How to apply

Overview

The details

Course: Psychoanalytic Studies

Start date: October 2025

Study mode: Full-time

Duration: 1 year

Location: Colchester Campus

Based in: Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies

How has the notion of 'Freudian unconscious' shaped Western culture and been transmitted around the world? How does the unconscious affect us individually and socially? How can an individual and their culture be viewed from a psychoanalytic perspective? Our MA Psychoanalytic Studies will give you a unique and fascinating way of exploring how the unconscious affects both individuals and societies and cultures.

If you cannot see this video, you can watch it on our Vimeo channel within your browser.

Our course provides you with a thorough grounding in psychoanalytic theory through which to explore its application both to the clinical setting and to culture and society. Starting with the cultural milieu from which psychoanalysis emerged, you begin with Freud and follow on through the development of object relations, focusing on the ‘British School', including theorists such as Klein, Winnicott, Bion and others.

By encouraging your critical attitude, we foster an engagement with psychoanalysis - both historically and comparatively - always keeping in mind its methodological link to the clinical experiences from which psychoanalysis itself was developed. Whether you work in the mental health field or have an interest in the application of psychoanalysis to groups, to literature, or to wider social and cultural issues, our programme offers a fantastic and lively opportunity for personal, academic and professional development.

Topics covered in the course include:

Reading Freud
Psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalysis in contexts
Psychoanalysis and the Psychosocial
Psychoanalytic Epistemology
The Psychic Life of Gender
Clinical and Critical: Contemporary Debates in Psychoanalytic Theory

Why we're great.

Work with world-leading scholars as well as highly experienced practitioners
Close links with health, education and social care services ensures our courses are highly credible
We take an interdisciplinary approach with links to sociology, philosophy, literature and business

Our expert staff

Our Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies is internationally recognised as one of the leading departments for work that focuses on the role of the unconscious mind in mental health, as well as in culture and society generally. Our research and teaching is deeply grounded in knowledge deriving from clinical practice, to which our highest standards of academic thinking are then applied.

Being located within the UK's leading university of the study of social sciences means you are surrounded by strong departments that fully support and enhance our work. This allows you to gain the opportunity to work with and be taught by senior clinicians and world-class scholars in their fields.

Specialist facilities

If you are studying within our Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, you will have access to our extensive facilities to aid your learning and research. In particular, our Albert Sloman Library is well stocked with books, journals, electronic resources and major archives relevant to our work and, in addition, we have our own library of specialist books and journals.

We hold free evening Open Seminars on topics relevant to psychoanalysis which are open to students, staff and members of the public.

Your future

You will develop key employability skills including thinking analytically, evaluation, essay-writing, research methods in psychoanalysis and an understanding of psychoanalytic thinking, applicable to clinical and academic work. Our course could lead you to study for a PhD in psychoanalytic studies or to work in a clinical or non-clinical setting.

Our graduates go on to a number of different destinations, including further study and training in psychoanalysis, Jungian analysis, or psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Many of our students are already professionals, clinical and non-clinical, so return to their existing fields, either in jobs or further training, and use study with us to deepen their understanding of their work.

“A year went by so quickly, but I still enjoyed my time at Essex a lot. I am currently working for a large corporation, with the aim of getting into human resources. A module in the course developed my interest in how people relate within working environments, how groups choose leaders, and how to increase productivity. I learnt a lot from my excellent lecturers."

Iliana Juarez Sandoval, MA Psychoanalytic Studies.

Entry requirements

UK entry requirements

A 2:2 degree, or international equivalent, in one of the following disciplines:

Humanities
Social Sciences

With your online application you must submit a personal statement; this should detail the reasons for wanting to study the course, including any relevant experience (work or voluntary) that may support your application.

International & EU entry requirements

We accept a wide range of qualifications from applicants studying in the EU and other countries. Get in touch with any questions you may have about the qualifications we accept. Remember to tell us about the qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.

Sorry, the entry requirements for the country that you have selected are not available here. Please contact our Graduate Admissions team at pgquery@essex.ac.uk to request the entry requirements for this country.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, we require IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum component score of 5.5 in all components.

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Additional Notes

The University uses academic selection criteria to determine an applicant’s ability to successfully complete a course at the University of Essex. Where appropriate, we may ask for specific information relating to previous modules studied or work experience.

Structure

Course structure

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The following modules are based on the current course structure and may change in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Components and modules explained

Components

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose.

Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

Status	What this means
Core	You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Core with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Compulsory	You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Compulsory with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Optional	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

Modules

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits.

In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available.

Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code. For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

100

The department or school the module will be taught by.

In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History.

The module number.

The UK academic level of the module.

A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course.

A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules.

A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification.

The term the module will be taught in.

AU: Autumn term
SP: Spring term
SU: Summer term
FY: Full year
AP: Autumn and Spring terms
PS: Spring and Summer terms
AS: Autumn and Summer terms

COMPONENT 01: CORE

Research Methods and Dissertation

(60 CREDITS)

What interests you? Do you want to deepen your knowledge, build invaluable research skills and develop your academic freedom? Your dissertation lets you study a topic of your choosing, in depth, with supervision and guidance from our world-leading academics.

View Research Methods and Dissertation on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 02: CORE

Reading Freud

(15 CREDITS)

Much of the clinical and theoretical work you will study in the MA derives from, reworks, or reacts to Freud’s writing. This module is designed to introduce you to Freud’s thinking, looking at a variety of his texts; some classics you may have encountered before, and some that are likely to be new to you. Topics will include the theory of dreams; infantile sexuality; Freud's first and second 'topography of psychical systems; narcissism and the internalisation of the object in mourning.

