Elective Integrative Seminars |
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Independent Study in Integrative Psychology/Humanities
This elective allows students to contract study in topics not in the curriculum. Typical studies enrich emphasis areas, deepen cultural and philosophical literature for dissertation topics, allow the study of languages (including American Sign Language), and provide creativity and professional/personal growth.
Credit transfer from other institutions is an option. |
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| PSY6605 |
Intro to Integrative Psychology: Postmodern Pathfinding
Required Foundation Course |
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Systems of psychology tie indelibly to the history of ideas and social contexts. This seminar intends that San Diego professionals-in-training become knowledgeable about past and current social, scientific, and ethical ways of knowing. A willingness to see “truth” in different traditions, different value systems, different perceptions of reality, different forms of relationships, different spiritual paths --and to see this diversity as enhancing all our lives-- is a postmodern value. A study inclusive of these diverse ideas about identity, values, and health defines an Integrative Psychology. |
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The personal, professional, and cultural implications of a new social paradigm will be explored through discourse, colloquia, and relevant events in the community. The course will introduce congruent orientations in psychology (consciousness research, ecopsychology, narrative psychology, expressive arts therapy, political/cultural psychology, and spirituality) to provide entering trainees a “cutting-edge” orientation.
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| PSY7638 |
Sandplay Therapy |
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Margaret Lowenfield, the founder of the London Institute of Child Psychology, developed Sandplay as an extension of play therapy in the 1930s. This method came to the United States with Buhler (1951) for diagnosis and research with children. Dora Kalff (1966) made the greatest impact in the development of Sandplay by giving it a Jungian orientation. |
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This tool of creative expression, increasingly used with adults and groups as well as children, apparently invites split off parts of the psyche into consciousness by bringing healing images into play. Symptoms diminish as intrapsychic organization is matched to symbols arranged in Sandplay. |
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This course introduces: 1) The metaphoric and symbolic language of Sandplay; 2) Theoretical principles and the practical uses of Sandplay therapy with children and adults; 3) Didactic and experiential exploration of the Sandplay process through hands-on practice. |
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| PSY6647 |
Jung and the Shadow |
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Participants will engage C.G. Jung’s ideas through study of his primary works, but also through discourse, experiential learning, films, and reference to key interpretations. Concepts to be mastered include Jung’s theories of personal and collective unconscious; the key archetypes (e.g., anima, animus, persona, shadow); structure of the psyche; self and individuation; personality type and functions; symbolism in dream and the arts; synchronicity. Key texts and contemporary examples will focus the shadow archetype, in persons and in cultures, as well as in the helping professions’ “trickster” work. |
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| PSY6644 |
Ecology/Psychology |
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This course explores the domain of psychology, which emphasizes the interdependence of cultural, political, physical, spiritual and psychological dynamics. Studying "wholeness and health" from a systems perspective combines traditional healing wisdoms and new paradigms in the context of social evolution. |
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Human interactions studied within whole systems, addresses disassociations of identity to promote a healthy and sustainable society. This psychology addresses the meaning and quality of our personal, social and global relationships. It seeks to bring humanitarian and scientific thought to bear upon critical human problems, including the effect of contemporary environments on health and behavior, as well as the effects of human behavior on the environment. |
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In study of human beings in their contexts, ecopsychology thus includes gender healing and emphasizes the connection of humankind's various cultures, studying the spiritual dimension that universally underlies them. It explores new physics science's assumptions in relation to a pluralistic and ecological framework, seeking integrated personal and social wellness. |
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| PSY6646 |
Transpersonal Psychology |
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Implicit to Transpersonal Psychology is the premise that psychological health overlaps the spiritual journey towards more inclusive consciousness. In what Ken Wilber calls its place in the "spectrum of consciousness", Transpersonal Psychology studies: (I) some assumptions of orthodox, western psychology; (ii) the interstices of physical and spiritual universe; (iii) meditation and states of consciousness; (iv) yoga psychology; (v) the autonomous psyche; (vi) symbolic language, and; (vii) creativity. It explores, for example, cultural expressions of transcendence as a universal in all wisdom traditions. |
