OUR HISTORY

While our name may be new the Institute has a history dating back to 2003 when it was first incorporated as the Institute for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, a nonprofit training program. It was originally set out to train psychotherapists in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and began its first class in the fall of 2003. The program was designed as a two-year clinical program covering contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Since that beginning the Institute has graduated three classes and is midway in the training program for its fourth class.

The thinking behind the Institute's program was to provide a contemporary model for doing psychoanalytic psychotherapy. It was thought this would distinguish the Institute from other programs and would, in essence,  be its unique contribution to the field. Our concept of contemporary meant relating to the development in the field over the last 30 to 40 years.

The philosophy or theory behind the programming related to the question how does personality develop, where does a person get their view of the world, how does he/she form their attitudes towards themselves and toward others. We wanted to examine how expectations affect the development of the person and their relationships to others.

As a new program we were quite fortunate to have as part of our Core Faculty, Drs. Alan Sroufe and June Sroufe. Alan had been conducting some very difficult longitudinal research for 30+ years as he examined the development of the person and addressed the questions we had ourselves raised about this very same concept. His work meshed with much of the research on attachment in general and attachment’s impact on the development of the person. We realized that both Alan's research and that of other attachment experts was so robust that it gave us many of the answers to our questions regarding this development. June was not only a therapist utilizing these concepts but was also trained in the Adult Attachment Inventory and well versed in assisting in the training of psychotherapists in understanding attachment and its development.

It was so clear to us at the time that the development of the person was derived from his/her experiences in their relationships. Wanting to remain congruent, we chose to follow a theory of normal development that helps us to also understand abnormal or pathological development and then have that lead us to an understanding of how to intervene therapeutically. We therefore selected relational approaches to doing the psychotherapy based on our understanding of how the person had developed. We sought and we seek to teach students how to best use themselves in providing psychotherapy. We hope they will be confident in their assessment and understanding of how the person came to be who they are at the moment they present for treatment and yet remain humble in their understanding of how that development took place, how difficult it can be to change  and how they can be of help to the individual.

From the beginning the input from students was sought and strongly encouraged. Following the graduation with the first class, they  strongly requested additional training and wanted to continue their study. With this in mind, the Institute established its first Study Group. It was modeled on the program that the students had completed, met once a month and examined current literature and sought to apply it to the individual’s clinical work. To further gather input from the students, periodic retreats were held where students were encouraged to brainstorm how they would like the Institute constructed and how they wanted the  work to be  carried forward.

One of the significant requests was for a full-fledged training program that would lead to a Certificate in Psychoanalysis. That program has now been initiated and will start its first class this very fall. The Institute will continue its training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy as well as its new program in Psychoanalysis

The Institute now has offerings for training at many levels. They are the following:
Beginning or Initial Study Groups for individuals who have not yet completed the two-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program or are waiting to enter that program.

          Advanced Study Group for those who have graduated from the two-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program and wish to continue their studies.

          The two-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program.

          The Program in Psychoanalysis        .

          Individual and small group supervision in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

          Conferences led by national figures in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In the seven years the Institute has been in existence it has sponsored or cosponsored five such conferences. Another is planned for this fall in late October.