**This class will be taught on Zoom**
Despite its critics and its flaws, psychoanalysis continues to be a cultural force in the Euro American world. Far from being only relevant for the rich and famous, psychoanalysis permeates our everyday thinking and discourse in multiple ways. But today’s psychoanalysis, both in theory and in practice, is very different from Freud’s original perspectives. Although both women and men have contributed to the transformation of psychoanalytic thought, in this mini course we will focus on the lives, careers, and contributions of women analysts who influenced psychoanalysis. We will consider how these women helped broaden psychoanalytic theory beyond looking at family history to focus on relational, social, and cultural influences on psychological life. Even though some of these women were considered rebels at the time and were vilified by their more traditional (mostly male) colleagues, all of them refined and/or challenged the original Freudian concepts. Their impact is present in contemporary theories and practices of therapy and in common understandings of human psychology.
Week by Week Outline
Week 1- Introduction
Anna Freud: Her father’s daughter
Melanie Klein: The mother-child dyad and the mysteries of children’s minds
Week 2- Karen Horney: Feminist challenge to Freud
Week 3- Clara Thompson: On women and relationships
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann: Therapy in the rose garden
Week 4- Anna Maria Rizzuto and others: Religion and Psychoanalysis
Week 5- Nancy Chodorow: Mothers, daughters, and sons
Jean Baker Miller: Self in relation
Week 6- Lynn Layton and others: Social Psychoanalysis
Summary and Conclusion
