Fall 2023: Foundations – Critical Therapy
This course will introduce students to the fundamental concepts of critical therapy. We will learn about the basic tenants of: psychoanalysis, critical psychology, critical pedagogy and liberation psychology. Students also familiarize themselves with the three stages of critical therapy. This course conceptualizes the therapeutic process in the context of changing perspectives about the therapeutic relationship and orients the students to the rich curriculum to follow. Clinical issues that students might face in the beginning of treatment with patients, will be addressed, as well as basic definitions central to critical therapy, including: assessment, transference, countertransference, the analytic stance, and power.
Spring 2024: Building Blocks of Critical Therapy
This course introduces different theoretical traditions that shaped and influenced the creation of critical therapy. We will look at the writings of: Freire, Butler, hooks, Fanon, and Martin-Baro, while paying particular attention to the application of different theories to psychotherapy, and clinical praxis. We will discuss postcolonial theory, poststructuralism, anarchism, deconstruction, feminism, zen philosophy, liberation theology, liberation psychology and queer theory as they inform the clinical hour and case conceptualization. Particular attention will be given to ways these theories inform our path towards liberation and how they are lived in the clinical hour with patients.