1. Describe the historical progression from Freudian drive theory to object relations, self psychology, and contemporary developmental models, and explain how these shifts altered psychoanalytic conceptions of pathology, development, and therapeutic action.
2. Differentiate key psychoanalytic constructs—including paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions, observing ego capacity, and primitive mental states—and use these concepts to assess levels of psychological organization and defensive functioning in clinical presentations.
3. Analyze the contributions of major psychoanalytic thinkers such as Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, D. W. Winnicott, and Heinz Kohut, and translate their theoretical insights into clinically relevant formulations of transference, affect regulation, and therapeutic containment.

Bion, W. R. (1962). Learning from experience. Heinemann.

Blatt, S. J. (1974). Levels of object representation in anaclitic and introjective depression. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 29: 107–152.

Fairbairn, W. R. D. (1941). A revised psychopathology of the psychoses and psychoneuroses. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 22: 250–270.

Fairbairn, W. R. D. (1952). Psychoanalytic studies of the personality. Tavistock.

Kernberg, O. F. (1984). Severe personality disorders: Psychotherapeutic strategies. Yale University Press.

Klein, M. (1946). Notes on some schizoid mechanisms. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 27, 99–110.

Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the self. International Universities Press.

Lingiardi, V., & McWilliams, N. (Eds.). (2017). Psychodynamic diagnostic manual (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

Mitchell, S. A., & Black, M. J. (1995). Freud and beyond: A history of modern psychoanalytic thought. Basic Books.

Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment. International Universities Press.

Aion Institute courses are open to all licensed mental health professionals, residents, interns, and graduate students in training, as well as members of the lay public who have an interest in psychodynamic psychology. Please use the following descriptions of our instructional level to gauge your own comfort level with the content.

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