View Reading Freud on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 03: CORE

Psychoanalytic Theory

(30 CREDITS)

In this module we will explore the main theoretical developments since Freud, with emphasis on the British school. Amongst the authors studied you will find: Sandor Ferenczi, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Donald Winnicott, John Bowlby, Michael Balint, Jacques Lacan, and Heinz Kohut. The aim of the module is to understand the developments while comparing different analytic and psychoanalytic schools.

View Psychoanalytic Theory on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 04: COMPULSORY

Clinical and Critical: Contemporary Dialogues in Psychoanalytic Theory

(15 CREDITS)

The module provides an exploration of contemporary issues and debates in psychoanalytic theory, focusing on some of the main post-Freudian clinical revisions that constitute the psychoanalytic imaginary of our times, but also on the development of a critical take on psychoanalytic theory. While the clinical context is the main site of observation, the module is also committed to take psychoanalysis outside the clinic and to allow it to illuminate societal processes that mobilise our critical reflection.

View Clinical and Critical: Contemporary Dialogues in Psychoanalytic Theory on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 05: COMPULSORY

The Psychic Life of Gender

(15 CREDITS)

This module introduces students to some of the ways in which psychoanalytic thought has animated different feminist, trans, and queer accounts of gender since Freud’s time of writing. We will avoid a polarised presentation of psychoanalysis as either friend or foe to progressive accounts of gender, but rather commit to investigating how psychoanalysis – both as theory and as praxis – can productively disrupt our stable knowledge economies, and lend itself to encounters with gender that feature resistance, interruption, revelation, and impasse.

View The Psychic Life of Gender on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 06: COMPULSORY

Psychoanalytic Epistemology

(15 CREDITS)

Psychoanalysis is an intrinsically interdisciplinary field. This module aims to debate the nature of our discipline. After an initial analysis of Freud’s methodology for theory construction, we will analyse different arguments and criticisms made by both psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic scholars as to what type of discipline psychoanalysis is and what sort of methodologies it should utilise to gather and validate its theories.

View Psychoanalytic Epistemology on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 07: COMPULSORY

Psychoanalysis: Controversies and Contexts

(15 CREDITS)

This module explores intellectual, cultural, social and interdisciplinary contexts of the development of psychoanalysis and its theoretical and clinical ideas. The aim is firstly to provide a better understanding of how certain concepts and issues arose in a particular historical and cultural climate, and secondly to foster a critical approach to the history and theory of psychoanalysis.

View Psychoanalysis: Controversies and Contexts on our Module Directory

COMPONENT 08: COMPULSORY

Psychoanalysis and the Psychosocial

(15 CREDITS)

This module is designed to explore the relationship between psychosocial studies and psychoanalysis. You’ll be introduced to a range of significant psychoanalytic ideas, not only on their own as abstract theory, but also through their use in various fields, clinical and nonclinical. Such an approach will help you understand the utility and limitations of psychoanalytic ideas more deeply and critically.

View Psychoanalysis and the Psychosocial on our Module Directory

Teaching

Postgraduate students in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies typically have 2 hours of contact time for each module per week. This consists of a two-hour seminar or workshop, or a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar.
Teaching takes place in relatively small seminars and fora, with a focus on group discussion
You also have a personal tutor who advises you about your work on an individual basis

Assessment

For most modules, assessment is by coursework only, typically an essay of between 3,000-5,000 words

Dissertation

You develop a dissertation of 12,000 words, in which you define and research into an area of special interest to you
We provide you with advice and guidance on researching and writing your dissertation
Your dissertation is submitted mid-September in your final year of study

Fees and funding

Home/UK fee

£10,500

International fee

£22,750

Masters fees and funding information

Research (e.g. PhD) fees and funding information

What's next

We hold Open Days for all our applicants throughout the year. Our Colchester Campus events are a great way to find out more about studying at Essex, and give you the chance to:

tour our campus and accommodation
find out answers to your questions about our courses, student finance, graduate employability, student support and more
meet our students and staff

If the dates of our organised events aren’t suitable for you, feel free to get in touch by emailing tours@essex.ac.uk and we’ll arrange an individual campus tour for you.

2025 Open Days (Colchester Campus)

Wednesday 19 March 2025 - Postgraduate Open Evening

Find out more

You can apply for this postgraduate course online. Before you apply, please check our information about necessary documents that we'll ask you to provide as part of your application.

We aim to respond to applications within two weeks. If we are able to offer you a place, you will be contacted via email.

For information on our deadline to apply for this course, please see our ‘how to apply' information.

A sunny day with banners flying on Colchester Campus Square 4.

Set within 200 acres of award-winning parkland - Wivenhoe Park and located two miles from the historic city centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded development. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.

Find out more

View from Square 2 outside the Rab Butler Building looking towards Square 3

If you live too far away to come to Essex (or have a busy lifestyle), no problem. Our 360 degree virtual tour allows you to explore the Colchester Campus from the comfort of your home. Check out our accommodation options, facilities and social spaces.

At Essex we pride ourselves on being a welcoming and inclusive student community. We offer a wide range of support to individuals and groups of student members who may have specific requirements, interests or responsibilities.

Find out more

The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its programme specification is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can be necessary to make changes, for example to courses, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include, but are not limited to: strikes, other industrial action, staff illness, severe weather, fire, civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack (whether declared or not), natural disaster, restrictions imposed by government or public authorities, epidemic or pandemic disease, failure of public utilities or transport systems or the withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to courses may for example consist of variations to the content and method of delivery of programmes, courses and other services, to discontinue programmes, courses and other services and to merge or combine programmes or courses. The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications. The University would inform and engage with you if your course was to be discontinued, and would provide you with options, where appropriate, in line with our Compensation and Refund Policy.

The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.