Psychoanalytic Education and the Profession

Recent Publications

Cherry S, Meyer J, Hadge L, Terry M, Roose S. A prospective study of psychoanalytic practice and professional development: early career interviews. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 2012; 60:969-994.

Auchincloss, EL, (2009) The psychodynamic formulation, in Approach to the Psychiatric Patient: Case-Based Essays ed. John W. Barnhill, Washington, American Psychiatric Press, 2009

Auchincloss, Elizabeth L. and Michels, R., “A reassessment of psychoanalytic education: controversies and changes,”International Journal of Psychoanalysis 84:387-403,2003

Auchincloss, Elizabeth L., and Kravis, Nathan M., “Teaching Freud to Undergraduates: A Case Report.” International Journal of Psychoanalysis 81:753-770, 2000

Auchincloss, Elizabeth L., “Psychoanalytic Curriculum: A Study in Change and The Anxiety of Influence.” in Changing Ideas in a Changing World: Essays in Honor of Arnold M. Cooper, ed. Robert Michels and Peter Fonagy London, Karnac Books, 2000

Cherry, S., Wininger, L., Roose, S. (2009). A Prospective Study of Career Development and Analytic Practice: the First Five Years. J Am Psychoanal Assoc, 57, 703-720.

Hamilton, M., Wininger, L., Roose, S. (2009). Drop-out Rate of Training Cases: Who and When. J Am Psychoanal Assoc, 57, 695-702.

Cabaniss, D.L., Graver, R. (2008). Mapping the Macroprocess. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 56(4), 1249-1260.

Cabaniss DL. (2008). Becoming a school: Developing learning objectives for psychoanalytic education. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 28, 262-277.

Coen, S. J. (2007c). Reports from the front: clinical case writing as journalism. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 27(5), 705-720.

Michels, R. (2007b). Review of 'The Future of Psychoanalysis" by R.D. Chessick. New England Journal of Medicine, 356, 1791-1792.

Colombo, D., & Michels, R. (2007). Can (should) case reports be written for research use? Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 27(5), 640-649.

Glick, R. A. (2007). Psychoanalytic education needs to change: what's feasible? Introduction to Wallerstein. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55(3), 949-952.

Hulsman, R. L., van der Ende, J. S., Oort, F. J., Michels, R. P., Casteelen, G., & Griffioen, F. M. (2007). Effectiveness of selection in medical school admissions: Evaluation of the outcomes among freshmen. Medical Education, 41(4), 369-377.

Kernberg, O. F. (2007a). The coming changes in psychoanalytic education: Part II. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 88(1), 183-202.

Mellman, L. A. (2007). Cultivating careers in the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. Academic Psychiatry, 31(2), 101-102.

Michels, R. (2007a). Optimal education requires an academic context: commentary on Wallerstein. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 55(3), 985-989.

Rees, E. (2007). Thinking about psychoanalytic curricula: an epistemological perspective. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 76(3), 891-942.

Rutherford, B. R., Aizaga, K., Sneed, J., & Roose, S. P. (2007). A survey of psychiatry residents' informed consent practices. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 68(4), 558-565.

Cherry S, Cabaniss D, Forand N, Haywood D, Roose S. Psychoanalytic practice in the early postgraduate years. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 2004;52:851–871.

Cherry S, Cabaniss D, Forand N, Roose S. The impact of graduation from psychoanalytic training. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. 2004; 52:833-849.

Works in Progress

Career Paths after Psychoanalytic Training: A Longitudinal Study

Primary Researcher: Sabrina Cherry, M.D.

Continuing her study of the postgraduate careers of analysts, Dr. Cherry has developed a cohort made up of graduates of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research since 2003. The study received initial support from the Developing Psychoanalytic Practice and Training Project of the International Psychoanalytic Association and was presented at the 2007 IPA Conference in Berlin. Addressing the pressing issue of the decline in patients seeking psychoanalysis, the study collects information regarding experience in analytic training, experience with mentoring, current practice characteristics, and immediate and long-term career goals. Of note is that while a vast majority of graduate analysts maintain significant involvement in the field of psychoanalysis, a bimodal distribution with some maintaining immersion in four times weekly psychoanalytic practice and others applying skills learned in training to the their psychotherapy practice emerges in the early postgraduate period. The data collected in Dr. Cherry’s study aims to recognize and modify current aspects of analytic training and post-graduate support in order to increase interest in psychoanalysis in both patients and graduates as well as to support the integration of skills from training into postgraduate career paths.

A Study of Psychopharmacologic Management by Psychoanalytic Candidates

Primary Researcher: Bret Rutherford, M.D.

We plan to investigate whether psychopharmacologic management of training cases in psychoanalysis can be improved by means of an educational intervention. Patients accepted for psychoanalysis at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research who are already taking psychotropic medications or for whom the prescription of medications is being considered will be followed in this study. Treating candidates will be randomized to either treatment as usual or an experimental condition, which is the provision of psychopharmacologic consultations to the candidate and supervisor at baseline, three, and six months following the start of analysis. Patients will be assessed on a battery of self-assessment procedures at baseline, three, six, and twelve months following entry into the study. The primary outcome measures are change in depressive symptoms as measured by a standardized rating scale and remission of depression according to predefined criteria. Secondary outcome measures are the number and type of medications used at twelve months, adequacy of psychopharmacologic documentation as measured by chart review at three and twelve months, drop out rates of patients in each study cell, and effects on the candidate’s education. The data will be analyzed at one year after the start of analysis, but patients will continue to be followed over time.