The Committee on Institutes, which is chaired by Dr. Sylvan Keiser, has undertaken a study of the teaching of psychotherapy in analytic Institutes. A survey, conducted by Dr. Aaron Karush, disclosed that 3 of the 19 responding Institutes currently include instruction in psychotherapy as part of the regular curriculum.
A surprising finding of the survey, according to Dr. Keiser, was that even those Institutes which do not teach psychotherapy expressed little opposition, in principle, to its inclusion in the curriculum. Those who did object based their opposition on a number of grounds: that it might be confusing and burdensome, and should be offered as an elective or a post-graduate course rather than as a required part of the regular curriculum; that further research is still necessary to conceptualize the distinctions between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy; and that the teaching of both modalities of treatment creates special administrative burdens.
Those Institutes favoring the teaching of psychotherapy saw a number of possible values in it: it would help to teach the analytic student the differences between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis; it would be useful in illustrating psychological mechanisms in a clinical therapeutic setting; and it could aid the Faculty in evaluating a student's readiness to begin psychoanalytic work.
As a result of the findings of the survey, the Committee on Institutes agreed to establish a workshop to study the problem.