BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

Our BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies (including Foundation Year) could be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entry requirements for a three-year version of our social sciences courses and you want a programme that improves your skills to support your academic performance.

Open to UK and EU applicants, this four-year course includes a Foundation Year (known as Year Zero) which is delivered by our Essex Pathways Department followed by a further three years of study in our Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

During Year Zero you will study on our Social Sciences Pathway which will cover topics such as Analysing the Social and Political World, and People and Society. At the end of Year Zero all students who pass the Social Sciences Pathway will have a choice of which course to progress with. As well as BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies (PPS), students on the Social Sciences Pathway could also study BA Childhood Studies or BA Sociology, amongst other courses.

From year one you will continue developing your academic skills alongside discovering the different schools of psychoanalysis and explore its applications to different settings and objects of study - from individual clinical work, to groups, culture and society. At its core, psychoanalysis believes that understanding human experience is not just about looking at external factors, from the places we live and work to the people we talk to, but also at internal ones - our inner motivations, fantasies, and defence mechanisms, to name a few.

Beginning with an introduction to psychodynamic concepts as applied to individuals, relationships and organisations, BA PPS goes on to provide a comprehensive account of child and adult development and critical overviews of both Freudian and Jungian psychology. From this foundation, psychodynamic approaches are then applied thematically to diverse areas including:

• The psychological factors that influence our emotions, behaviours and relationships
• The forces that drive human behaviour and interaction
• Literature and film
• War and trauma
• Sexuality