Training

ICP’s Psychoanalytic Program offers three tracks:

1) Standard Institute Track
The Standard Institute track is for applicants who are licensed or are eligible for licensure. This track requires candidates to carry a minimum of 6 ICP clinic referred patients during each year of training.

2) Combined Institute and Outside Caseload Track (4+2 track)
The requirements for this track have changed as of September 2019. This track is for applicants who are licensed or are eligible for licensure. The track allows candidates to carry a caseload comprised of a maximum of 2 private or agency based patients along with a minimum of 4 ICP clinic referred patients during each year of training.
(Note: Candidates choosing this track must obtain approval for each agency or private patient. Only licensed candidates can carry private patients as part of their caseload.)

3) Qualifying Program for the License in Psychoanalysis (LP track)

a. The Qualifying Program for the License in Psychoanalysis track that leads towards becoming a New York State Licensed Psychoanalyst is for applicants with a graduate degree that can be outside the field of mental health. This track requires candidates to carry a minimum of 6 ICP clinic referred patients each year of training.

b. There are differences in requirements for LP candidates that ensure they meet the NYS requirements (see link below.)

c. Successful completion of the training program qualifies LP graduates to sit for the New York State Licensed Psychoanalyst examination, which permits LP graduates to practice psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Please refer to the New York State Department of Education, Office of the Professions website for further information.

All Candidates are required to see one analytic control case 3 or more times per week for two years (240 sessions). For licensed candidates in the 4+2 track, the control case can be chosen from the candidate’s private practice, with supervisory approval that the case is appropriate.

The Psychoanalytic Training Program is a four-year program of study consisting of three 10-week trimesters during each consecutive year. Classes meet every Wednesday from 12:00 – 5:45pm.

The curriculum is designed to begin with basic areas of learning and progress to more complex and varied aspects of theory and clinical practice including clinical application of theoretical perspectives and current trends in psychoanalysis. Issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class and ability are attended to in individual classes.

Three kinds of courses are offered:

• The theoretical courses cover a range of perspectives, beginning with a historical and contemporary review of Freudian theory, followed by course concentrations on object relations, self-psychology, interpersonal, and relational perspectives.
• The clinical courses focus on the understanding of the psychoanalytic and psychotherapy relationship, and to developing the candidate’s clinical skills.
• Case seminars are also offered one or more times a year to augment the theoretical and practicum level coursework.

First Year

First trimester:

-BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOANALYSIS (A Roberts)
This course conceptualizes the therapeutic process in the context of changing perspectives about the therapeutic relationship and orients the candidate to the rich curriculum to follow. Clinical issues a candidate will face in the beginning of treatment with patients will be discussed, for example how to promote an atmosphere of safety. Basic definitions central to psychoanalysis will be examined including transference, countertransference, mutuality, the analytic stance and the working alliance, among other concepts.

-CASE SEMINAR: Initial Phase of Treatment (L Rosenberg)
Drawing on case presentations, this course concentrates on initial sessions and the early phase of treatment. Particular emphasis is placed on how to develop a therapeutic relationship and safe environment in which a patient can develop curiosity and reflection. An important corollary focus will be the analyst’s use of self in understanding and engaging patients.

-DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON I (A Cianci)
This course focuses on the psychoanalytic study of the infant. Discussions will cover the following topics: constitution and endowment, early phases of ego development, maternal deprivation and its consequences and developments in infant research. The course will survey the work of early theorists such as Bowlby, Winnicott, Klein, Mahler and A. Freud as well as provide selected readings from Beebe, Fonagy, D.N. Stern, Lyons-Ruth and Tronick.

Second trimester:

-FREUD I (E Mandelbaum)
This course focuses on the invention of psychoanalysis through the study of Freud’s seminal clinical and theoretical writings from 1895-1912. Theoretical issues include Freud’s conceptions of unconscious process, the meanings of symptoms and dreams and his early essays on sexuality. Clinical focus is on the establishment of a psychoanalytic frame, early experiments’ in technique, and the discovery of transference and resistance.

