“I Write to Know What I Think”: a Four-Year Writing Curriculum

Abstract

The four-year writing curriculum of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research has as its main objective to teach candidates to learn about analysis through writing. Learning to write about analyses ultimately entails learning to clarify and then express how one thinks and functions as an analyst. Since its inception ten years ago, the program has evolved into its current structure, a stepwise approach through the years of candidate training based on a didactic method called "layering." For each level of the course, candidates' typical writing difficulties are examined, and examples given of write-ups and how they were used in teaching. The essential role of the faculty experience is also described.

Set This House on Fire: the Self-Analysis of Raymond Carver

“…The very process of writing supports exploratory inquiry (Lister et al 2008). The notion that fiction writing has, at least for some individuals, an intrinsic self-analytic aspect is underscored by the importance modern fiction has placed on psychological self-awareness and self-referentiality.…”