Between 1945 and 1971 data were collected about the characteristics of 1, 585 patients treated in psychoanalysis and analytically oriented psychotherapy at Columbia University's Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. This paper describes aspects of their demography and family background, as well as the circumstances of their referral, and compares those referred privately for psychoanalysis to those referred to the clinic. The findings can be interpreted as reflecting processes of patient screening, patient assignment and self-selection, as well as more generalized changes in patterns of living and relating which have occurred in New York City and throughout the nation in recent years.

Other papers in this series will address clinical aspects of the treatment of these patients, including diagnostic differences, measures of outcome and the evaluation of patient and analyst participation in the achievement of analytic process or therapeutic benefit.