-RELATIONSHIPS AND ASSESSMENT (L Lyons)
This course looks at assessment in the context of the psychoanalytic relationship, mainly using a relational perspective. Discussion will focus on the nature of specific character structures, relational patterns and modes of communcation seen in the treatment room. The course will consider theory and clinical interventions within the transference / countertransference matrix. Readings will include Ogden, Davies, Bromberg, Guntrip, Bollas, Harris and Mitchell.

-CASE SEMINAR: Therapeutic Action (A Sirote)
This seminar will address the nature of therapeutic action, the process that brings forth mutative changes in analysis. Candidates will be encouraged to present their work, as the instructor facilitates discussion of common dilemmas and challenges that psychoanalysts face in the treatment room.

Third trimester:

-FREUD II (J Eger)
This course focuses on Freud’s later writings, after 1915. Topics include the structural model of the psyche, the revised theories of instinct and anxiety and the beginnings of Ego Psychology. In addition to clarification of theoretical concepts, the aim will be to see what clinical material led to these re-formulations and, in turn, how these re-formulations affected the analytic setting and treatment.

-LISTENING PERSPECTIVES (K Hall)
Different theoretical orientations to psychoanalytic listening will be discussed, with clinical examples of listening for affects, transference, dissociation, symbolization, and reflectiveness. The course also will attend to the patient’s relationship to the frame, use of associations and metaphors, empathy and the capacity for self-regulation in the context of the candidate’s listening and countertransferential reactions.

-DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON II (P Clough)
Following Development 1, this course explores the child in the latency/post-oedipal years. The relationship of psychoanalytic theory and development theory, their differences and intersections, are explored as we study the psychic formation of the child in the context of the interpersonal dynamics of childhood. The social and cultural conditions of the child’s overall development are considered while taking into account the changing configurations of family, sexuality, gender, class and race. The course focuses both on theory and clinical examples.

 

Second Year

First trimester:

-SELF PSYCHOLOGY I (G Powell)
This seminar will introduce the theories of self psychology from its origin as a framework to understand and treat narcissistic personality disorders through its evolution into a more generalized psychology of the self. Emphasis is on the unique contributions self psychology makes in regard to how to listen, understand, and respond to patients. Concepts in self psychology will be contrasted with classical and other theories. Later expansions of Kohut’s ideas will also be read and discussed.

-INTRODUCTION TO OBJECT RELATIONS (G Jacobson)
This course will introduce object relations theory as a framework for understanding internal psychic structure based on attachment as the primary need for the infant. Case examples from the instructor and candidates will illustrate how to apply object relations theory in the treatment room. Important British theorists who developed this perspective will be studied including Klein, Fairbairn, Winnicott, M. Balint, Guntrip and Bion.

-CASE SEMINAR: On the Nature of Therapeutic Action (J Stoeri)
This seminar will focus on fundamental questions such as: How does change happen in psychoanalysis? What are the respective roles of, for example, interpretation, insight, reconstruction, enactment, or the analyst’s containing function? How important is the non-verbal spectrum of the communicative field? Does therapeutic progress require emotional growth on the part of the analyst? Case examples presented by the instructor and candidates will be discussed along with related readings.

Second trimester:

-WINNICOTT (T Rini)
This course explores Winnicott’s major theoretical contributions, tracing his differences with the early work of Freud and Klein to examining his theory’s implications for contemporary clinical practice. Writings by contemporary analysts who were influenced by the Independent group of British Object Relations theory are also discussed. Close reading of his original text, looking at his predecessors’ work through a Winnicottian lens, and presented clinical cases illustrate his theory and its application in contemporary psychoanalytic practice.

-SELF PSYCHOLOGY II: The Relational Turn (H Ferguson)
This course, a continuation of Self Psychology 1, will introduce Stolorow and Atwood’s intersubjective systems theory, that demonstrate the connection between self psychology and relational theory. Through readings and discussions, the course will explore contemporary expressions and applications of Kohut’s original ideas.

