Part Time option suitable for:

Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. No

The course is of fundamental relevance for:

• Mental Health Professionals
• Doctors
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Social workers
• Therapists
• Counsellors
• Nurses

The programme has from its inception offered places to a range of individuals from other professional backgrounds, ranging from the arts and academia, through to teaching, business and the law.

The requirement for all applicants is evidence of a commitment to the applicant’s own psychoanalysis. This is best provided by already having started one’s psychoanalysis.

The course has produced hundreds of  graduates, the majority of whom continue to work in their primary professions using psychoanalytic principles to inform that work.

Many graduates have set up their own private practice, while remaining in personal therapy and supervision. Some become psychoanalysts who remain in personal analysis and additionally make a scholarly contribution to teaching, training and research.

This part-time two-year programme provides professional clinical training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy founded on a student’s engagement in their own psychoanalysis. It launches the student in beginning to practise psychoanalytically under supervision.

The programme’s module content develops understanding of the principles underlying the clinical practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, a discipline launched by the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. The programme content is strongly informed by the work of French Psychoanalyst and Psychiatrist, Jacques Lacan (1901 – 1981), whose seminars and writings elaborated Freud’s work.

Psychoanalysis is a practice founded on attending to unconscious mental life. It takes seriously Sigmund Freud’s proposal to us that “the most complicated achievements of thought are possible without the assistance of consciousness.” From these processes erupt not only our mental pathologies and psychological symptoms but also the joke that surprises into spontaneous laughter – that is, a mental product that has real physiological effects. These sophisticated, unconscious processes of the mind represent the concerns and wishes each of us carry when faced with the task of human existence. Psychoanalysis is a treatment for debilitating perplexity experienced by some in their relation to the world. Students engage with the question of what it is to practice psychoanalytically – requiring a clinical position that listens differently to other mental health practices. It can very productively contribute alongside other practices such as psychiatry and psychology to our society’s response to mental disorder and illness.

Psychoanalysis contributes importantly to our understanding of contemporary cultural concerns such as our presuppositions and prejudices concerning the normal and the pathological, deviancy and violence. Many of its concepts inform diverse fields of academic and artistic enquiry and endeavour including law and criminology, sociology, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and their critique.

View All Modules Here

This part-time two-year programme provides professional clinical training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy founded on a student’s engagement in their own psychoanalysis. It launches the student in beginning to practise psychoanalytically under supervision.

The programme’s module content develops understanding of the principles underlying the clinical practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, a discipline launched by the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. The programme content is strongly informed by the work of French Psychoanalyst and Psychiatrist, Jacques Lacan (1901 – 1981), whose seminars and writings elaborated Freud’s work.

Psychoanalysis is a practice founded on attending to unconscious mental life. It takes seriously Sigmund Freud’s proposal to us that “the most complicated achievements of thought are possible without the assistance of consciousness.” From these processes erupt not only our mental pathologies and psychological symptoms but also the joke that surprises into spontaneous laughter – that is, a mental product that has real physiological effects. These sophisticated, unconscious processes of the mind represent the concerns and wishes each of us carry when faced with the task of human existence. Psychoanalysis is a treatment for debilitating perplexity experienced by some in their relation to the world. Students engage with the question of what it is to practice psychoanalytically – requiring a clinical position that listens differently to other mental health practices. It can very productively contribute alongside other practices such as psychiatry and psychology to our society’s response to mental disorder and illness.

Psychoanalysis contributes importantly to our understanding of contemporary cultural concerns such as our presuppositions and prejudices concerning the normal and the pathological, deviancy and violence. Many of its concepts inform diverse fields of academic and artistic enquiry and endeavour including law and criminology, sociology, anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, literature, the visual arts and their critique.

Structure

• The course is delivered in 13 modules:
• Eight of these – four modules in Year One and 4 in Year Two - provide five credits each
• Of the remaining five modules, four are specifically related to clinical training and assessment and run continuously throughout the two years. These are Supervision of Clinical Practice and Clinical Diagnostics and Research, each contributing 7.5 credits yearly. The final module is by dissertation and contributes 20 credits.
• Attendance must be 80% or higher throughout the course
• Assessment is by continuous assessment for the taught modules and a mark for the thesis
• Total credits awarded: 90 ECTS

MSc Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Studies (X990) Part Time
EU          fee per year - € 7700
nonEU    fee per year - € 13500

***Fees are subject to change

The MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Studies is a two-year programme that can contribute to the education and training of psychoanalytic psychotherapists. On its own it will not fulfil requirements to apply for membership to psychotherapy professional bodies within the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) . The ICP professional bodies all require a minimum four-year period of training in a specific modality. These include the Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (appi.ie) and the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (www.ifpp.ie). With this in mind, a new four year part-time programme was developed, X993 Professional Masters in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

For informal enquiries on the MSc in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Studies and on the four-year Professional Masters in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, contact Dr. Gráinne Donohue grainne.donohue@ucd.ie

• International applicants should contact the academic programme director for a full list of entry requirements.

• A list of FAQs for international applicants is available here. 

• Grad Dip Psychoanalytic Studies PT
• Prof Masters Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy PT

X993 Professional Masters in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. 

The following entry routes are available:

* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised