Ego Psychology 

Key figures: Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, René Spitz, Heinz Hartmann, Margaret Mahler, Peter Fonagy, Mary Main & contemporary iterators (updated)

Key Concepts: Drive Theory / Topographic & Structural Models / Psychic Threat & Defensive Organization / Principles of Mental Functioning & the Nature of Anxiety Development / Developmental Lines / Infantile Neurosis & the Transference Neurosis / Clinical Applications

Ego psychology is a branch of psychoanalytic tradition that held much sway in the United States, particularly in the post war period.  Ego psychology roughly is the analysis of "adaptations" to internal and external conditions.  It can be seen as a theoretical and clinical outgrowth of Freud's structural model and has much to offer with regards to conceptualization and technique.  Participants can expect to gain familiarity with a powerful and clinically useful set of language and ideas that will help guide assessment and interpretation within a therapeutic transference relationship. I will use video, power point and clinical examples from my practice to illustrate these concepts.

Instructor Martin Bullard, LICSW is a social worker & psychoanalyst in private practice in Seattle working with adults, children and adolescents.  Martin received his psychoanalytic training at the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.  Prior to that, Martin worked in milieu treatment programs for disturbed children and adolescents and their families.  Martin appreciates the experiential dimensions of clinical work which draw him to psychoanalysis.   

Click here for more info on Roots and Branches Foundational Course offerings.  

**Program content has been submitted for approval for 4.0 CEUs per lecture for Licensed Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, and Marriage and Family Therapists by the Washington State Society for Clinical Social Work.