-HARRY STACK SULLIVAN AND THE INTERPERSONAL TRADITION (S Zicht)
This course introduces some of Sullivan’s critical ideas e.g. participant-observation, self system, selective inattention, detailed inquiry, and places them in historical, social, and personal context. Readings both by and about Sullivan are incorporated.

Third trimester:

-DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSON III: Psychoanalytic Theory of Adolescent Development (S O’Kuhn)
This course explores the adolescent stage of development through readings and clinical presentations. By following the stages of development addressed in the literature, a framework is provided to understand this significant transitional time in one’s life and the complex challenges that present to families, the wider world and culture.

-TRANSFERENCE/COUNTERTRANSFERENCE (M Shubin)
This course examines multiple perspectives on transference and countertransference from Freud’s early writings to contemporary psychoanalytic thinking. Emphasis is on the integration of theory and clinical practice to help the candidate understand how transferential and countertransferential issues impact on the therapeutic relationship.

-BORDERLINE/NARCISSISM/ENVY (L Charlap)
In this class, focus is on the role and manifestation of envy in primitive mental states, specifically borderline and narcissistic pathologies. Theoretical perspectives about envy, beginning with Klein, are explored. Emphasis is on understanding the ways envy presents in the treatment room and assessing how to best intervene by paying close attention to the mental state of the patient.

 

Third Year

First trimester:

-CONTEMPORARY INTERPERSONAL PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVES (S Spitz)
Exploring selected papers that embody a contemporary interpersonal perspective approach to treatment, this course focuses on the theoretical lineage of interpersonal psychoanalysis developed after Sullivan. Consideration is given to how autobiographical experience shapes the theories and inclinations of the interpersonal traditions. Points of departure and points of overlap between relational psychoanalysis and Interpersonal psychoanalysis are also examined.

-OBJECT RELATIONS II (E Corrigan)
This class focuses on the work of Winnicott, Khan, Bollas and Phillips. Winnicott’s ideas about the early organization of experience are studied to understand the importance of the transitional object and transitional phenomena. Emphasis is placed on how breakdown in the early holding environment interferes with a child’s capacity for play and imaginative living, resulting in pathological outcomes such as masochism, perversion and intellectual defense. Focus also includes exploration of therapeutic strategies that can help the patient relinquish old patterns and restore a capacity for creative living.

-DREAMS (R Watson)
Drawing on readings in psychoanalytic dream theory from Freud to contemporary writers, this course focuses on the integration of dream work into analytic practice. Presentation of patients’ dreams will be discussed in terms of different theoretical perspectives, with the goal of fostering the candidate’s knowledge, comfort and confidence necessary to work creatively with dreams.

Second trimester:

-MELANIE KLEIN (I Attie)

-INTRODUCTION TO BION: On Primitive Mind and the Limits of Psychoanalytic Knowing (J Ogilvie)
Our focus will be on the development of Bion’s clinical thinking, from his earlier Kleinian papers to his later concern with “O” and the limits of psychoanalytic knowing. Our main text will be Attention and Interpretation, sections of which we will read together slowly. Bion brings us to places where the capacity to think and feel is in question. In reading Bion, we are brought into an immediate, “from the inside,” contact with forms of “primitive mind,” as manifested both in our patients’ distress and in our efforts to meet them.

-RELATIONAL TRENDS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS (TBA)
This course reviews the development of relational theory and the way this perspective took root in psychoanalytic thought and practice. Drawing on a wide range of relational thinkers, from Ferenczi to Bromberg, focus is on how the view of the analytic process has been, and continues to be, transformed. The instructor and candidates present patient material to illuminate the relational perspective.

Third trimester:

-TBA

-ENACTMENT (L Lipton)
This course looks at how enactment is defined and understood, particularly as an outgrowth of dissociation. Emphasis is on recognizing an enactment’s potential for therapeutic work. The related concept of impasse is also addressed, specifically focusing on what contributes to impasse and what helps to work it through. Clinical material from candidates is used to engage these ideas.