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The seminar will also introduce current research methodologies for psychological study in noetic (consciousness) sciences. Course topics will provide participants the opportunity to explore their own ways of mediating purpose and meaning. |
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| PSY6643 |
Ritual and Healing |
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Participants will seek scholarly and psychological understanding of the elements and functions of ritual in past and contemporary cultures (especially as regards identity formation, place, life passages, grieving, and meaning-making). |
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Ritual’s performance calls up psychic energies universal to human experience. Thus, many rituals require the context of others for transformation to take place. Jung cautions, however, that transformation as a group experience may be at a lower level of consciousness than individual, because the collective psyche is more animal than human. Moreover, change may be amorphous when removed from group recognition. |
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| H471c. |
Eastern Religious Theory and Practice: The Applications of Zen, Tai Chi and Yoga to Psychotherapy |
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This experiential course includes readings, lecture and practice of experiential Eastern, and discusses their applications to psychological issues. Students will have the opportunity to learn how Hindu theory and practices (Yoga, Pranayama), Buddhist theory and practices (Zen, Mindfulness), and Taoist theory and practices (Tai Chi, Chi gung) can help conceptualize common psychological dysfunction and help offer patients valuable skills to help them overcome their difficulties. |
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| PSY6643 |
Spirituality in Psychology |
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The mind/body/spirit connection is explored in this course from a variety of theoretical and philosophical viewpoints, as well as emphasis on experiential practices. Psychospiritual issues come up therapy, and psychotherapists in a recent study were unanimous in wishing they had some training. Holistic concepts that may have an impact on an individual's mental health and well-being are addressed. Topics/issues that have particular relevance for the community/agency psychotherapist and workplace psychologist will also be addressed, along with reviews of some of the recent research published in professional journals. |
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| PSY6654 |
Psychology of Ethnic Diversity |
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This course attends to such contexts as Erickson’s (1959) ego development and Phinney’s (1989) ethnic identity development theories, and current literature of acculturation and biculturalism. The course focuses on the experience of various ethnic cultures. In succeeding semesters, Asian American, African-American, Native American, and Latino cultures will be explored. Field trips, history, literature, biography, media portrayals, and other cultural artifacts intend to affect not only the cultural competency of participants, but also their experiential understandings. |
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| PSY7639 |
Expressive Arts Therapies |
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Participants will focus on expressive arts therapy as a particular philosophy grounded in the post-modern notion of “de-centering” of Derrida as well as the work of Lakoff and Johnson in physical metaphor. After opening lectures on polyaesthetics with roots in shamanism, participants immerse in disciplines of visual arts, movement, music, poetry, drama from the exploration of play to the creation of works and their relationship to the author. The course attempts to address the questions “How does art-making help in the revised narrative of living?” and, “What metaphors are helpful in the healing process?” |
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| PSY7640 |
Creativity Theory, Research and Practice |
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This course explores creativity theories, research, and seminar exercises of direct use for psychologists in-group or individual therapy. C.G. Jung insisted “The creative. . . and its authentic expression are in fact the basic problem of all psychotherapy.” |
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The workshop will focus on creativity by using tools nearest at hand: the language of everyday, crafted into story, song, and personal meaning making. Participants will explore uses of writing to fulfill the three proposals of Viktor Frankel: that life meaning is found in immediate experience, in an attitude taken, and in the creative. |
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| PSY6804 |
Aging and Dying: Creativity and Spirituality
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The psychological and spiritual dynamics of aging focus on the decades of life, beginning with the fifth decade and concluding with the end stage and the process of dying. Grief and loss dynamics are covered along with psychotherapeutic processes in providing care for aging and dying persons. |
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This seminar provides an opportunity to bring together integrative practices of life-story narrative psychology, co-construction of self, the healing of contemplative practices, along with the functions of family and cultural ritual. |
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Psychological research provides ample evidence regarding the importance of creativity and spirituality in maintaining life satisfaction, and cross-cultural studies exemplify practices that provide support and honor to this part of the life cycle.
