The Institute of Psychoanalysis & British Psychoanalytical Society
The London Psychoanalytical Society was founded by Ernest Jones
on 30th October 1913. With the expansion of psychoanalysis
in the United Kingdom the Society was renamed the British Psychoanalytical
Society in 1919. Soon after, the Institute of Psychoanalysis was established to
administer the Society’s activities. These include: the training of
psychoanalysts, the development of the theory and practice of psychoanalysis,
the provision of treatment through
The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis,
the publication of books and journals, maintaining a library, furthering
research, and holding public lectures. The Society has a Code of Ethics and an
Ethical Committee. The Society, the Institute and the Clinic are all located at
Byron House.
The Society is a component of the International Psychoanalytical
Association, a body with members on all five continents that
safeguards professional and ethical practice. The Society is a
member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC); the BPC
publishes a register of British psychoanalysts and
psychoanalytical psychotherapists. All members of the British
Psychoanalytical Society are required to undertake continuing
professional development.
Through its work – and the work of its individual members – the
British Psychoanalytical Society has made an unrivalled
contribution the understanding and treatment of mental illness.
Members of the Society have included Michael Balint, Wilfred
Bion, John Bowlby, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Joseph Sandler,
and Donald Winnicott.
What is Psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis is the most intensive form of the talking
therapy, devised by Sigmund Freud one hundred years ago, but
developed continuously and radically since then. Patients
attend five fifty minute sessions weekly, usually for several
years, working with their psychoanalyst to examine and to
explore unconscious conflicts of feeling, emotion and phantasy
that are at the root of their symptoms and the problems that
are troubling them.
Psychoanalytic theory suggests that it is by no means only
genetic and constitutional factors that make up the
personality. Other central influences include the experience
of birth, of the early relationships with parents, of
sexuality, of love and hate, of loss and death. These crucial
experiences, worked over and lived out in the core
relationships of the family, lay down patterns in the mind of
feeling, phantasy and relationship - patterns which provide
unconscious templates, or models of relationships. Such
unconscious versions of relationships are often at the root of
the problems which lead people to seek help.
The regular sessions of psychoanalysis provide a setting
within which these unconscious patterns can be brought into
awareness and worked on with a view to change. The
relationship with the analyst is influenced inevitably and
powerfully by the patient’s unconscious ways of behaving and
itself becomes a central area of study, enabling light to be
thrown on the patient’s patterns of relationship in the
immediacy of the sessions.
The work of psychoanalysis is long and arduous, for both
patient and analyst. When successful, however, psychoanalysis
can be a unique and profound experience that often leads to
long-term development in close relationships, work and
creativity. Success depends on both analyst and patient and on
the quality of their joint work.
Mission Statement
We aim to develop our position as the leading centre of excellence in the UK in the provision of psychoanalytic training, education, publication and clinical practice and to develop a professional organisation for the furthering of psychoanalysis through diversity and debate.
- To support the development of psychoanalytical knowledge as a general
theory of mind.
- To maintain and further the clinical and scientific standards of
psychoanalysis.
- To promote an internal culture where a diversity of psychoanalytic
theories and techniques are valued and can be debated with intellectual
openness.
- To train high quality psychoanalytic professionals in sufficient numbers
to maintain and develop the profession of psychoanalysis.
- To provide and/or support high quality psychoanalytic treatment.
- To disseminate knowledge about psychoanalysis, to health and allied
professionals.
- To promote the contribution of the discipline of psychoanalysis to
public and intellectual life.
- To form mutually collaborative clinical and academic links with other
organisations (public sector, academic and charitable) which support the
furtherance of the above aims.
- To work as appropriate with and/or within national and international
organisations in the interests of psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic
profession.
- To maintain the physical and administrative facilities necessary for the
above activities to take place in an appropriate and professional environment.
Who We Are
The Society currently has 438 members and 46 candidates. The majority of them live in or near London, though there are 158 members in many different countries and in other parts of the British Isles. Many psychoanalysts work in public organisations, principally in the Health Service, as well as in private practice. Recently it has become possible for those living at a distance from London to do the training. Members of the Society come from a diversity of countries and cultures, offering treatment in over 22 languages, including Armenian, Catalan, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Iranian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, and Urdu. Today as in the past, approximately half of the British Psychoanalytical Society are women. A complete list of qualified UK Institute trained psychoanalysts is available here www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/uklist.htm
The Qualifications of Psychoanalysts
Members of the public considering psychoanalysis may want to
consult this list to make sure that a practitioner describing themselves as a
psychoanalyst is in fact qualified genuinely to practise this intensive form of
treatment. Those named are properly entitled to hold themselves out to the
public as psychoanalysts because of their Internationally recognised training.
The Institute of Psychoanalysis qualifies its members to belong to the
International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) - a body with members on all
five continents which safeguards professional standards and oversees the stages
by which new societies are created.
Since the term Psychoanalyst is currently not yet protected in law anyone can,
at present, claim to be one.
If you have any doubts that a particular individual is qualified to represent
themselves as a qualified psychoanalyst you may wish to consult the
following list of all qualified practising Institute trained
psychoanalysts working currently in the UK.
A searchable listing of qualified and practising psychoanalysts, in particular areas of the UK, as well as psychoanalytical psychotherapists, can be found at the BPC Website.
Under 'Institution' select British Psychoanalytical Society.
Where do we work?