-TRAUMA (R Kaplan)

 

Fourth Year

First trimester:

-GENDER & SEXUALITY (D Sherman)
This course will focus on the ways sexuality is seen from various psychoanalytic theoretical perspectives. We will also study the emergence of the concepts of gender and gender identity in psychoanalysis as they have been shaped by Post-modernism, Feminism and Queer Theory.

-ADVANCED SEMINAR IN COUNTERTRANSFERENCE (A Bass)
This seminar is designed for advanced candidates’ study of countertransference in depth. The emphasis in the seminar will be clinical and experiential; at the same time we will consider clinical theories of technique as they inform countertransference use. Candidates will present process material from work with patients that is especially challenging, evoking strong countertransference responses in the analyst. Each presenter, along with the group, will consider the material under discussion from the point of view of the particular qualities of countertransference evoked, and how to best make use of these experiences in the therapeutic situation. Each candidate is expected to present some clinical material over the course of the seminar. Relevant readings will be assigned each week for discussion in the context of the case material being considered.

-SEMINAR: Practice & Theory (S Solow Glennon)
This course focuses on the development of candidates’ conceptual and writing skills. Each session is devoted to an in-depth discussion of one candidate’s case presentation, with suggestions for relevant theory. Following the class presentation, candidates write a 6-7 page paper which begins the process of writing a fourth year analytic case. The instructor meets individually with each candidate to further review the paper. Readings are assigned that pertain to the convergence of psychodynamics and theories of therapeutic action.

Second trimester:

-ADDICTIONS & COMPULSIONS (J Petrucelli/A Hart)
In this course the focus is on the examination of the difficulties in working with individuals with addictions and compulsions, with emphasis on the relational patterns that may contribute to or maintain the addictive or compulsive behavior. Exploration of transference/countertransference dilemmas will be highlighted, specifically related to the interplay between attending directly to the addiction or compulsion or disengaging from this interactional pull. Emphasis includes the importance of cultivating the patient’s curiosity about these patterns.

-WINNICOTT (T Rini)
This course explores Winnicott’s major theoretical contributions, tracing his differences with the early work of Freud and Klein to examining his theory’s implications for contemporary clinical practice. Writings by contemporary analysts who were influenced by the Independent group of British Object Relations theory are also discussed. Close reading of his original text, looking at his predecessors’ work through a Winnicottian lens, and presented clinical cases illustrate his theory and its application in contemporary psychoanalytic practice.

-AFFECT THEORY (H Levenkron)
This course in contemporary theories on affect focuses on the centrality of affect in psychoanalysis. Emphasis in on how the analyst can understand and work with affect in enactments, dissociative states, self and mutual regulation, reflectivity and, in particular, in the transformation of unprocessed affect states. Various perspectives about affect as a central component of our intersubjective experience are considered, including relational theory, Bionian field theory, systems theory, and neuropsychology. Clinical presentations are used to illustrate theoretical ideas.

Third trimester:

-TBA

-TERMINATION (A Schaffer)
How can analyst and patient co-create a growth-enhancing way of saying goodbye? After examining theoretical perspectives, both traditional and current, we will move to the tasks and challenges of termination in clinical practice. Topics to be covered include mourning and loss, attachment, cultural influences, transference and countertransference, multiple self-states and existential issues. In addition, candidates can learn from their own process as they terminate analytic training.

-SEMINAR: The Problem of Technique (R Loewus)
Readings drawn from conflicting visions of analytic technique raise questions regarding the definition of fundamental tenets of clinical theory, the technical hypotheses they generate, and the problems they raise. In class, transcripts of clinical process are analyzed in order to explore the controversies raised by each week’s readings and to gain perspectives into the fundamental problem of learning to conduct a psychoanalytic treatment.

Specific courses in the curriculum are eligible for Continuing Education credits for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, and licensed marriage and family therapists.

View our Roster of Faculty here.

