Educational Approach
Starting with Freud, a plentitude of observations, theories and insights have been published.
We believe that all of this material represents different facets of the same human mind. Thus we teach all different schools of thought, from Freud to Klein, Winnicott to Self Psychology Object Relations to Attachment Theory, and Lacan to Neuroscience. This leads to an in depth understanding of how the psyche is structured, of its motivations, and its relationships to the outside world.
Theory is not everything, of course, it is of interest to the clinician as a guide towards the alleviation of mental suffering. We teach a theory of technique that was advanced by Dr. Hyman Spotnitz, the founder of Modern Psychoanalysis, who, with prescience and intuitive savvy, developed methods of curing severely disturbed patients, that only in the last decade have been validated by the most recent discoveries around issues of attachment, trauma and psychic structure.
This knowledge helps clinicians to identify the forces at work in their patients and learn the techniques to uncover and redirect the destructive aspects of these forces towards growth, and liberate the positive ones from their atrophies and inhibitions. It also alerts them to possible structural deficits on the narcissistic level of the Self, and gives them the means to rebuild the Self where needed.
Distance Learning
Classes are held through a conference calling system that allows each participant to be heard clearly, so that the experience is similar to sitting together in a circle without having to leave one’s home, office, or car. Participation and interaction is one of the requirements that candidates are evaluated on, and this format makes it easy to jump in and talk.
Training is always responsive to student needs. People who are independent and self motivated and who desire flexibility in their training thrive in our institute without walls.
Students can communicate with faculty, advisors and administrators either by phone, text or e-mail, allowing for individualized attention to their learning needs.
Classes, except for the supervision ones, are recorded and students receive links to the audio files for further review.
CCMPS uses the learning management system CANVAS in order to document and track students’ progress. Here students will submit their assignments, evaluate both the course and the institute, and be evaluated by the teachers.
Our residency requirement is our Summer conference, held the first weekend of June.
Ethics
CCMPS adheres to and supports the code of ethics of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis, which can be viewed in its entirety here: NAAP Code of Ethics.
Of course ethics is so much more than a ‘Code. True morality and virtuous behavior comes from self knowledge and empathy for others, which allows people to follow the golden rule from the heart as well as the mind. We stress the importance of working with counter transference in analysis and supervision as a way to understand both the patient and ourselves.
A constant awareness and discussion with one’s analyst, supervisors and colleagues of how our boundaries are being challenged by re-enactments in the analytic relationship is crucial to avoid ethical transgressions.
Accreditation
We value participation in the psychoanalytic community and been members of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP) since 1989.