Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
Thinking about psychoanalytic curricula: an epistemological perspective
1Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York, USA. ellenrees@mindspring.com
Abstract:
The author discusses the role that curriculum development can play in preparing psychoanalytic candidates to understand the challenges created by theoretical pluralism in our field and by the growth of knowledge in neighboring disciplines. Curriculum design can be used to encourage the development of epistemological perspectives that can serve as organizing frameworks to help candidates think critically about psychoanalytic knowledge. It is possible to teach these complex matters in a way that students find accessible and useful. The author presents exemplars taken from the curriculum at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York.
Related Concept Videos
Psychodynamic Therapy
Freudian Psychology
Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud's concept of psychic determinism asserts that...
Psychodynamic Perspectives on Personality
Psychodynamic theorists argue that unconscious...
Psychosexual Theory of Development
The Five Stages of Psychosexual Development
Freud's psychosexual...
Structure of Self
Components of the Mind: Id, Ego, and Superego
