What is BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at Essex?
This course explores psychoanalysis as an interdisciplinary field examining the mind, emotions, relationships, motivation, and unconscious processes that shape human behaviour.
You’ll investigate how and why people think, feel, and behave the way they do, drawing on over 100 years of psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice to understand both individual and social experience.
Why this course
How do we become who we are? Is emotion as powerful as reason? What explains our desires, compulsions, and seemingly irrational behaviour?
This course helps you explore these questions by looking beneath the surface of everyday experience to understand the unconscious forces that shape thoughts, emotions, relationships, and decision-making.
You’ll study psychodynamic concepts and apply them to individuals, groups, and organisations, while engaging with foundational thinkers such as Freud, Jung, and Lacan.
The course combines theory with real-world application, helping you understand both personal experience and wider social and cultural dynamics.
Who should apply
Students interested in psychology, mental health, and human behaviour
Those curious about unconscious processes, emotion, and motivation
Learners who want to study both theory and its application to real-life situations
Future professionals interested in therapy, counselling, social work, or related fields
What you’ll learn
Psychoanalytic theory: Explore Freud, Jung, Lacan, and contemporary depth psychology
Human development: Study child, adolescent, and adult psychological development
Trauma and mental health: Understand trauma, recovery, and psychodynamic approaches to wellbeing
Groups and organisations: Examine how unconscious processes shape group and organisational behaviour
Culture and society: Analyse literature, film, and media through a psychoanalytic lens
Your learning experience
Interdisciplinary study: Learn across psychoanalysis, psychosocial studies, culture, and social theory
Classic and contemporary thinkers: Engage with Freud, Jung, Lacan, and current debates in depth psychology
Applied learning: Apply psychoanalytic ideas to real-world issues in relationships, society, and organisations
Research-led teaching: Study within a leading department specialising in unconscious processes and mental health
Careers and outcomes
This course prepares you for careers where understanding human behaviour, emotion, and relationships is essential:
Mental health and wellbeing: Pathways into counselling, psychotherapy, and support roles
Social care and education: Working with children, families, and vulnerable individuals
Research and academia: Further study in psychology, psychoanalysis, or social sciences
Cultural and media sectors: Roles involving analysis of literature, film, and cultural theory
Employers of graduates from this course
Graduates progress into roles across mental health, education, social care, and cultural organisations, including:
Health and wellbeing services
Schools, colleges, and educational organisations
Social care and support services
Charities and third-sector organisations
Media, cultural, and research institutions
Many of our courses offer a choice of optional modules to tailor your learning experience. More information about these can be found on the University of Essex website.
This course is available in Clearing. If you have submitted an application, you can add this course. If you haven’t sent us an application yet, you can do this until 24th September 2026.
This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.
University of Essex has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
See why these ratings were awarded
What does this TEF outcome mean?
The following entry points are available for this course:
Discover what it's like to study Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at University of Essex: insights on the course, making friends, personal statement tips, uni prep, and recommended books, podcasts, and videos.
Find out more about qualification requirements for this course.
At Essex we consider your whole application – not just grades. If you don’t meet the exact grade requirements, you may still be considered.
We’re dedicated to helping students from underrepresented groups to access an Essex education. We may give you a Contextual Offer up to two A-Level grades below our standard conditional offer based on where you live, your school, and other details from your application. Involvement in our on-campus events may also support eligibility for a Contextual Offer.
This section shows the range of grades that students who received offers were previously accepted on to this course with (learn more).
It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place.
Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.
We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.
This report uses your grades to show how students with similar results have done when applying to this course in the past. Sometimes, there isn’t data for every possible set of grades. When that happens, universities and colleges occasionally fill in the gaps for sets of grades that are typically accepted.
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Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.
Fees displayed are for the 2026-27 academic year. Fees may increase for each academic intake and each academic year of study.
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Email:admit@essex.ac.uk
Phone:01206 873666
Email:admit@essex.ac.uk
Phone:01206 873666
Fax: 01206 872808
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
CO4 3SQ
At University of Essex
