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As if clearing a path for those of us entering the field, the seasoned analysts who contributed to this book reveal the professional and personal twists and turns that led them to choose the impossible profession. They also share what was valuable in their training and what was not, and the cultural and political changes they have witnessed in the profession over the course of their careers. Most contributors address not only the inner pilgrimage one makes during training—understanding oneself through personal analysis, finding and learning a congenial theoretical approach— but also the world around them, citing the relationships they have forged, at their institutes and beyond, as invaluable in building and sustaining their analytic identities. The contributors seem to agree that the years spent at a training institute are but one of many chapters in the lifelong journey of becoming an analyst. Their consensus on this point diffuses some of the pressure one might feel about the high-stake years of candidacy. For those of us who have begun training remotely, as the pandemic kept us away from the classroom and the office—and to those considering training as we slowly find our way back into the world—the insights offered in Dear Candidate can help illuminate what really matters when it comes to becoming an analyst.
I chose my training institute online; interviewed for candidacy on Zoom; started taking my seminars remotely; and recently started seeing my first analytic patient at a distance. I wonder how this strange beginning will shape my growth as an analyst. Knowing that the quality of the earliest moments in mother-infant attachment are crucial to optimal child development, I have wondered if taking my first “analytic steps” in cyberspace might alter my gait as an analyst in the “real” world. Does the convenience of logging in and out of my training analysis by the click of a button permit a lack of commitment, or is it actually making this feasible for me? What of