As stated in its founding charter, the APF's purpose is to contribute to Freudian exploration and research in psychoanalysis, and to train psychoanalysts according to its specific standards. Here is a presentation of the practical aspects of the training program, but it is important to underline how much the approach to training at the APF is inseparable from its history and its evolution. In order to understand more precisely how these two aspects are intertwined, we invite you to refer to the APF section, which outlines the main features of the training, the choices that were made and the options that were taken.
Admission to the Training Institute
Anyone wishing to apply for training at the APF should write to the secretary of the Training Committee, whose contact details are available in the administrative office. If the application is deemed suitable, he/she will be invited to meet three members of the Committee whom he/she will choose from the list sent to him/her. The first condition for an application to be taken into account is obviously the personal analysis of the applicant, carried out at a minimum of three weekly sessions, which may in fact be in progress at the time of the application. In accordance with our principle of extraterritoriality (non-reporting), it is up to the candidate and him/her alone to apply without any requirements regarding the status and membership of his/her analyst in a given society.
These interviews for admission, which are timely in one’s analytical journey and are part of a life path, are thus driven by a wish and are enmeshed with the succession of analytic encounters which reveals the applicant’s capacity for self-analysis with regard to the transferential experiences, the representations, the identifications and the ideal projections which are called upon in this context. Applying for the training is a unique kind of act, which is both private and social. Only the applicant can speak about it at first hand. It will be up to those who have received him and listened to him to try to assess what motivates him with regard to the goal being pursued and what he may be able to invest in it. They will then report the results of their feedback to the Training Committee. At the end of the discussion of their reports, the decision will be made whether or not to admit the applicant to the training, and whether the applicant may reapply at a later date if his or her application appears to be premature.
Supervised treatments
As soon as admitted, the applicant is invited to undertake the first of the two supervised treatments that he/she will have to complete successively, the second taking place after the first treatment has been validated. The case must involve an adult who is able to commit to three sessions per week. The choice of a supervisor from among the full members is left to the choice of analyst in training. The analyst in training can also ask for validation of his or her supervised case when he or she feels ready to do so. He or she then sends a letter to the secretary of the training committee, who will appoint a committee of three members whom he or she will meet. It should be emphasised that the wish to hear in person, and not by proxy, the singular words of the analyst in training goes hand in hand with the status that the APF gives to the latter in the life of the association. Following the hearing of the supervised analyst in training, the supervisor is also heard by the same committee and he gives his point of view on the work done. The Training Committee decides then whether or not to validate the supervision on the basis of the committee’s report.
While these supervised treatments constitute the core of the training, the analyst in training is strongly invited to participate under his or her own guidance in the activities which are offered by the Scientific and Education Committees.
Teaching, scientific exchanges, research
Teaching in the APF is neither formal nor doctrinal, nor is it conceived in stages. It consists of seminars or small working groups, organised around a theme that calls for both theoretical and clinical contributions, research workshops, and other forms of encounter around clinical practice, particular themes, Freudian writings and other psychoanalytical or contemporary works discussed with the authors. Analysts in training also have the possibility of organising such study groups and research workshops themselves, either within the Institute or elsewhere, particularly when they wish to welcome participants who are not members of the association.
The approaches to education at the APF have been extensively discussed and explored over the years. It became quite apparent that these methods did not sufficiently meet the members' wish for clinical and theoretical exchanges after completing their training. This is why since 2006 and under the impetus of Daniel Widlöcher (who has always maintained the need for psychoanalysis to be "in dialogue"), the Clinical and Conceptual Research Workshops (ARCC) have been launched. They bring together analysts belonging to different societies as well as various researchers in human sciences with an interest in the specific theme of the workshop. The clinical and theoretical exchanges brought about by the workshop may be presented at one of the Association's scientific days.
Each year there are various internal events such as the ‘Saturday discussions’ and the ‘Scientific conversations’ as well as Open days aimed at a broader public. Some of these colloquia have an interdisciplinary character enabling exchanges between psychoanalysts and specialists from other fields of knowledge. Analysts in training may themselves be invited to participate as speakers in these debates within the APF and elsewhere.
The APF is also involved in discussions, colloquia and congresses organised in partnership with other societies. This is the case of the Congress of French-speaking psychoanalysts, which is mainly organised by the SPP with the contribution of the APF when it takes place in France, that is every other year. The Association has always been active in the European Federation of Psychoanalysis (EFP), whose headquarters are now located in Brussels. Some of our members have been presidents and general secretaries. The activities of the IPA, which was chaired by Daniel Widlöcher, offer further opportunities for work and study and they are open to member societies such as the APF.
Many APF analysts practice psychoanalysis with children but the Association has always refused to make it a distinct speciality. There are seminars, working groups and supervisions freely chosen within the institution or outside. Members of the APF have always cooperated with societies that have an explicit interest in working with children.
A wide choice is thus offered to analysts in training who may also draw on other sources, outside the institution, academic and elsewhere. Admitted from the outset to all the teaching and scientific activities of the APF, they can also participate at all its institutional levels (except for the specific task assigned to the Training Committee) and contribute to the work of the various scientific and teaching committees as well as the publication of the ‘Présent de la psychanalyse’ or of the internal review ‘Documents et débats’. They may be invited just like members to publish, unless they themselves take the initiative to write and submit their own work to the relevant body. Their progress in the training is only assessed at the end of the process, when they apply for qualification.
Qualification
Once the second case has been validated, the analyst in training may apply to the secretary of the Training Committee for qualification whenever he/she wishes. This committee generally recommends that the analyst in training be received by one of its members, subject to the agreement of the Board. However, this body (the Board) is free to suggest someone else if, for whatever reason, this seems more appropriate. The General Secretary then sends a letter to the analyst in training inviting him/her to make an appointment with the full member who has agreed to hear him/her and to be the rapporteur of his/her application to the full Council. During the interview, the analyst's in training involvement in teaching activities is discussed, whether these were held within the context of the APF institute or elsewhere. If the rapporteur gives a favorable opinion and if, after discussion, no one has requested that this decision be submitted to a vote (which is then carried out by secret ballot and by a simple majority of the members present), qualification is granted.
The training of an analyst in training thus reaches the end of its institutional course. In the same way analysis continues well beyond the end of the treatment, training remains effectively and hopefully endless.
The analyst who has completed his or her course can then choose to settle for what has been achieved or to extend his or her institutional journey in other ways.
Election as a member of the APF
Once qualification has been achieved, the analyst in training who has completed the training must write a report and send it to all the full members if he or she wishes to become a full member of the APF. The Council will then designate three of these full members whom the candidate will meet individually. They will be the rapporteurs for the Council of full members. After discussion, the analyst’s in training election will be subject to a secret ballot and a two-thirds majority of the members present.
These same institutional procedures (without submitting a report) apply to the process of election as full member. The role of the full member has specific institutional objectives in terms of training and psychoanalytic ethic, in the broadest sense, and its role is to protect against drifts. In other words, full members have the responsibility of keeping the subversive power of psychoanalysis in relation to all forms of influence and control by some over the minds of others, which is what distinguishes it radically from other forms of psychotherapy and education based on suggestion.
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