The tripartite training program in adult psychoanalysis consists of personal analysis, educational coursework, and consulted psychoanalytic work with patients. The foremost goal of psychoanalytic training at SFCP is to facilitate each candidate becoming a psychoanalyst -- in particular, for each candidate to develop the capacity to practice psychoanalysis in a way that responds to each patient’s unique needs.  This capacity grows as candidates immerse themselves in the various components of the training program, and it continues to develop after they complete training.

Immersion and the Tripartite Model

The tripartite training program in adult psychoanalysis aims to provide an experience of simultaneous immersion in personal analysis, educational coursework in the context of learning in a group, and analytic consultation on control cases.

In order to integrate the classroom learning with analytic experience as well as to be able to compare and integrate different analytic and consultation experiences, it is optimal that candidates:

1. engage in analytic consultation on control cases while they are completing coursework;
2. experience immersion in analytic work and consultation by treating more than one case in consultation at the same time; and
3. experience a continuity of consultation over time on their control cases.

Overlap of coursework and casework and continuity of consultation

1. Since clinical learning derived from the curriculum is cumulative, it is especially useful if candidates’ casework consultations overlap with the 3rd and 4th year of classes.
2. In order to ensure that a proportion of case work overlaps with classes, candidates must have at least one control case in consultation to advance to the third year of classes.

The major steps in training are shown below.  Each will be elaborated in subsequent sections:

1. Admission and enrollment
2. Beginning (or continuing) personal training analysis
3. Ongoing reporting of personal analysis
4. Beginning coursework
5. Reporting to the office when beginning a consulted psychoanalytic case
6. Permission for modified consultation frequency or for unconsulted work (optional)
7. Completion of Graduation Paper Workshop and graduation paper
8. Graduation

Immersion and the Tripartite Model

The tripartite training program in adult psychoanalysis aims to provide an experience of simultaneous immersion in personal analysis, educational coursework in the context of learning in a group, and analytic consultation on control cases.

In order to integrate the classroom learning with analytic experience as well as to be able to compare and integrate different analytic and consultation experiences, it is optimal that candidates:

1. engage in analytic consultation on control cases while they are completing coursework;
2. experience immersion in analytic work and consultation by treating more than one case in consultation at the same time; and