Who’s Afraid of Psychoanalysis?
A twelve week crash course in contemporary, culturally informed psychodynamic psychotherapy
Wednesdays 5pm-6:15pm PST, starting June 3, 2026
I will be facilitating a twelve week reading seminar for grad students, social workers, psychiatrists, and therapists at any stage of their career who are interested in learning more about psychodynamics and psychoanalysis. This class is designed for folks who are interested in psychoanalysis, but didn't receive much training at the graduate or post-graduate level. I bring a contemporary, social justice informed approach to psychoanalytic thinking. It's a good class for anyone who's intimidated by psychoanalysis and wants to learn more in a low-stakes environment.
The class will be an hour and fifteen minutes long, and costs $75 per week.
Potential syllabus (but subject to change)
Who's Afraid of Psychoanalysis?
Claire Greenwood, LMFT
Week One: Introducing Psychoanalysis
The Psychoanalytic Sensibility– from Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, by Nancy McWilliams
“What I would not part with”– Thomas Ogden
Week Two: A Brief History of Psychoanalysis
"Psychoanalytic Diagnosis," by Nancy McWilliams
Week Three: Transference and Countertransference
“Transference” and "Countertransference" in Essential Psychodynamic Therapy, by Teri Quatman
Week Four: Object Relations
"Playing and Reality," Winnicott
Week Five: Race and Racism
“Surviving Hating and Being Hated”– Kathleen White
“The Police, Black and Hispanic Boys: A Dangerous Inability to Mentalize,” Vaughans, K. C., & Harris, L. (2016)
Week Six: Queer eroticism and creativity
"Blocked Creativity and Inhibited Erotic Transference," by Dianne Elise
Week Seven: The analytic third
“Beyond Doer and Done to” Jessica Benjamin
Week Eight: Enactments
"Who's bad object are we anyway?" By Jodie Davis
Week Nine: Social media and psychotherapy
Kaluzeviciute, G. (2020) Social Media and its Impact on Therapeutic Relationships. British Journal of Psychotherapy 36:303-320
Week Ten: Money and fees
“Show Me the Money: (the “Problem” of) the Therapist's Desire, Subjectivity, and Relationship to the Fee,” by Kachina Myers
Week Eleven: Transness and gender identity
Gender Without Identity, excerpts
Week Twelve: Endings
“Termination Never Ends”- Bonovitz