Personal Analysis: Candidates are required to complete 300 hours of personal analysis at a minimum of three sessions per week. This analysis must begin prior to initiating work with a clinic patient, and it must be concurrent with at least one year of the treatment of a clinic patient. The candidate’s training analyst must have had, at the commencement of the candidate’s analysis, five years of experience following graduation from an analytic training program. Moderate-cost psychoanalysis is made available to students by many members of the faculty. For further information regarding moderate-cost analysis, candidates may speak with the program director, Dr. Lewis Aron.
Curriculum: Candidates must satisfactorily complete 36 points of course work, chosen with the guidance of faculty from among the program’s diverse areas of study. Enrollment in a minimum of 2 points per semester is required. The program begins with a course covering the major psychoanalytic orientations, an introduction to clinical psychoanalysis, and principles of ethics. The central thrust of the program is to afford candidates the opportunity to study with faculty representing major orientations in psychoanalytic theory and practice. Students are therefore encouraged to take courses reflecting differing points of view and to work with supervisors who have diverse theoretical approaches. However, since some individuals apply to the program so that they may work within one orientation, the program provides several options. The student may select a systematic course of study in a modern Freudian, an interpersonal, or a relational orientation. Alternatively, the student may choose to combine courses from the three orientations, as well as courses not aligned with any particular one (independent). The curriculum thus fosters an intellectual community in which theoretical diversity may thrive and a rigorous comparative psychoanalysis is encouraged.
Contemporary Freudian Area of Study: This curriculum encompasses the fundamental discoveries of Sigmund Freud and the diversity of viewpoints in theory and technique that characterizes Freudian psychoanalysis as it is practiced today. This diversity arises both from the proliferation of ideas within ego psychology and from the increasing influence of studies of child development, of self psychology, and of theories of the self in relationship to the object world. The program is such that one can take Contemporary Freudian training in any desired proportion in relation to the overall postdoctoral program. Candidates are welcome to contact the chair of the faculty in the Contemporary Freudian area of study, Dr. Stephen Solow (spsolow@aol.com), or the chair of the track’s Faculty and Curriculum Committee, Dr. Gil Katz (gilkatz46@gmail.com) to discuss individual questions and planning.
Interpersonal-Humanistic Area of Study: Interpersonal theory rests upon a broad framework of implicit and explicit premises that departed from the psychoanalysis of its day and that continues to offer a rich contribution to the current psychoanalytic movement. Central to interpersonal analysis is the direct engagement of analyst and patient in their actual and immediate experience of each other. In this way, the uniqueness of each patient, each therapist, and each analytic dyad is emphasized. Interpersonal theory posits a variety of influences that produce diverse and individualizing effects upon the person. Great importance is placed on understanding an individual’s developmental trajectory and character formation through detailed exploration of interpersonal interactions embedded within an individual’s social and cultural context. Candidates are welcome to contact the co-chairs of the interpersonal area of study, Dr. Bruce Grellong (bagrellong@gmail.com) and Dr. Al Atkins (alatkinsny@gmail.com), to discuss individual questions and planning.
Relational Area of Study: Relational psychoanalysis focuses attention on processes of mutual influence in development and treatment. We assume that relationships, including the analytic one, are shaped by both individuals in a process that is neither one sided nor linear. In this and other ways Relational theorizing profoundly alters the analyst’s thinking about clinical work. We offer courses that study the roots of Relational thinking within the British school of object relations, American interpersonal psychoanalysis, self psychology, and currents within Freudian ego psychology. While some of our courses are primarily theoretical in emphasis and others mainly clinical, all of them address developments and controversies in clinical technique. Candidates are welcome to contact the chairs of the track, Dr. Velleda Ceccoli (velledaceccoli@mac.com) and Dr. Larry Zelnick (lzelnick@mac.com), to discuss individual questions and planning.
Independent Area of Study: This curriculum offers courses that promote the process of contrasting and comparing the various orientations in the program as a whole or that address crucial psychoanalytic issues not covered by other curricula. The track comprises a group of faculty, graduates, and candidates with diverse theoretical orientations to which independent candidates can belong regardless of their evolving psychoanalytic orientations. Candidates are welcome to contact the chairs of the faculty in the independent area of study, Dr. Jill Gentile (jillgentile3@gmail.com) or Dr. Steven Botticelli (srb224@nyu.edu) , to discuss individual questions and planning.
Clinical Requirements: The candidate is required to conduct psychoanalysis for 400 hours under the supervision of the Postdoctoral Clinic. The candidate is expected to work with at least three clinical supervisors, for a minimum total of 160 hours; each supervisor must be seen for at least 40 hours. Candidates are to begin work with a clinic patient by the beginning of their second year in the program, and they are to continue clinic work until the requirement of work with two patients at 200 hours each is met. In performing the clinic requirement, students are expected to follow all guidelines outlined in the Postdoctoral Clinic’s policy and procedures manual, which is updated regularly. Students write progress reports on their clinic patients toward the end of each academic year.