Problems of the Training Analysis1

In a therapeutic analysis the patient asks the analyst to restore his health. In a training analysis the analytic Society briefs the analyst to introduce the candidate to the career he has chosen. Throughout his analytic work with the candidate, the analyst exerts an influence on the candidate's progress in the theoretical part of the training; and at certain times this enters manifestly into the analysis. He registers the candidate, he determines when he begins the lectures and his clinical work, he helps in the choice of the supervisor, and finally, when the candidate's qualification is under discussion, he has the decisive word. His contact with his candidate is not confined to the analytic sessions, but he meets him at the Society meetings and, if he is a lecturer, at his own lectures. Thus he does not remain an anonymous figure, a voice behind the couch. The candidate comes to know a great deal about his professional and personal life.

These factors which distinguish a training analysis from a therapeutic analysis present serious problems for the analyst, problems of a professional and a personal kind. As regards the first, there is above all his responsibility for deciding whether the candidate is really a suitable person to become an analyst.

Since the most careful interviews of an applicant by the training committee cannot reveal what an analysis reveals, the initial acceptance of the applicant is only provisional, and it rests with his analyst to make the final decision.

To list some of the qualities for which I am looking in a future analyst:

A deep conviction of the dynamic nature of the unconscious.

Intuition and the innate psychological flair which is comparable to what we call talent in an artist.

The interest in human beings in which a wish to help is combined with respect for the other person's individuality.

The capacity for establishing object relationships on deeper levels and maintaining them for a long period. (This capacity, though, may not ne