To earn the Certificate in Psychoanalysis and graduate from PINC, a candidate must complete all required courses, satisfy the requirement for a personal analysis, fulfill the requirements for a minimum of three supervised analyses, including case write-ups and a presentation to a panel, and present a graduation paper to the community. Determination of the fulfillment of these criteria is made by the Progressions Committee.
To earn the PsyD, a candidate must complete four additional courses on research approaches and write a dissertation in collaboration with a dissertation committee and in accordance with doctoral requirements. An oral defense of the dissertation concludes the doctoral training.
Personal Analysis
Candidates are expected to engage in a personal psychoanalysis concurrent with their training. Candidates may choose their own analyst, subject to approval by the Credentials Committee. Minimum qualifications for the analyst include graduation from a bona fide psychoanalytic institute or its equivalent, current practice in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, conformance with ethical, moral, and clinical standards of the community, and practice consistent with the core clinical and academic perspectives of the Institute.
A minimum of 450 hours/four sessions per week on the couch is necessary to fulfill this requirement. It is expected that the analysis will be as thorough as possible. We believe that confidentiality is essential for successful psychoanalysis. Consequently, the analyst will verify only that the candidate is in analysis and that the minimum hour requirement has been fulfilled. No other information will be transmitted to the Progressions Committee.
- A candidate should commence his/her personal analysis before, or as soon after as possible, the beginning of course work. The Credentials Committee will verify in writing that the candidate is in an approved analysis.
- A candidate must have been in analysis for at least two quarters before they can begin a control case.
- The Credentials Committee will inform the Progressions Committee in writing when the candidate has completed the requirement for a personal analysis.
Supervised Analysis (Control Cases)
Clinical psychoanalysis can only be learned by practice under careful supervision. The supervised analyses are the most important learning and evaluative experiences of each candidate's education. Three supervised analyses are the minimum requirement for graduation. Two of these analyses must be conducted at a frequency of at least four sessions per week, primarily on the couch, with weekly supervision for two years by supervising analysts who are recognized by PINC as being sufficiently experienced and competent to supervise an adult psychoanalysis. The third analysis must be conducted at a frequency of at least three times per week, on the couch or face-to-face, with a minimum of fifty hours of regularly scheduled supervision by a supervising analyst approved by PINC. The Institute also maintains a good faith requirement that candidates receive supervision at some point through all phases of one of these control analyses, including termination. The Progressions Committee may also require additional cases for a candidate, when necessary.
At PINC, any patient able to benefit from psychoanalysis is acceptable as a control case. Whether a potential patient may or may not benefit from psychoanalysis is determined by the candidate, in consultation with his or her supervisor, as are many of the other facets of each control analysis.
Control Case Conferences
Control case conferences are an integral part of PINC's training program. The integration and application of theory and technique is examined through the presentation and discussion of case material. Case conferences are led by analysts representing a range of theoretical orientations and are taught with a view towards comparative psychoanalysis. Analysands diverse in age, sexual orientation, and ethnicity, and who are confronting a variety of psychological issues, are typically presented in PINC's case conferences.