Ethics Education in Psychoanalytic Institutes

Over the past thirteen years, the Ethics Education Committee (EEC) at Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (BPSI) has engaged in a dedicated, proactive initiative to help trainees, members, and the field at large, address questions of ethics, boundaries, and professional conduct. This endeavor began in the wake of a series of what are often euphemistically referred to as “egregious boundary violations” at BPSI; in other words, sexual transgressions perpetrated by analysts toward their patients. The initiative evolved to address questions including, but also above and beyond, sexual transgressions, in recognition that complex ethical dilemmas are endemic to our work, though often go un-discussed. This paper will describe why the EEC was formed, the techniques used to open-up discussions of ethical decision-making which have been used at BPSI, national meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), and institutes across the country, and what we have learned about fostering safe environments to grapple with issues around ethical decision-making and professional conduct. Examples of vignettes depicting complex ethical dilemmas, a primary tool in our technique, will also be included.