The SPSI psychoanalytic education and clinical training program is the only training program in the Pacific Northwest accredited by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Our program fosters the development of clinical expertise, scholarly achievement, and personal growth. The program utilizes the traditional three-part approach to psychoanalytic education; a personal “training” psychoanalysis, didactic courses and case conferences, and work with psychoanalytic cases conducted in consultation with an approved consulting analyst. These three elements reinforce each other to provide a comprehensive, multi-dimensional educational experience.
Personal Psychoanalysis
The Training Analysis is the foundation for becoming an effective psychoanalyst. Students develop their capacity for self-observation, self-reflection, and free themselves as much as possible from neurotic conflicts and personality problems which might interfere with treatment of psychoanalytic patients.
Our program draws on the contributions of the major schools of psychoanalysis.
Didactic Curriculum
Our program draws on the contributions of the major schools of psychoanalysis.
The classroom portion of the program consists of four or more years of seminars and case conferences and is designed to be integrated with ongoing training analysis and clinical work conducted with consultation. This enables the student to understand the empirical basis of psychoanalytic theory and to develop skill in putting the material into practice.
Classes meet on Fridays during the academic year for three 90-minute seminars in the areas of Theory, Human Development, Psychoanalytic Process, Psychopathology, and continuous case conferences, elective courses, tutorials, and independent study.
Learning the Practice of Psychoanalysis
At the end of the first trimester of the first year in the program, Candidates become eligible to conduct psychoanalysis monitored by an approved consulting analyst.*
Each Candidate is required to treat a minimum of three psychoanalytic training cases which must include patients of both genders. Candidates who are also in the Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Program may elect to treat a child or adolescent as one of the required three training cases.
*All arrangements for consultation, including fees, are made between the consulting analyst and trainee.