granted based on individual circumstances.
The substantive schedule currently includes 4 Core Seminars and up to 6 Specialized Seminars (that focus on each student’s individual needs).
The 4 Core Seminars include: Phenomenological Process; Existential Phenomenology (& Analysis); Classical Psychoanalysis; and Cultural Criticism & Psychoanalysis.
Each student studies and works in these 4 main areas for the duration of the program. Whether they attend local Seminars, travel to the low-residence program, work online, and develop a remote cohort group.
Specialized Seminars are negotiated between each student and EPIS, for up to 6 conceptual areas within one’s unique interests.
Through a combination of lecture, discussion, dialectic, and the drafting and review of theoretical and clinical essays, each student learns each component of the program. After the first year, a student may submit an article for publication in the EPIS journal. At the beginning of the second year, a student will begin to write a well-researched thesis and eventually orally defend it to an EPIS committee (toward the end of the second year); it will then be published by the EPIS Publishing Co. as a way to increase professional and academic opportunities for EPIS graduates.
The clinical work required can be done with an EPIS supervisor or remotely in your own city (with a licensed professional of your choice). This gives students the opportunity to practice what they learn didactically.
The 4-Year program adds additional study and the requirement of a personal analysis.
Sample of the Curriculum
I. Core Seminars
Existential Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis;
Phenomenological Method and Psychoanalysis;
Critical Theory, Cultural Criticism & Psychoanalysis;
Classical Psychoanalysis
II. Specialized Seminars
The Lived Body and Psychoanalysis;
Modernism, Postmodernism and Psychoanalysis;
French Deconstruction and Critical Philosophy;
Critical Theory; Advanced Existential Phenomenology;
Structuralism, Lacan and Semiology