Research Evidence in Psychoanalytic Therapies: Implications for Theory and Practice
New online course with David Pocock
Starts January 2026 for 10 weeks
Is psychoanalytic therapy effective? Can depth work be scientifically informed without losing its humanistic soul?
This ten-week online course challenges the myth that brief therapies hold the evidence monopoly, while addressing psychoanalysis’s historical resistance to research. Beginning with Shedler’s powerful critique of the “rigged evidence-based game,” we’ll explore how attachment theory, mentalizing, microprocess studies, and neuroscience can strengthen—not diminish—psychoanalytic practice.
We’ll question whether therapeutic relationship matters more than technique, how infant research illuminates adult treatment, and why meaningful change takes time to embed neurologically. We’ll examine attachment strategies, implicit relational knowing, affect regulation, and the Boston Change Process Study Group’s groundbreaking work—all through the lens of critical realism.
Become scientifically informed while maintaining theoretical depth and clinical nuance.
Wednesdays, 18:30 – 19:45
Spring term 2026 – 14/01/26 – 25/03/26
£500