Psychoanalytic Training

This program is for the student to become a psychoanalyst. Many who are interested in psychoanalytic training are psychotherapists seeking ways to deepen and expand their work with others and themselves. Others are researchers or scholars from other disciplines who are looking to psychoanalytic training to increase their effectiveness in their own field. Psychoanalytic training can provide important tools: an ability to recognize and work in depth with unconscious intrapsychic and interactional phenomena; a surer grasp of transference and countertransference; an ability to use therapeutic empathic capacities and other aspects of oneself more effectively; and a greater and more precise array of theoretical understandings and technique. Applicants often are also seeking the intellectual stimulation, emotional profundity, and immersion in relational and humanistic values that such training provides.

Psychoanalytic training is comprised of three inter-related processes: (1) a personal analysis with a training analyst, (2) clinical experience, consisting of supervised analyses and case presentations and, (3) theoretical and clinical course work. The goal of psychoanalytic training is to integrate these three processes to foster the candidate’s psychological understanding and sensitivity and the candidate’s mastery over the theory and technique of psychoanalysis.

Personal Analysis
The personal analysis is the foundation upon which psychoanalytic knowledge and understanding is built. It is conducted, at a frequency of at least four times a week, by a training analyst so designated by the Institute. The objective of this analysis is to enable the candidate to appreciate and understand his or her own unconscious, thereby facilitating the candidate’s capacity to conduct useful therapeutic work. The continuous pursuit toward self-understanding and the capacity to use one’s own unconscious as a tool in the analysis of another are essential to understand and treat psychoanalytic patients.

The training analysis is a dynamic process determined by the needs of the individual. Therefore, its duration cannot be easily determined. It is, however, expected that the training analysis be in progress during a significant part of the candidate’s experience in analyzing his or her first two cases. A training analysis must be under way before matriculation.

Theoretical and Clinical Courses
Psychoanalysis is a rich, complex, and evolving field. The Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute attracts candidates with a variety of backgrounds and interests in psychoanalysis as a clinical and intellectual pursuit. The curriculum of the Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program provides candidates with a thorough familiarity with psychoanalytic theories of motivation, development, and technique. The goal of psychoanalytic education is to facilitate lively, active, and creative discussion among candidates and faculty about the history, conduct, and controversies of psychoanalysis. At the end of their training, candidates should be knowledgeable about fundamental psychoanalytic ideas, be able to think about them critically, and be able to apply them in their own clinical work.

Shown below is the four-year curriculum for training in Adult Psychoanalysis. The curriculum is evaluated and reviewed by Candidates, Faculty, and the Curriculum & Faculty Committee on an on-going basis, and may undergo changes year to year. Classes begin in September and are held on Friday afternoon and early evening.

1st Year Seminars
Introduction to Psychoanalysis
Selection of Patients, Conversion from Psychotherapy, & Opening Phase
Resistance, Transference, & Psychoanalytic Process
Human Development I (Infancy & Childhood)
Dream Theory
Interpretation & Other Interventions
Symptom Disorders
Instincts, Affects, & Emotions

2nd Year Seminars
Human Development II (Puberty & Adolescence)
Clinical Use of Dreams
Character & Character Neuroses
Ego Psychology
Moral & Superego Functions
Borderline Personality Disorders
Child Psychoanalysis I (Psychopathology)
Gender Issues

3rd Year Seminars
Child Psychoanalysis II (Techniques)
Sexual Perversions (Neosexualities)
Object Relations Theory
Countertransference
Human Development III (Adult Development through Maturity & Aging)
Self Psychology
Narcissistic Character Pathology

4th Year Seminars
Psychoanalysis & Neuroscience
Psychopathology of Trauma
Empirical Issues in Psychoanalysis
Psychosomatic Disorders
Contemporary Theories in Psychoanalysis
Criteria & Process of Termination
Conceptualizing the Psychoanalytic Process
American Postmodernist Theory

Clinical Experience
The clinical experience required for training presupposes a knowledge and experience in the areas of diagnosis, psychopathology, psychodynamics, developmental theory, psychoanalytic history, and patient experience. To foster the development of clinical skills, the curriculum is designed to integrate theoretical coursework with direct practice. Candidates should begin to analyze their first case as soon as they have developed a basic understanding of the psychoanalytic situation and of the technique of getting a psychoanalysis underway. Ordinarily, this will be before the end of the first year of classes.

Candidates who are members of the Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program must analyze a minimum of three adult cases under supervision. In certain situations, additional cases may be required. Each supervised case is seen four to five times weekly and, to be considered for credit, each must be carried for at least two years and show evidence of a psychoanalytic process. To graduate from the Institute, one adult case must be supervised through to an acceptable analytic termination. Supervision of each of the first two cases begins at a frequency of one hour per week, decreasing to less frequent consultation as the candidate’s ability to analyze increases. A minimum of 150 hours of supervision, divided among at least three different supervisors, is required.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS & PROCEDURES
The Institute welcomes applications from psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and other qualified mental health clinicians. Individuals who do not fully meet the standard criteria may also be considered. The Institute is required to obtain waivers of the standard eligibility requirements for such applicants.

An application form may be obtained from the administrative office of the Institute or downloaded by clicking here. Following submission of the written application, which includes an autobiography, each applicant is interviewed to determine suitability. Evaluation of aptitude for psychoanalytic work is a process which continues throughout training.

Appropriate professional licenses and malpractice insurance are required for matriculation.

ACADEMIC CANDIDATE
The Academic Candidate Program is open to scholars, researchers, academics, and others from various fields who seek education in psychoanalysis in order to enhance work in their respective discipline(s). Individuals will participate in the didactic training program including courses in development, psychopathology, theory, ethics, etc., and exposure to clinical material. We welcome the opportunity for interdisciplinary discourse which such students may facilitate. Mental health education and clinical experience are not required for admission.

An application form to become an Academic Candidate can be downloaded by clicking here.