Psychoanalysts work with patients intensively (fifty-minutes
a day, five days a week) and less intensively (fifty-minutes a day, one, two,
three, or four days a week). Psychoanalysts work in public organisations as well
as in private practice. Over 250 psychoanalysts work in the National Health
Service; many hold distinguished positions in psychiatry, child psychotherapy,
adult psychotherapy, psychology, social work, and family therapy. A significant
number also work in universities; 18 are professors. It is their judgement that
their private psychoanalytic experience deepens and enhances their public work
in the NHS and higher education.
Our Training
Founded in 1924, the Institute of Psychoanalysis has trained generations of psychoanalysts, many of whom have become leaders in the field of mental health. The Institute of Psychoanalysis welcomes applicants from all types of professional and academic backgrounds, from all over the world. Many students are psychiatrists or medically qualified, some are child or adult psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers or academics, and some come from another background altogether. The Institute of Psychoanalysis training leads to the title ‘psychoanalyst’, as recognised by the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA).
The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis
The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis currently has over 100 patients in treatment. Treatment is low-cost; patients are invited to contribute to help cover the running costs of the Clinic. The Child and Adolescent Department provides assessment and treatment for patients between 2 and 17 years of age.
Publications
The Institute of Psychoanalysis is the foremost publisher of
psychoanalytic literature. The 24-volume Standard Edition of the Complete
Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud was conceived, translated, and produced
under the direction of the British Psychoanalytical Society. The Society, in
conjunction with Random House, will soon publish a new, revised and expanded
Standard Edition. With The New Library of Psychoanalysis the Institute continues
to publish the books of leading theorists and practitioners. The International
Journal of Psychoanalysis is published by the Institute of Psychoanalysis. Now
in its 84th year, it has the largest circulation of any psychoanalytic journal.
Library and Archives
The British Psychoanalytical Society library is probably the finest psychoanalytical library in the world, holding over 25,000 volumes. The Archive of the British Psychoanalytical Society contains important collections on the origins and history of psychoanalysis. It is used and appreciated by scholars worldwide.
Public Lectures
Since it was founded in 1924, the Institute of Psychoanalysis has offered lectures to the public. The Society continues to offer a wide variety of public courses and events, including The Introductory Lectures, a two-term introduction to the basic principles and recent developments in psychoanalysis; termly lectures from the Centre for the Advancement of Psychoanalytic Studies and Meet The Author - book launches for titles in the New Library of Psychoanalysis series. Recent speakers have included David Bell, Glen Gabbard, Michael Rustin, Margaret Rustin and Margot Waddell.
Details of these and other events can be found at www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/events.htm
Statutory Registration of Psychotherapists
The British Psychoanalytic Council has issued a public
position statement on statutory regulation and a range of other issues related
to Government policy and initiatives, e.g. National Occupational Standards, IAPT,
NICE guidelines, New Ways of Working.
It has been occasioned, in part, by recent media coverage of the views of some
psychotherapists, including some psychoanalytic psychotherapists, on some of
these issues. The British Psychoanalytic Council is engaging with these policies
and initiatives actively and positively, and wishes to differentiate its
position from those therapists who seem to consider this to be undesirable.
This position statement is available on the BPC website, at
http://www.psychoanalytic-council.org/main/index.php?page=14083
Concerns and Complaints
The British Psychoanalytical Society aims to ensure that its members maintain the highest standards of professional conduct. All members are expected to adhere to the Society’s Code of Ethics and those in clinical practice are subject to the Code of Ethics and complaints procedure of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)
If a complaint or concern about a member of the Society who is
on the British Psychoanalytic Council Register cannot be
resolved directly with him or her, you should should contact the
British Psychoanalytic Council
BPC Complaints Website Section
email: mail@psychoanalytic-council.org
Tel: 020 7267 3626
Address:
British Psychoanalytic Council
West Hill House
Swains Lane
London N6 6QS
Alternatively, you may contact the Institute Manager Mr Nick Hall who will be able to advise you.
Tel: 020 7563 5005
Address: Mr Nick Hall
Manager
Institute of Psychoanalysis
112a Shirland Road,
London,
W9 2EQ
If the complaint concerns someone seen through the London Clinic
of Psychoanalysis
Further Information
For further information please contact Mr Nick Hall, Institute
Manager,
020 7563 5005
For information about psychoanalytic training contact Luke
Perry,
Executive Education Officer
020 7563 5015
For information about
treatment for adults, adolescents or children contact Ms
Trudy Turmer, Clinic Administrator,
020 7563 5002
For information about the library contact Mr Saven Morris,
020 7563 5008
For information about the archives contact:
archives@iopa.org.uk
www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/archives.htm
For general enquiries telephone: 020 7563 5000
Fax: 020 7563 5001
How to Find Us
Click small map
Cover Image © 2008 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual
Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS,
London. Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
The Audio-Visual Project
Introduction
The films on this page are part of an ongoing audiovisual project. This was started in 2007 by the Student Organisation of the British Institute of Psychoanalysis, with the aim to film eminent psychoanalysts talking of their work and life with new generations of students and psychoanalysts. In 2008 a film group was also established in the British Psychoanalytical Society. Funding generously granted from the International Psychoanalytical Association will help to develop the quality of the materials produced, and will include the production and restoration of audiovisual material on various clinical and theoretical topics related to psychoanalysis, as well as its training. This page will be updated as new films will become available.
www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/audiovisual.htm