In learning the art and practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, supervised clinical experience is at the core of training. The number of patients, the hours for a control case and the hours of required supervision, along with being in a two and three times a week personal analysis are all designed to maximize the candidate’s development as a psychoanalyst.

In assigning patients, the ICP Intake committee provides a diverse diagnostic caseload, taking into account the experience and training needs of each candidate.

In the beginning weeks of the first year of training, the Co-Chairs of the Intake Committee meet with the entering class. First year candidates are also encouraged to meet individually with the Intake Committee so that referrals can come with more personal knowledge about the candidate.

Individual and group supervision are integral components of the training program. Candidates can select from our roster of individual supervisors, who are all highly trained analysts. Candidates can review written statements describing each supervisor’s philosophy and orientation, and also can arrange preliminary meetings prior to selection.

Group supervision is part of the required curriculum schedule. Groups include candidates from each of the four years.

The following outlines the individual supervisory requirements for candidates:

• Candidates are required to be in twice weekly individual supervision throughout training for a total of 80 hours per year.
• In their 1st year, candidates see one supervisor twice weekly.
• During the remaining 3 years, candidates see two supervisors for one hour each, for a total of 80 hours of supervision for the year. LP candidates have a variation of this requirement. (For more information, see Graduation section).
• Candidates can opt to continue with a supervisor for a maximum of 80 hours (2 years).
• If a Candidate has more than 12 patients, a 3rd supervisor is required.

View our Roster of Supervisors here.

A personal psychoanalysis is central to a candidate’s development of self-awareness and analytic introspection. This experience is essential to the candidate’s clinical work with a 3 times weekly control case.

Once accepted to the program, the candidate may choose an analyst trained at ICP or another institute that meets ICP’s eligibility requirements. If the candidate is already in analysis, the candidate may continue with the analyst if eligible.

Candidates are required to be in 2 or 3 times weekly treatment throughout training. Three times per week analytic frequency is required while working with a control case. The minimum number of hours ICP requires for a candidate’s analysis is 240.

The candidate’s analyst is exempt from all administrative decisions regarding the candidate to ensure the ongoing work of the analysis.

Upon graduation, a certificate of completion of the training program will be awarded in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Board of Regents of the State of New York. The following are the requirements for graduation:

• All candidates must have accumulated a minimum of 950 patient hours.
• All candidates must have met the requirement for seeing a control case, 3 times weekly for two years (240 hours).
• All candidates will have completed the supervisory requirement of 80 hours during each year of training (320 total.)
• LP candidates will have completed the additional supervisory requirements needed by New York State. The LP Candidate will see one (non-control case) supervisor for a total of 100 hours and one (control) supervisor for a total of 50 hours. (New York State Department of Education, Office of the Professions website)
• Candidates will have attended all classes for 4 years, have successfully completed their Fourth Year Presentation and will have been in personal analysis in compliance with the requirements.

After graduation, there are many opportunities to remain affiliated with the psychoanalytic program and the ICP community. For those alumni who continue with ICP patients, low-cost supervision with any of our supervisors is available at the rate of $50 for the fifth year and $60 for the sixth year.

Alumni can continue to be members of The Society of ICP (SICP). SICP sponsors yearly weekend conferences that offer stimulating workshops and talks, along with time for socializing. SICP also sponsors a lecture series throughout the year, which has included notable figures in the field. As a member, you can become directly involved in the SICP planning group.

In addition, the Psychoanalytic Program sponsors presentations and conferences throughout the year. The 2018 selection included Adam Phillips discussing The “Magic of Winnicott” and a conference on “Co-constructing Silence, Co-constructing Voice. Inside and Outside the Treatment Room.”

Additionally, there are opportunities for alumni to join committees in many areas of the analytic training program.

ICP has a private practice referral system designed to help candidates and graduates to build their practice. The referral schedule allows licensed candidates to take one patient from their caseload in the beginning of the 3rd year and another one at the beginning of their 4th year of training; and upon graduation they can gradually move their ICP patients into their private practice. For more details, see candidate manual.