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About Psychoanalysis
Most people encounter psychoanalysis as a cultural reference — Freud, dream interpretation, the couch. Few know it as what it also is: a clinical discipline with formal training requirements, credentialing bodies, peer-reviewed research, and professional organizations operating at the national and international levels. This page is an introduction to that side of it.
117
IPA member societies worldwide
38
APsA approved training institutes in the US
9
Active peer-reviewed journals
A Method, a Theory, a History
Psychoanalysis is one of the most developed theories of mind and methods of treatment in existence. It originated with Freud in Vienna at the turn of the twentieth century, but the field has evolved substantially since then — shaped by generations of clinicians and theorists working in Europe, North America, Latin America, and beyond. Contemporary psychoanalysis is pluralistic: there are several major theoretical schools (contemporary Kleinian, ego psychology, object relations, self psychology, relational, Lacanian, and others), each with its own clinical emphases and intellectual lineage, all in active conversation with one another.
What unites these traditions is a commitment to working with the mind at depth — to understanding unconscious processes, the way early experience shapes character and symptom, and the way these patterns surface and can be worked through in the analytic relationship. The method is practiced across cultures and clinical contexts, adapted over a century of use and refined through ongoing clinical and empirical research.
Training and Certification
Becoming a psychoanalyst is a substantial undertaking — considerably more demanding than most postdoctoral clinical training. Candidates typically hold a doctoral degree in psychology, psychiatry, or social work before entering a formal analytic training program. Training then includes:
- A personal psychoanalysis (typically several hundred hours, conducted at analytic frequency)
- Supervised clinical cases, each conducted under ongoing consultation with a senior analyst
- Coursework in theory, technique, and the history of the field
- A written case presentation evaluated by a credentialing committee
In the United States, training standards are set and enforced by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA), which is itself affiliated with the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) — the global governing body for psychoanalytic training, with member societies in over 50 countries. There are currently 38 APsA-approved training institutes across the US.
Peer-Reviewed Journals
Psychoanalysis is an active research and publishing field. Nine peer-reviewed journals are currently in circulation, covering clinical case material, theoretical developments, and empirical research:
- The Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis
- Free Associations
- International Forum of Psychoanalysis
- The International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
- The International Journal of Psychoanalysis
- Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JAPA)
- Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China
- Psychoanalysis, Self and Context
- Psychoanalytic Perspectives
Professional Organizations
The following organizations govern training standards, support ongoing research, and provide resources for clinicians and the public:
- International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) — the global governing body, with 117 member societies worldwide
- American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA) — the primary US organization; sets training and credentialing standards
- APA Division 39 — Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology — the psychoanalytic division of the American Psychological Association