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Underlying many of Miss Freud's recommendation for the 'ideal institute' is an emphasis on the broadening and flexibility of selection policies, teaching methods, and teaching aims. Students with varied backgrounds and training relevant to psychoanalysis would be selected so that they might enrich each other's thinking and—ultimately—the future development of psychoanalysis. Less than 'ideal' personal qualities need not disqualify applicants; important contributions to psychoanalysis have often been made despite, or because of, diverse personality characteristics. Reliance would be placed on the metapsychological Profile as a tool for assessment of the applicant's personality. Full-time residencies would replace part-time training, allowing intensive study and time to pursue independent interests. Salaried senior staff should be available for teaching. Training in child analysis, now a technique in its own right, would accompany that in adult analysis, and candidates could begin clinical work in either, according to individual background and preference. Theoretical courses should largely guide the candidate toward independent reading, while theoretical workshops, formed on the basis of joint interests, would allow for group investigation of more complex issues. The curriculum would also include training in diagnostic evaluation, observation of children and adults outside the consulting room, and applications of psychoanalysis to allied fields.
These are but highlights from a provocative description of a model which, though seemingly utopian, has, to this reviewer's understanding, become operational in many respects at Miss Freud's own Hampstead Child Therapy Course and Clinic.