Training and Qualifications for Psychoanalysts

The International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA), formed during Freud’s
lifetime, is a worldwide organization of psychoanalysts that remained in
place throughout the twentieth century. The American Psychoanalytic Association
(APsA) was founded in 1911 and grew to three thousand members
during the course of the twentieth century. All its members also belonged to
the IPA. Many schools for psychoanalysts, or psychoanalytic institutes, were
accredited (examined and found to meet a set of standards) by APsA over
the years. APsA also developed an examination called certification to test
graduate psychoanalysts.
Because the first psychoanalysts in the United States believed that psychoanalysis
would be more highly valued if connected with the medical profession,
the APsA initially only accepted psychiatrists (who are medical doctors)
as members. Exceptions were made for professionals who applied to
train as researchers. This contrasted with the practice in Europe, where
many nonmedical psychoanalysts became members of the IPA. Nonmedical
professionals, such as psychologists and social workers, who wanted to become
psychoanalysts in the United States often trained in psychoanalytic institutes
not recognized by the APsA. Some were recognized by the IPA and
later banded together under the name of the International Psychoanalytic
Societies (IPS). Other institutes developed outside both organizations,
sometimes creating their own standards for training. By the last quarter of
the twentieth century, nonmedical mental health professionals (such as psychologists
and social workers) were accepted as members of APsA and grew
in numbers, becoming a large proportion of the membership.
Because the title “psychoanalyst” was not protected by federal or state law
in the twentieth century, anyone, even untrained persons, could call themselves
a psychoanalyst in the United States. Many institutes developed in
large cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, that were not connected with
APsA or IPS and admitted trainees with varying backgrounds and qualifications.
Some of these defined psychoanalysis in their own way, so that
arguments developed about the dividing line between psychoanalysis and
psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The American Psychological Association eventually
developed its own examination to qualify a psychologist as a psychoanalyst.