The school I attend has difficulty finding instructors who are able to properly teach Freud. I think there are rich lessons to be learned by careful study of Freud’s works, but the question is how to pedagogically approach the material so that the emotional reactions can be expressed and overcome and the relevance of the material is understood by the class.
By relevance I refer both to theories that Freud introduced and explored, and also to some of the potential traps researchers and students can fall into when trying to study psychology. Theoretically, concepts around condensation, transference/countertransference, insights associative processes in the mind, and others are explored by scientists today, sometimes unaware that they are rediscovering a very historical concept. In the science world in general students are taught to be mindful of traps like projecting their own biases into their results, and Freud unintentionally provides some examples of how psychological researchers have to be especially watchful of assumptions and prejudices.
Given the rich material to be studied and the paucity of examples in today’s universities demonstrating ways to teach Freudian material, I was excited to read Joshua Levy’s article “Studying The Interpretation of Dreams“ in the current JAPA. Levy has the luxury of teaching second year analytic candidates roughly 700 course hours devoted solely to The Interpretation of Dreams. (Reading this article actually does conjur up images of a plush living room with oversized white sofas and chairs in the classroom.) The article reviews Levy’s approach to teaching the material and recounts a recent term experience.
My favorite quote is from Levy’s description of his pedagogical methods:
Freud’s enthusiasm about his discoveries, and our detecting inconsistencies and dogmatism in the test, arouse different feelings in the candidates. They alternate between awe, distance, and delight. They are encouraged in the seminars to express their emotions and attitudes, which leads to a dynamic interaction among the candidates, as well as between the candidates and the teacher. The teacher tries to create an atmosphere in which everyone listens respectfully to one another and tolerates different feelings and opinions, which at times are quite strong. . . . I clarify implicit feelings and attitudes and encourage candidates to ask what Freud’s purpose was in presenting his views as he did. The aim is to arouse curiosity rather than reactions of idealization anger, or rejection. Thus, candidates are given an opportunity to hear and examine various feelings and attitudes and compare them with their own.
This sounds like an awesome class to be a part of. Although most classes on Freud have to cover a lot of material in a shorter amount of time, there are still some great ideas and concepts in this chapter to consider if you ever feel like putting together a Freud lecture.
