Choosing a Personal Training Analyst

Your Personal Training Analyst may be chosen from the group of BPSI Training Analysts who are available for a new analysis. Click here for list of TA’s who may be taking new cases. If you need help finding a referral to a Training Analyst you may contact Karen Smolens, Senior Administrator (ksmolens@bpsi.org) or Bernard Edelstein, MD, Chair of the TA/SA Committee (bedelste@bidmc.harvard.edu). If you are already in an ongoing analysis with someone who is not a BPSI TA, your analysis may still be eligible to be approved as your Training Analysis.


Personal Analyst who is not a BPSI TA
Eligibility to Apply for a Personal Analyst Approval

For applicants who are in an ongoing personal analysis with an analyst who is not a BPSI Training Analyst, in order to support continuity and avoid interrupting an existing treatment, the ongoing analysis may be eligible to be accepted as the training analysis. 

Questions regarding eligibility for approval of an analyst who is not a BPSI Training Analyst are addressed before an applicant is assigned interviewers.

A personal analysis is eligible for consideration if these eligibility criteria are met:

  1. The personal analyst may be:
    • A graduate and full psychoanalytic member of BPSI of five years or longer OR
    • A graduate of an Institute of APsaA, the IPA, or a non-IPA Institute, for five years or longer, who has been accepted as a full psychoanalytic member of BPSI.
  2. The analyst has been treating the potential candidate or accepted candidate for a substantial period of time. (Guidelines suggest that the amount of time in analysis be a minimum of one year.)
  3. Analytic Immersion:  Since graduation, the analyst has experience treating four non-psychotic individuals in 4x/week analysis. Two of those cases have been in treatment for at least three years.
  4. The total number of analytic hours seen by the analyst since graduation is a minimum of 1800 hours of 4x/week cases. This may include hours for control cases seen after graduation. 
  5. The analyst demonstrates evidence of independent work by having at least two new cases started after graduation.
  6. Certification by APsaA or the American Board of Psychoanalysis is encouraged but is not required for the personal analyst approval.
  7. The analyst is an active member of BPSI in good ethical and financial standing.  

Process:  The candidate’s analyst may review the eligibility criteria and discuss eligibility with the Chair or Designee of the TA Waiver Committee. Karen Smolens in the BPSI office can put you in touch with the Training and Supervising Analyst Waiver Chair.

If eligible, the analyst will then complete the four page AAPE (American Association of Psychoanalytic Education) TA Waiver application, available from Karen Smolens and send the material along with a cover letter describing their intention to apply for a waiver to: Karen Smolens, ksmolens@bpsi.org, attention: Chair, Training and Supervising Analyst Waiver Committee.

The TA Waiver Committee will review the application and may meet with the applicant for an informational interview. If the requirements are met, BPSI will apply for the personal analysis to be approved as a training analysis.

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