Research

Advancing Psychoanalytic knowledge

At the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, we are committed to advancing knowledge in the field of psychoanalysis through empirical research and theoretical scholarship.

Our faculty, candidates, and colleagues are currently conducting research in the areas of attachment, infant development and the parent-infant bond, trauma, psychoanalytic education and psychoanalytic career development, medication treatment combined with psychoanalysis, , and the neuroimaging of changes in brain structure and function associated with psychoanalytic treatment and subliminal processes. We are also conducting the first randomized trial of psychoanalysis compared to CBT and dynamic psychotherapy.

Meanwhile, our faculty are also actively engaged in the world of psychoanalytic theory, promoting the development of psychoanalytic knowledge through critical theoretical studies, in depth case reports, national presentations, and editorial participation in the leading psychoanalytic journals.

Our research group

The Center's Research Committee meets weekly to formulate new research projects, review ongoing projects, and to provide research mentorship for investigators at all levels. The Committee consists of training analysts, graduate analysts, psychoanalytic candidates, psychiatric residents, and other trainees (such as psychology PhD candidates and medical students). Many members of the committee have obtained research funding from the NIMH, the International Psychoanalytic Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association. Participation in the Research Committee is open to all.