The author offers a historical account of the process of approval of the three training models in the IPA, during the administrations of Otto Kernberg, Daniel Widlocher and Cláudio Eizirik. He describes the different points of view, concerns, and discussions that were developed at the IPA Board and the membership at large, and reflects on the possible unconscious motivations behind them. He also reflects on tradition, dogmatism and innovation in psychoanalytic institutions and suggests possible ways of understanding and overcoming prevailing resistances to innovation.