Shortly after the Chicago Institute's creation in 1932, George Mohr returned to Chicago from Vienna, where he had studied child analysis with Anna Freud. In 1934 he joined the Institute staff. Two years later Margaret Gerard, who had also studied with Anna Freud in Vienna, joined the faculty. These two analysts, together with Helen Ross, who had returned to Chicago following her own child analytic training in Vienna, began to train child psychoanalysts in Chicago, creating a program that, hardly surprisingly, reflected the theories and practices of Miss Freud. Although self psychology and Kleinian theory have influenced child analysis in Chicago, the program has remained classically Freudian in orientation.
It is not possible to identify exactly the year in which individuals began child training in Chicago, as there are no records of an admissions policy or training requirements during the early days. However, records do show that Adelaide Johnson, Emmy Sylvester, and Stanislaus Szurek completed child analytic training in 1942. Since then, 53 child psychoanalysts have graduated from the Chicago Institute.
Nineteen forty-two was also the date that Helen Ross was appointed Administrative Director of the child analysis training program, a position she held until 1956. She, Gerard, and Mohr together acted on all administrative and educational matters, setting up a curriculum whose courses included the following: Development of Personality; Technique of Child Analysis; Psychosomatic Problems in Children; and Advanced Conference on Children's Cases. During this period there was much interest in Chicago in psychosomatic medicine, and this was reflected in the child program, particularly in the research conducted by Mohr. From 1944 through 1956 the Institute graduated such renowned figures as Irene Josselyn, Anne Benjamin, Othilda Krug, George Perkins, Louis Gottschalk, Zelda Teplitz, Helen Beiser, and Ner Littner.
In 1956 organizational changes in the Chicago Institute saw committees assuming functions previously performed by the staff as a whole. A Child Analysis Committee was formed with Mohr as chair. When after two years he left Chicago, Irene Josselyn was appointed his successor. During the four years she was chair, she did much to reformulate and reorganize the child analysis training program. In 1959 certificates were given to all who had completed training prior to that date. Since that time, each new graduate has received a certificate upon completion of training.
In 1960 Josselyn left Chicago, and for the next nine years the training program was under the able direction of Anne Benjamin. In the sixties Chicago child psychoanalysts wrote a series of seminal papers dealing with basic issues in technique: parameters in child analysis, the opening phase, transference and countertransference, and termination. These works, authored by Robert Kohrman, Sam Weiss, Renee Gelman, and Henry Feinberg, have influenced the technique of child psychoanalysts everywhere. Weiss and Gelman were among a distinguished group of analysts who graduated from the Chicago Institute during that decade, a cohort that included Jeanne Spurlock, John Kenward, Gustavo Lage, George Klumpner, Hank Coppollillo, Moisy Shopper, and Roy Mendelsohn.
In 1969 Helen Beiser was appointed chair, and until 1977 she retained that position. During her tenure she conducted clinical research on the comparative characteristics of child and adult analysis, as well as on parent loss. She was also active, locally and nationally, in professional organizations in which she ably represented the interests of children.
In 1977 Donald Schwartz took over as chair. He suggested that the committee's name be changed to the Child and Adolescent Analysis Committee, a change that was accepted unanimously. Schwartz, who served from 1977 until 1987, worked very hard at making child analysis more visible in the community and at recruiting new candidates. In 1987, when he was involved in a severe accident, Helen Beiser and Barry Childress were appointed to act as interim co-chairs until it became clear that Dr. Schwartz could not resume his duties. At that point, Childress assumed the chair of the committee.
In 1990 a reorganization of the Institute called for the election of chairs by their committee, where previously they were appointed by the Director. In the first such election, Childress and Cliff Wilkerson were chosen as co-chairs for a three-year term. Childress declined the position, resigning as co-chair, but continued to work closely with Wilkerson, who remains as chair.
In the 1980s child analysis in Chicago was experiencing a period of decline. There was a shortage of child analytic patients, and competition from other disciplines was severe. However, over the last couple of years the trend has been reversed. Due primarily to the efforts of Childress, who administers the program's child analysis clinic, analytic cases for candidates have once again become available. Currently, five candidates are approaching graduation, and another nine are candidates enrolled at various stages of the program.