Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Regulations for Training as a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist in the Northern Ireland Psychoanalytic Society

This guide sets out the regulations governing the training in psychodynamic psychotherapy available through NIPaS, which normally lasts a minimum of four years. Graduates of this training are eligible for registration with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) (subject to formal confirmation by the BPC). The member organizations of the BPC are those with the most rigorous selection and training standards in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy in the United Kingdom.

Selection for Training

Basic requirements for application for Student Membership

Applicants shall already possess a university degree, or a qualification to practise in a caring profession.

An applicant shall have completed a minimum of six months of twice-a-week (or more) personal psychotherapy with a recognized training analyst at the time of consideration of the application. Candidates are free to choose their own training analyst from among those members of NIPaS who have been recognized to offer training therapy for this programme. Advice about identifying a training analyst may be obtained by contacting the Chairperson of the NIPaS Training Committee.

Application for Student Membership

The candidate shall obtain an application form from the Honorary Secretary of NIPaS. The completed application form shall be submitted to the Honorary Secretary. This may be done after a period of 4 months in therapy, to allow time for the Training Committee to take up references and arrange two selection interviews. The selection interviews shall be conducted by Members of NIPaS approved by the Training Committee. The Training Committee shall consider the application, taking into account the reports of the interviewers, the applicant’s references, and all other relevant information (which may include the applicant’s public presence on social media).

Training in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Admission as a Student Member

When accepted for training, the student is allocated a Progress Adviser, who shall discuss with the student all the stages involved in training. The student shall meet with the Progress Adviser at least every six months throughout the course of training. The Progress Adviser shall receive six-monthly reports on supervised clinical work from the student and from the student’s supervisor; these reports, together with the student’s report on theoretical education, shall form the basis of the six-monthly progress interview.

The different elements of training are as follows:

Personal therapy: Candidates shall complete a minimum of four-and-a-half years of twice-a-week (or more) personal therapy with an analyst recognized by NIPaS for the purpose (including 6 months prior to admission as a Student Member). The therapy must continue at least until the completion of training and election to membership.

Clinical experience in a psychiatric setting: The student must have experience of clinical contact in a variety of settings and be acquainted with a full range of mental disturbance before starting supervised training cases. If the student has had no previous experience, this may be arranged during the initial stage of training. A minimum of 80 hours of clinical experience in a psychiatric unit must include interviewing and assessing patients under the supervision of a consultant psychiatrist.

Educational requirements: Prescribed theoretical and clinical seminars must be attended over four years, totalling a minimum of 342 hours.

Supervised training cases: Two training cases shall be supervised. The student must apply, with the agreement of their Progress Adviser, to the Chairperson of the Training Committee for approval to begin each training case, normally at least one year after admission as a Student Member. The Progress Adviser shall assist the student in identifying a suitable supervisor approved by the Training Committee for the purposes of this programme. The assessment of each case as suitable must be endorsed by the proposed supervisor. The two training cases shall be one female and one male. Each case must be treated once or twice weekly in psychodynamic psychotherapy. Sessions must take place on different days. One case must be in treatment for a minimum of two years and the other for a minimum of eighteen months (not including the summer break). The two cases must be supervised by different supervisors. One supervisor shall be female and one male. The first training case shall be supervised weekly, and the second training case shall normally be supervised fortnightly; except that any case seen twice a week shall be supervised weekly. Six-monthly reports on each case, approved and countersigned by the supervisor, shall be submitted to the Progress Adviser and copied to the Chairperson of the Training Committee.

Qualification paper: The qualification paper shall be a clinical presentation (with a reading time of not more than 50 minutes) of one of the training cases, normally presented to a specially convened membership panel. It must be discussed before submission with the supervisor and approved for presentation by the Progress Adviser.

Completion of Training

The Progress Adviser acts as co-ordinator of the elements of training, advises the Training Committee of the student’s progress, and is responsible for recommending that the student is ready to go forward to a qualification panel. When all the other requirements of membership have been completed, the student must receive the Progress Adviser’s confirmation that the qualification paper is ready for submission to the membership panel. For further details, see the Completion of Training section of the NIPaS Training and Membership Handbook.

If you wish to find out more please contact in the first instance one of the NIPaS officers listed below:

Prof Bernard Cullen (Chair of the NIPaS Training Committee) b.cullen@qub.ac.uk