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| PSY8500 |
Mindfulness in Psychotherapy |
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Mindfulness involves the cultivation of intentional focused awareness –a way of paying attention on purpose in the present moment. It is often said to cultivate qualities of non-judging, non-striving, acceptance, patience, trust, openness, and letting go. Although often associated with ancient Eastern traditions, the essential qualities of mindfulness appear in nearly all-spiritual traditions. More recently, it is having considerable impact on scientifically based clinical psychology and behavioral medicine, as renowned researchers have come to believe that being mindful is central to being mentally healthy. |
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This course examines the emergence of mindfulness-based interventions that incorporate mindfulness as a healing factor in medical and mental health settings. These empirically validated interventions include: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR; Kabat-Zinn), Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT; Williams, Segal & Teasdale), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan), "Urge Surfing" as a component of relapse prevention in substance abusers (Marlatt), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, Hayes), and others. |
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Paired with the didactic component of the course will be an experiential semester long "immersion" of participants in their own practice of MBSR. Participants will learn and practice various forms progressive relaxation, meditation, and gentle yoga. (Students will be evaluated based only upon the didactic portion of the course) |
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| PSY8500 |
Using Meditation in Psychotherapy |
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This course will teach how to use meditative techniques as part of psychotherapeutic intervention. A variety of meditative principles and practices will be learned, including Yoga (Yogasutras, Asanas, Pranayama), Taoist (TaoTe Ching, Chi gung, Tai Chi), and Buddhist (Theravada and Mahayana, Mindfulness and Zen). Applications of these techniques to psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD, eating disorders, pain disorders and others will be discussed. Ways to translate these practices into psychological terms will also be examined (e.g. "attentional retraining," "self-comforting and relaxation," "learning new responses to old habits," etc.). Each class will include practice of meditative techniques and then discussion of applications. A final paper will focus on a specific meditative technique applied to a specific psychotherapeutic problem. |
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| PSY8850 |
Hypnosis, Meditation and Expressive Arts Therapies |
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Experiential methods are becoming increasingly utilized by psychotherapists to effect significant patient change. Theory of "learning" and "knowing" through direct experience, and the role of experiential methods in psychotherapy will be discussed. Experiential methods will be taught and practiced, including hypnotic assessment, inductions and suggestions. |
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| Applications of these techniques to psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD, eating disorders, pain disorders and others will be discussed. Ways to translate these practices into psychological terms will also be examined (e.g. "attentional retraining," "self-comforting and relaxation," "learning new responses to old habits," etc.). |
| Each class will include practice of meditative techniques and then discussion of applications. A final paper will focus on a specific meditative technique applied to a specific psychotherapeutic problem.gic, chi gung and Zen approaches to meditation; and movement and drama therapies. |
| Applications to various inpatient and outpatient settings and patients will be discussed. The Lab section will practice applying these methods to patients with a variety of pathologies, and for clients interested in learning skills to improve their quality of life. Students can take the lecture part either alone, or with the lab. 2-3 Units. |
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| PSY8500 |
Consciousness Studies |
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Consciousness studies currently represent the forefront of psychological theory and publications that extend the boundaries of the profession into mind-body medicine, physics, and traditional wisdom practices. The Institute of Noetic Sciences defines consciousness studies as that which includes perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. |
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| This course explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor. From the perspective of researchers and theoreticians such as Grof, Wilbur, Thich Nhat Hanh, Vaughan, Walsh, The Dalai Lama, and others, we will survey the application of Consciousness studies to this exciting new field of Psychology. |
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| PSY6643 |
East/West Psychology |
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This class will focus on the conceptual understanding and experience of Eastern and Western psychological thought. We will move from the historical to the present in our study and see how these philosophical positions have developed. We will look at the practical applications and dialogue with practitioners who use these different approaches. The focus is on the alleviation of suffering and healing. We will explore the roots of Western psychological thought and trace the development of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism in the east. The important point to this study is a personal understanding that will lead to an application of these principles to your personal and professional pursuits. |
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| PSY7650 |
Ken Wilber's Integral Map: Theory and Practice East/West Psychology |
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This seminar will offer a distillation of the thirty-some years of Ken Wilber's work and writings. Called the “Einstein of Consciousness” and the world's leading living philosopher, Wilber is best noted for both his synthesis of the human knowledge quest and his down-to-earth practical information on how we might individually and collectively navigate the post-modern environment with all its joys and horrors. Participants will study Wilber's AQAL (All Quadrants, All Levels, All Lines, All States, All Types) model for application to psychological practice. The seminar offers intellectual challenge and experiential exploration through readings, research, group discussions, seminar project development, and guided meditation.
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| PSY8800 |
Advanced Seminar: Integrative Psychotherapies |
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Human well-being depends on the interaction of behavioral, intentional, cultural, and social domains, with a wound in one "quadrant" bleeding into them all. Effective interventions require therapists' awareness of interdependent mind/body/social systems, not just patching emotional wounds or neuropsychological pathways. |
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| Course work will include the walk-through of a case study using an Integral Institute therapeutic model. Specific attentions to the four quadrants will provide cognitive, experiential, self-actualizing and cultural-context approaches. Classes will explore each quadrant, understanding and practicing examples of therapy techniques, and discussing which approaches are best suited for which clients, as well as how best to integrate approaches to offer clients the best therapeutic outcome. (This course meets all general and clinical elective requirements) |
| A required exit course for integrative candidates. |
