Training in the Twenty-first Century

Because, by the beginning of the twenty-first century, no laws were yet in
place in the United States to define who could practice psychoanalysis, it remained
difficult for the public to tell who was qualified. In the late 1990’s,
several national organizations of the core mental health disciplines came together
in a coalition called the Consortium for Psychoanalysis. By the turn
of the century, they had agreed upon baseline standards that would be used
to develop a national organization to accredit psychoanalytic institutes.
These organizations were the American Psychoanalytic Association, the division of psychoanalysis of the American Psychological Association, the National
Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work,
and the American Academy of Psychoanalysis.
Trained psychoanalysts in the twenty-first century who meet these standards
already have a mental health degree, except in unusual cases, before
becoming psychoanalysts. Once accepted for training at a psychoanalytic institute,
these mental health professionals study many more years to become
qualified psychoanalysts. They take courses and treat patients while supervised
by experienced psychoanalysts. In addition, they are required to undergo
psychoanalysis themselves in order to gain enough self-knowledge to
keep their own problems from interfering with the treatment of patients. 644