A training analysis is a

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

undergone by a candidate (perhaps a physician with specialty in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

or a psychologist) as a part of her/his training to be a

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...

; the (senior) psychoanalyst who performs such an analysis is called a training analyst. For most of the psychoanalytical societies, a training analysis is different both from a psychoanalysis performed for the "therapeutic treatment of a patient" and from

psychoanalytic psychotherapy PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...

History

The pioneers of psychoanalysis did not have training analyses - of the inner circle around Freud,

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

said jokingly that the first training analysis was a series of walks taken by

Max Eitingon Max Eitingon (26 June 1881 – 30 July 1943) was a Litvak-German medical doctor and psychoanalyst, instrumental in establishing the institutional parameters of psychoanalytic education and training.Sidney L. Pomer, 'Max Eitingon (1881-1943): The ...

with Freud around the streets of Vienna! Freud himself credited the Zurich school around

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

with first raising the question of an analysis for budding psychoanalysts, but it was only after World War I that the

Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute The Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute (later the Göring Institute) was founded in 1920 to further the science of psychoanalysis in Berlin. Its founding members included Karl Abraham and Max Eitingon. The scientists at the institute furthered Sigmun ...

led the way in mandating a training analysis of a year at least: half a century later, it would not be unusual to spend fifteen years in (a double) training analysis. The principle of an obligatory training analysis was formalized by the IPA in 1922, a strong lead being given in this by

Sándor Ferenczi Sándor Ferenczi (7 July 1873 – 22 May 1933) was a Hungarian psychoanalyst, a key theorist of the psychoanalytic school and a close associate of Sigmund Freud. Biography Born Sándor Fränkel to Baruch Fränkel and Rosa Eibenschütz, bo ...

Controversies

Many of the controversies that would subsequently plague psychoanalysis came to centre on the question of the training analysis.

Freud/Klein

The

controversial discussions The controversial discussions were a protracted series of meetings of the British Psychoanalytical Society which took place between October 1942 and February 1944 between the Viennese school and the supporters of Melanie Klein. They led to a tripar ...

within British psychoanalysis swiftly came to focus on the question of analytic training. They were only resolved by setting up separate training programmes within the same psychoanalytic society.

Lacan

Lacan always maintained that "the aim of my teaching has been and is still the training of analysts"; and it was on this point that the controversies around him repeatedly focused. Early criticism for shortening the length of training analyses, and exploiting the

transference Transference (german: Übertragung) is a phenomenon within psychotherapy in which the "feelings, attitudes, or desires" a person had about one thing are subconsciously projected onto the here-and-now Other. It usually concerns feelings from a ...

to build up a personal following, blossomed in the demand by the IPA that his teaching "is to be regarded as null and void as far as any qualification to the title of psycho-analyst is concerned". The issue would reappear within his independent organisation, however, leading to a further (third) split in French psychoanalysis.

Analyst-in-training

A training analysis is also different from psychoanalysis performed ''by'' the psychoanalyst-in-training on a patient and supervised by a supervising analyst. A candidate in training typically analyzes a number of patients, each for three or four years. In the USA, the latter analysis may be offered to the public as "low fee analysis" in the various psychoanalytic institutes affiliated with the

American Psychoanalytic Association The American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) is an association of psychoanalysts in the United States. APsaA serves as a scientific and professional organization with a focus on education, research, and membership development. APsaA comprises ...

Criticism

Criticism of the training analysis in its latterday, developed form continues to materialize. Adam Phillips quipped that "Psychoanalytic training became a symptom from which a lot of people never recovered"; Juliet Mitchell considered that it fossilised and froze the analysand in an identification with the analyst.Jacqueline Rose, ''On Not Being Able to Sleep'' (2003) p. 171 Based on Lacan's criticism and its developments in France within

Paris Psychoanalytic Society The Paris Psychoanalytical Society (SPP) is the oldest psychoanalytical organisation in France. Founded with Freud’s endorsement in 1926, the S.P.P. is a component member of the International Psychoanalytical Association (I.P.A.) as well as of t ...

and French Psychoanalytical Association, the

International Psychoanalytic Association The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, from an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi. His ...

included new training models, like the French and the Uruguayan models, added to the traditional Eitingon model of the "Training analysis" (introduced by

in the early twenties). The French model, making no distinction between training analysis and therapeutic analysis, is a model in which the personal psychoanalysis is mostly independent from the institututional application of the candidate, and therefore takes place prior to the institutional training. The training in

shows a typical example of this model.

Notes

References

*{{Citation, last=Rycroft, first=Charles, authorlink=Charles Rycroft, title=A critical dictionary of psychoanalysis, 2nd edition, year=1995, publisher=London: Penguin Books. Pp. xxx, 214, isbn=0-14-051310-8

External links

Training of the Psychoanalyst

Training Analysis
Psychoanalysis by type