Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies (Including Foundation Year)

What is BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at Essex?
This four-year BA Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies (including Foundation Year) is designed for students who do not yet meet entry requirements for a three-year degree but want to progress into higher education in social sciences and psychoanalytic studies.

You’ll begin with a Foundation Year (Year Zero) before progressing into three further years of specialist study in Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, building the academic skills and theoretical understanding needed for advanced study and professional pathways.

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

You can tailor your learning experience to your future career with a choice of optional modules. More information about these can be found on the University of Essex website.