AIMS & ACTIVITIES

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.


AIMS

1. To support the development of psychoanalytical knowledge as a general theory of mind.

2. To maintain and further the clinical and scientific standards of psychoanalysis.

3. To promote an internal culture where a diversity of psychoanalytic theories and techniques are valued and can be debated with intellectual openness.

4. To train high quality psychoanalytic professionals in sufficient numbers to maintain and develop the profession of psychoanalysis.

5. To provide and/or support high quality psychoanalytic treatment.

6. To disseminate knowledge about psychoanalysis, to health and allied
professionals.

7. To promote the contribution of the discipline of psychoanalysis to
public and intellectual life .

8. To form mutually collaborative clinical and academic links with other organisations (public sector, academic and charitable) which support the furtherance of the above aims.

9. To work as appropriate with and/or within national and international organisations in the interests of psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic profession.

10. 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 447 members and 43 students. Many psychoanalysts live in or near London but a significant number practice in other parts of the British Isles and abroad. 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 list of qualified psychoanalysts is available here

www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/uklist.htm 

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.



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.



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 & 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 an important collection on the origins and history of psychoanalysis. It is used and appreciated by scholars worldwide.

Library Page



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 An Introduction to Psychoanalysis, a two-term introduction to the basic principles and recent developments in psychoanalysis; and On the Way Home, a series of evening events in which an eminent writer or thinker discusses his or her work with a psychoanalyst. Recent speakers have included A.S. Byatt, Brenda Maddox, Oliver Sachs, and Rose Tremain. Details of these and other events can be found at www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/events.htm


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 5019.

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 Allie Dillon,
020 7563 5010

For general enquiries telephone: 020 7563 5000.