The Transition from Candidate to Analyst: DPE's Recent Graduate Committee's New Initiative

Psychoanalytic education does not end at graduation. Rather, professional development involves lifelong learning. The leadership of APsaA's Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE)—Britt-Marie Schiller, head; Wendy Jacobsen, associate head; and Gail Glenn, chair of the newly organized Teaching, Curriculum and Professional Development Section—recognized that the early years after graduation are a rich time of professional growth and, as a result, enthusiastically supported our efforts to develop programming for recent graduates.

The psychoanalytic profession can be quite deliberate in training future psychoanalysts. In most instances, there is care and consideration when it comes to which theories and techniques to teach, what we hope candidates will learn from their control cases, and how to best launch graduate analysts into the next phase of their learning. Once they cross that threshold, they take the reins and shape their own analytic learning and career path.

Consolidating an identity as an analyst occurs within a broader, already ongoing agenda of career building. In the early years after graduation, most analysts continue to evolve as clinicians while no longer being guided by prescribed psychoanalytic training requirements; it's their decision whether to transition patients into psychoanalysis and how to best integrate their analytic skills in their psychotherapy practice. Regardless of the way individual clinical practices evolve, graduates often are invited to teach and/or supervise candidates or trainees in psychotherapy, local residency, or extern- and internship programs. Opportunities to teach, analyze, and supervise psychoanalytic candidates may also lie ahead in the years after training. Administrative roles, leadership opportunities, scholarship, research, and exploring varied settings for clinical practice are additional paths that await a graduate analyst.

Erik Erikson, a developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst noted for his writings on psychosocial development and identity in the mid-20th century, cogently stated that “identity begins where the usefulness of identification ends.” Moving from candidate to independent analyst, from supervisee to supervisor, from student to teacher involves consolidating a more differentiated, unique identity built from learning experiences and identifications with teachers, advisors, supervisors, and one's personal analyst. Traditionally, this transition has been made with only occasional formal institutional assistance; our committee's mission is to provide support and resources for professional development after graduation.

Moving from candidate to independent analyst, from supervisee to supervisor, from student to teacher involves consolidating a more differentiated, unique identity built from learning experiences and identifications with teachers, advisors, supervisors, and one's personal analyst.

The Recent Graduate Committee is made up of recent graduates and more experienced analysts. Through our discussions, we have determined that such a national effort to support recent graduates might be modeled on the national candidates' organization; the idea is to create a venue to address the challenges faced by early-career analysts by engaging with others who have more experience. We introduced our initiative to the members of APsaA at a well-received symposium organized by Britt-Marie Schiller. There were papers by Richard Tuch on scholarship, Sabrina Cherry on research, and Kerry Sulkowicz on leadership. Sarah Lusk, a recent graduate and member of the committee, led the discussion.

Survey

After the symposium, our committee surveyed APsaA members who graduated within the last seven years in order to assess interest in specific programming. Conducted in March 2021, the survey received forty-two responses.

Respondents were asked about various aspects of their careers. First, we inquired about professional activities that they found challenging. Interestingly, few respondents reported difficulties with their clinical practice. Most graduates (39/41, 95%) noted that finding patients in general was “smooth” or “manageable,” as were finding patients to engage in psychodynamic treatment (31/42, 74%) and managing logistical issues related to practice (36/42, 86%).

In general, a majority of respondents did not report difficulty in most areas of the survey. The only area endorsed as challenging

concerned the decision to become a training and supervising analyst; 60% reported this as somewhat (13/42) to very difficult (12/42). See Table 1.

While a minority endorsed struggling with the typical post-graduation issues listed in Table 1, a majority indicated an interest in being mentored in areas related to new roles. Looking at Table 2, the strongest interest was in skill development for supervision and didactic teaching; also popular were practice development, scholarly writing, and leadership skills. A much smaller number expressed interest in developing research skills.

Mentoring after Psychoanalytic Training

The interest in being mentored was striking. Given the experience of many APsaA members, this seems a ripe area for our efforts. Working with others at APsaA to build a network of mentors and connecting recent graduates with experienced supervisors, teachers, scholars, and leaders is an aspirational goal for our committee. Both the Teaching, Curriculum, and Professional Development Section of the DPE and the Committee on Psychoanalytic Studies (COPS), chaired by Mary Landy, have organized study groups on a wide variety of topics relevant to recent graduates. These study group members are dedicated to continued professional development. We hope to tap them as well as others who might be interested in providing mentorship to early-career analysts.

Some of the recent graduates on our committee suggested that we initiate our efforts by listening to senior analysts talk about decisions they made along their career path. We were able to secure a place for an ongoing discussion group during the national meetings to focus on recent graduate mentoring and related concerns. During the spring meeting in Boston, our inaugural group, chaired by Dr. Yael Holoshitz from New York, was entitled, “Looking Forward, Looking Back: Continuing to Develop as a Clinician, Teacher, Supervisor, Administrator, and Scholar after Graduation.” Bernard Edelstein, M.D., from Cambridge, Massachusetts, kicked off the “looking back” dimension by reflecting on the choices he made in his career—motivations, dilemmas, successes, and disappointments. Two recent graduates, Gennifer Lane Briggs from Miami, Florida, and David Stern from Rye Brook, New York, shared their reflections on their own career paths “looking forward.” A lively interactive exchange between the panel and audience ensued, covering a range of topics related to psychoanalytic career development.

Opportunities to teach, analyze, and supervise psychoanalytic candidates may also lie ahead in the years after training. Administrative roles, leadership opportunities, scholarship, research, and exploring varied settings for clinical practice are additional paths that await a graduate analyst.

Engaging New APsaA Members

We are also motivated to engage the next generation of psychoanalysts in APsaA—to provide support and direction as well as to sustain and enrich our professional community. Those surveyed cited financial concerns, including the cost of membership (36/42, 86%), debts related to training (17/42, 40%), and challenges of building a practice (17/42, 40%) as integral to their decision to join APsaA. Many named the benefits of APsaA membership as the programming at national meetings (35/42, 83%) and networking with other members (35/42, 83%) including senior colleagues (35/42, 83%). Over half those who responded—22/42 (52%)—value their access to malpractice insurance. Less than half indicated that

opportunities to present at meetings, participate in national committees, or take on leadership roles were important to them in considering membership.

When asked specifically what programming topics would be of interest at national meetings, diversity (33/41, 80%), clinical case development (33/42, 79%), and culturally sensitive treatments (30/41,73%) were most appealing. About half of the respondents noted interest in programming related to practice management issues (21/42, 50%) and in the pros and cons of the training and supervising analyst system (22/43, 51%). Table 3 shows additional activities that respondents endorsed as relevant.

Next steps

Along with APsaA's Membership Committee, the Recent Graduate Committee supports developing social and networking opportunities for recent graduates at the national meeting, using the popular and successful Candidates' Organization model. Our committee's goal is to engage recent graduates with the support and advice of senior analysts and to build a community at APsaA in order to facilitate ongoing professional development. We welcome new committee members. This generation is our future. These are the members of our professional community who will make essential contributions towards keeping psychoanalytic practice vital in these challenging times.

Sabrina Cherry, M.D., is associate director and a training and supervising analyst at the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, as well as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.

Richard C. Fritsch, Ph.D., ABPP, is a supervising and training analyst and faculty member at the Washington-Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University Medical School.