Mark Kunkel
Spring 2003
 

Texts:
 
Corsini, R. J., & Wedding, D.  (Eds.)  (2000).  Current psychotherapies (6th ed.).  Itasca, IL: Peacock.
Dumont, F. & Corsini, R. J. (Eds.)  (2000).  Six therapists and one client (2nd ed.).  New York, NY: Springer
 

Course description and objectives:

from the catalog:
A comprehensive approach to the basic paradigms of the major systems of individual psychotherapy.  The emphasis will be on bringing light to the cardinal issues that are always at stake in any form of therapeutic praxis…

All right.  How about this:

Sometimes the best map will not guide you….
You can’t see what’s ‘round the bend.
Sometimes the road leads through dark places,
Sometimes the darkness is your friend.
                                        Bruce Cockburn, “Pacing the Cage”

Yep.  But even though the best map will not guide us, please consider this a reasonably adequate preliminary one through the dark and friendly places of our journey together.  My guess is that we will spend some time pacing around the nature of theory as a helpful ally and seductive complicitor in our clinical work, establish a common way of coming to the theory stories together, and then devote considerable time and effort to trying to hear the stories clearly, fairly, and critically.   It will be a very good outcome of the course if some of what we think we know is called into question, and we have a sense of where we might go for more questions and some provisional outcomes in the future.
 

Readings:

We have the rather unaccustomed luxury of having two pretty good texts for our class.
One (Corsini and Wedding) is a pretty faithful overview of 12 ways of doing psychotherapy, each presented by adequate exponents who are in some cases the originators of these maps.  We’ll use Corsini and Wedding as the springboard and impetus for our class gatherings around theory.

Several other sources will also help us get a feel for the implementation of these theory stories in the terrifying and profound therapy room.  Dumont and Corsini (2000) is a pretty good compendium of how six approaches to theory play themselves out practically.  We’ll enlist Dumont and Corsini aggressively as a companion in our journey.  We’ll also have occasion to see some demonstration videotapes, some of my own work, and perhaps even some of yours as further glimpses of the territory.

Finally, having whetted your curiosity each week about the theories, you will chase down some more source material (i.e., to the extent possible “upstream” perspectives on the theories from their originators or early disciples).  This will add both to the depth of your acquaintance with the theories and the breadth of our class conversations about them.
 

Class Activities and requirements:

Because I will be conducting the class as a combination of lecture and seminar, it is essential that each of us attends and participates.  Our meetings will include some organizational lecture material, but for the most part will be devoted to a meeting of minds around the intriguing issues raised in our readings and their reflections in our lives.  Additional course activities will include:

1. Integrative reading response.  Each week you will use the assigned readings as a catalyst for your curiosity, and find something else related to this story about psychotherapy.  Then, having read and considered this material, please prepare a BRIEF (i.e., one page or so) integrative response and critique to the material to send to me via e-mail.  I’ll try to respond in kind (that is, in a considered, integrative, and critical way), and this will give us an opportunity for individual dialogue that we may not otherwise enjoy.

2. Examinations.  There will be a couple of take-home examinations throughout the semester.  I’ll always announce these at least one week in advance. The purpose of these will be to help consolidate some of your learning through giving you opportunities for in-depth examination of some of the course topics.  The examinations will also give me some information about your journey through the material and ways that I might better accompany you.

3. Topical paper.  It’s customary in courses like this to ask students to prepare a “My Theory of Psychotherapy” paper at the end.  I’m not a big fan of this idea, but do want to give you an excuse to involve yourselves more formally and extensively with this material in a retrospective and perhaps prospective way.  So, be thinking through the semester about what you want to do for a final paper and perhaps presentation to the class.  We’ll talk some more about this as we meander along.
 

Evaluation:

I will give you detailed feedback on the level of performance corresponding to various grades, and each of you is welcome to visit with me whenever you choose regarding your progress in the class.  You should understand, though, that I view the notion of grading as inherently troublesome and that our journey will go much better when you view me as a companion and guide rather than as a judge.  This is not to say that I take grading casually, but only to remind you that if you are more concerned with your grade than with your learning, you will probably do poorly in both territories.   So,

A --  Excellent completion of all course assignments and activities
B --  Dutiful completion of all or excellent completion of some assignments
C –  Minimal completion of course assignments and activities
 

Tentative Schedule

The topical schedule that follows reflects my initial sense of how I might be helpful to you in (a) grounding our discussion about various theoretical approaches in notions about theory, (b) developing a unified and integrative approach to the various theoretical stories, (c) considering each of the theories in some depth and sufficient breadth, and (d) highlighting some of the issues and dilemmas around theories of psychotherapy.  Of course, “sometimes the best map will not guide us.”  But we can count, at least, on companionship.   Anyway, here’s my best guess….

Week      Topic and Readings

1  9 January   Introduction
Theory and its Vicissitudes
An Organizational Template
 C&W 1; D&C Introduction,
2  16 January   Psychoanalysis  comme si o comme ca
C&W 2
3  23 January   Adler, Jung, and Gemeinshaftsgefuhl
C&W 3, 4; D&C 5
4  30 January   Kohut and Sullivan and Havens (Oh My!)
To be distributed
5    6 February   Person-Centered Therapy
C&W 5; D&C 6
6  13 February   Cognitive Therapy
C&W 8; D&C 7
7  20 February   Behavioral Therapy
C&W 7
8  27 February   Rational Emotive Therapy
C&W 6; D&C 3
9  6  March   Existential Therapy
C&W 9
 
10 13 March   Gestalt Therapy
C&W 10
20 March (No Class; Spring Break)
11 27 March   Multimodal Therapy
C&W 11; D&C 4
12  3 April    Non-western Psychotherapies
C&W 13, others to be distributed
13 10 April    Systems Approaches
C&W 12
  14  17 April     Theory in Psychotherapy: Where to?

Our last meeting will be held during the regularly scheduled final examination period.