100283: The Environment: Its Role in Psychosocial Functioning and Psychotherapy

About the Course:

This book reviews the psychoanalytic literature and the inclusion of environment, particularly by analysts such as Erickson. Despite his and post-modern theorists influence on psychotherapy there still exists an inadequate attention to environment in much of clinical thought and practice. In Part I, Saari traces the way that environment was an assumption of psychoanalytic theory but was not clearly integrated into an understanding of development. In Part II, she focuses on social control and the way that psychotherapy can either liberate or constrict our clients. Part III offers ideas about the benefits and implications of including environmental considerations into clinical practice.

Author

Carolyn Saari

About the Author:

Professor Emerita, School of Social Work, Loyola University Chicago and Editor, Clinical Social Work Journal. Author of numerous articles about social work practice and theory. Author two other books on social work practice. Faculty School for Social Work at Smith College and the Chicago Institute for Clinical Social Work. She had a private practice in Chicago.

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for health care professionals, especially social workers, psychologists, counselors, and nurses who seek knowledge about the impact of environment on practice. It is appropriate for an introductory level, an intermediate level, an advanced level, introductory to intermediate levels of participants’ knowledge.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the impact that current postmodern theory is having on psychoanalytic theory, which makes an integration of person and environment possible.

2. Gain an increased appreciation for the importance of the time-honored social work emphasis on the environment well as the person.

3. Understand the advantages as well as the dangers in using a theory of meaning as a basis for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

4. Understand theoretical approaches of Foucault and its application to our understanding of the importance of the environment