Writing About Clinical Theory and Psychoanalytic Process

Abstract

In the Senior Candidate Case Writing Seminar, the final component of the Writing as Pedagogy Program at the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, candidates write about one of their longer training cases, with attention to the ways they use clinical theory, particularly transference and countertransference, to deepen their understanding of psychoanalytic process and therapeutic action. Building on the previous four years of the writing program, this seminar teaches advanced candidates to recognize and integrate the lived experience of conducting an analysis, the micro- and macroprocesses, and the theories most relevant to an understanding of the analytic work. The seminar emphasizes the challenge of dealing with the power of the transference, unrecognized or unacknowledged countertransference, and the nature of therapeutic action. Pedagogical emphasis is placed on peer group discussions and group learning, and common problems in integrating theory and practice are described and illustrated.