Our training is made up of three components: a personal training analysis, a series of theoretical and clinical seminars, and the supervised psychoanalysis of two patients.
These three elements are essential to becoming an analyst, and they make for a comprehensive and inspiring training experience. While training with us you will also be able to use the excellent Institute library, and gain full access to PEP-WEB, an online resource for psychoanalytic journal articles, papers and publications.
Our training does not have a fixed length; some candidates complete their training in four years (the minimum time it takes to finish all components), while others take significantly longer. We are flexible concerning time because most people carry out their training while also working, looking after a family, or both. Because we know that financial and family demands are a very important factor for many people, the majority of our seminars take place in the evenings, allowing busy candidates to fit them around other commitments. There are also some weekend seminars.
Your training will be overseen by the Student Progress Committee (SPC), a sub-Committee of the Education Committee of the Institute of Psychoanalysis. The SPC will pair you with a Progress Advisor, to help and advise you in all aspects of your training. You and your Progress Advisor will receive regular reports on your progress from the theoretical and clinical seminar leaders, as well as from the supervising analysts in your ongoing analytic cases.
Listen to a selection of trainees from our current intake talking about their favourite aspects of the training.
And here you can hear them talk about the biggest challenges they've encountered.