Edwin Wood and Betsy Comstock's interesting “How to Pick a Successful Candidate” [TAP 33/3] brought back many memories of time spent in committee doing research on incompleted training. The reason for our exploration at the time was concern over the 25 percent dropout rate of candidates in the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute. This contrasts with the even more startling dropout rate of 50 percent reported at the Houston Institute.
Though the purpose of our research was somewhat parallel to Houston's, we relied on other data in addition to the admission interviews.
The same frustrations and obstacles Wood and Comstock experienced were also encountered by our group of examiners in gathering “soft” (subjective) data. The letters of recommendation rarely informed us about (un)suitability of an applicant. However, the interviews revealed more severe pathology and rigidity in the group that did not complete training, as well as a greater incidence of major losses in childhood, serious deprivations, or a severe upbringing. Though the majority of the admission committee might express approval, there often was one person who detected serious difficulties. A prevalent indicator of pending problems was ambivalence about training as expressed in delays of starting analysis or supervision. Requests for a leave of absence were often predictive of future withdrawal.
Surprisingly, or perhaps not, incomplete training clustered around a small number of training analysts. There were also significant religious and ethnic differences in the two groups.
It is unfortunate that there is a stigma attached to dropping out, implying psychoanalytic inaptitude or emotional disorder. A sense of failure and shame is experienced, even though it might be the right decision for the individual and much was gained by what the institute had to offer. A pushed-out person suffers greater humiliation than an applicant who is rejected at the outset.
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Kato van Leeuwen