Professional Diploma in Freudian Psychoanalysis

Provider: State of Mind Psychotherapy, Counselling & Education

Delivery: Online (Live via Zoom)
Duration: 10 Weeks- 2 Hours per Week
Award: Professional Diploma in Freudian Psychoanalysis

Accredited CPD Points Awarded: 30 Points

Course Description:

​This 8-week professional diploma offers an in-depth exploration of psychoanalytic theory and its application in contemporary clinical practice, with a particular emphasis on addiction, trauma, and compulsive behaviours. Designed for mental health professionals, psychotherapists, counsellors, and allied practitioners, the programme integrates classical and contemporary psychoanalytic thought with real-world clinical tools for assessment, formulation, and therapeutic intervention.

Participants will explore unconscious processes, psychic defences, early developmental dynamics, and the symbolic function of symptoms. Drawing on the work of Freud, Winnicott, Lacan, Khantzian, and key relational theorists, the course illuminates how addiction and other psychological difficulties serve defensive or adaptive functions within the intrapsychic world of the client.

The programme blends theoretical seminars with case-based learning and technical workshops, equipping participants with clinically relevant skills to work with complex client presentations. Special focus is placed on therapeutic technique, including managing resistance, building the therapeutic alliance, and understanding transference and countertransference dynamics.

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Target Audience:
This course is intended for:

• Accredited and pre-accredited counsellors and psychotherapists
• Counselling & Psychotherapy Practitioners & Students
• Clinical psychologists and mental health professionals
• Addiction counsellors and key workers
• Trainee therapists (final year or postgraduate level)
• Allied health or social care professionals working in psychological settings

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand and apply core psychoanalytic concepts such as unconscious conflict, defence mechanisms, repetition compulsion, and the role of the therapeutic relationship.
• Analyse addiction and compulsive behaviours as symbolic expressions of unresolved psychic trauma and early relational dynamics.
• Formulate client presentations using a psychoanalytic lens, integrating developmental, intrapsychic, and relational factors.
• Work more effectively with resistance, transference, and countertransference in individual and group settings.
• Reflect on the therapeutic stance and its impact on clinical outcomes.
• Apply psychoanalytic understanding to addiction treatment and complex mental health presentations in ethical, trauma-informed ways.

  Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction to Psychoanalytic Thinking
History and development of psychoanalytic theory (Freud to present)
The unconscious, drives, and internal conflict
Role of symbols, symptoms, and defences

Week 2: Psychic Structure and Symptom Formation
Id, ego, and superego: structural theory
The symptom as compromise formation
Addiction as a form of psychic regulation

Week 3: Object Relations and Early Development
Winnicott, Klein, and early relational templates
True self, false self, and the search for containment
Early deprivation and its impact on addictive patterns

Week 4: Repetition, Compulsion, and Trauma
Repetition compulsion and trauma loops
Working with unconscious reenactments
The body in psychoanalytic treatment

Week 5: Defences and the Addictive Personality
Ego defences: projection, splitting, denial, idealisation
Addiction as defensive structure vs. character pathology
The self-medication hypothesis (Khantzian)

Week 6: Transference and Countertransference
The therapeutic relationship in psychoanalytic work
Recognising and managing transference patterns
Countertransference as a diagnostic and technical tool

Week 7: Psychoanalytic Technique in Clinical Practice
Containment, neutrality, and therapeutic frame
Working with resistance and therapeutic rupture
Application to addiction, trauma, and regression

Week 8: Integration, Supervision, and Ethical Reflection
Integrating psychoanalytic ideas into existing practice
Supervision and reflective practice in psychoanalytic work
Ethical considerations and professional boundaries

Assessment Requirements:
1. Attendance: Minimum 85% attendance required for certification

Active participation in discussions and case reflections is encouraged
2. Summative Written Assignment