A. Preparatory Analysis
The preparatory analysis is a requirement for the training in psychoanalysis. Its therapeutic goals are the same as those of a therapeutic analysis. Its educational goals include freedom from personality factors that could interfere with the ability to conduct psychoanalytic treatment independently. It has been the experience of the majority of training analysts that four or five analytic sessions per week constitute the optimum condition for the continuity of the analysis.
The Admissions Committee takes the responsibility of referring accepted students for preparatory analysis with a member of the Faculty. Students will start their preparatory analysis when they matriculate at the Institute and begin the didactic program at the same time.
B. Didactic Program
A core curriculum is scheduled over the period of four years. Completion of requirements for supervised and independent clinical work often requires additional time.
The tripartite model for psychoanalytic education requires that progression through course work proceed simultaneously with increasing clinical immersion. Minimal clinical case requirements for progression are as follows:
Students are encouraged, if qualified, to begin their first case as soon as possible and ideally no later than during the second trimester of the first year. There is a one case requirement for progression to the second year. There is a two case requirement for progression to the third year. There is a two case requirement for progression to the fourth year, but a third case is strongly recommended.
OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM
The curriculum consists of four years of courses that are grouped under the general topics of psychoanalytic theory, development, technique, clinical case seminars, psychopathology, psychoanalytic research and psychoanalytic writing. The courses given within each subject area are coordinated to help foster the candidate’s increasingly sophisticated integration of psychoanalytic knowledge and practice.
Psychoanalytic Theory:
Psychoanalytic theory is taught in all four years of the curriculum. The theoretical curriculum begins with a short overview of the various characteristic ways in which psychoanalysts from all schools of thought have theorized about development, mental organization, psychopathology and treatment (100: Introduction to Psychoanalysis). The theory track goes on to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the development of Freud’s theorizing, to provide a firm foundation in both the historical and theoretical origins of psychoanalysis as a field of knowledge (101: Early Theories of Symptom Formation, 102: The Development of the Topographic Model of the Mind, 103: The Development of Freud’s Theory of the Instinctual Drives and the Ego, 201: Freud’s Case Histories and 202: Freud’s Final Model). The curriculum goes on to address developments in psychoanalytic theorizing that lead to the points of view of modern ego psychology and modern conflict theory, to object relations perspectives (including classical, Kleinian, contemporary Kleinian, interpersonal and intersubjective relational perspectives) and to theories about the self and narcissism (203: Evolution of the Structural Theory from 1939 to the Present, 204: The Role of the Object and Self in Classical Psychoanalytic Theory, 301: Controversies and the Fate of the Object in Post-Freudian Theories, 302: Evolution of the Theory of Narcissism, 402: Relational Psychoanalysis and Intersubjectivity). There is an attempt to integrate these various perspectives into some basic and useful principles that underlie the psychoanalytic theory of the mind and its clinical applications (401: Psychoanalytic Principles).
Development:
A year long sequence of courses traces the development of the child from early infancy through adolescence (107A: Infancy and Early Childhood, 107B: Latency and Pre-Adolescence, 107C: Adolescence). A modern clinical and theoretical understanding of the various stages of development is presented, along with findings from child observational research.
A course on child psychoanalysis introduces historical, theoretical, technical and clinical perspectives on this topic, with a focus on how child analytic work informs the work of the adult analyst (207: Introduction to Child
Psychoanalysis).
A group of three related courses considers the development of gender, unconscious phantasy, and sexuality and perversion (408A: Gender, 408B: Universal Phantasies, 408C: Sexuality and Perversion). Sexual and psychic maturation and development are considered with a focus on contemporary theories of male and female difference. Universal themes that arise over the course of development that influence the nature and function of phantasy are studied. The development of perversion is studied in relation to the development of personality structure, object relations and the need for continuous assimilation of aggressive drive components.
Psychoanalytic Technique:
A four year sequence of courses introduces basic principles and topics of technique and then revisits these issues from increasingly expanded and sophisticated perspectives to keep pace with the growing clinical knowledge of the students. Topics covered over the course of the four years include the assessment of analyzability, conversion from psychotherapy, the analytic attitude and situation, transference, countertransference, resistance, interpretation and insight, reconstruction, dream interpretation, action and enactment, abstinence and neutrality, empathy, therapeutic alliance, use of medication, negative therapeutic reaction, impasses, stalemates and termination. An advanced course invites guest clinicians with different technical approaches (contemporary relational, self psychology, contemporary Kleinian, close process attention) to discuss their technique in relation to clinical material (105: Assessment and Basic Concepts, 106: Basic Concepts and Beginning Phase, 206: Basic Concepts and Middle Phase, 305: Problems in Later Phases and Termination, 403: Dreams in Clinical Practice, 407: Application of Psychoanalytic Technique).
Clinical Seminars:
Closely integrated with the track of courses on psychoanalytic technique are a set of courses involving the presentation of clinical material. Courses in the first year include presentation of the candidates’ clinical material from psychotherapy (104: Introduction to Analytic Listening), and a seminar on Psychoanalytic Case Development (110). The course on Assessment (105, above) also involves a direct clinical component, as candidates assess patients for analysis with individual supervision. Continuous Case Conferences run for the remaining three years of the curriculum and involve the presentation of both adult and child cases (205A, 303, 405). There is also a course in advanced Assessment of Analyzability, in which clinical material by invited graduates is presented (404), and a course on Ethics in Clinical Practice (304).
Psychopathology:
A set of three courses examines psychopathology from a modern psychoanalytic perspective. It includes the study of neurosis and character, borderline and paranoid states, and affects and affect pathology with a special focus on depression and anxiety disorders (306A: Neurosis, 306B: Borderline Conditions and Paranoia, 406: Affects and Affect Pathology).
Psychoanalytic Research:
A comprehensive course presents a critical examination of the principles of psychoanalytic research, methodology, and selected areas of current research, as well as a consideration of the place of psychoanalysis among the sciences (307: Empirical Approaches to Psychoanalytic Thinking). Additional courses involve The Study of Recorded Analyses (205B) and research approaches to integrating Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience (109).
Psychoanalytic Writing Sequence:
A four year sequence of courses will teach candidates to write about psychoanalytic process in a clear and evocative manner. The sequence progresses from the writing of brief vignettes in the first and second year, to the writing of a full case report in the upper level courses. The goal of this sequence of courses is to improve both writing skills and conceptualization of clinical events. This sequence will also include an orientation to writing initial impressions and six month summaries that are required for candidates’ supervised clinical cases.
POST FOURTH YEAR CURRICULUM
All fifth year students will be required to attend the monthly Intake Committee of the Treatment Center and to complete one intake of a prospective Treatment Center patient. All sixth year students will be required to attend the monthly Affiliated Staff Conference at which psychoanalytic treatments are presented and discussed by graduate members of the Institute.
In the event that a candidate is eligible for graduation during their fifth or sixth year, these requirements will be automatically suspended. Candidates are also eligible to take electives offered by the Columbia and NYU psychoanalytic training programs, if they wish to do so.
