Academic Programs

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is dedicated to providing psychoanalytic training for clinicians and comprehensive treatment for the community. Located in the Flatiron District in New York City, NIP was chartered by the New York State Department of Education in 1972 as a non-profit educational facility.

Through a wide range of training programs, NIP provides psychoanalytic training to graduate and postgraduate, licensed mental health professionals in an atmosphere of academic excellence. NIP offers affordable treatment to the community.  An individualized treatment plan drawn from a full range of psychotherapeutic and counseling services is created in a collaborative process between patient and therapist.

What is psychoanalytic training?

When you think of psychoanalysis, does it bring to mind a New Yorker cartoon of a bearded man sitting behind a couch while a patient free associates? That caricature bears almost no resemblance to today’s psychoanalysis. Contemporary psychoanalysis is a vital, interactive psychotherapy that emphasizes a collaborative relationship built on authentic expression and mutual respect. Today’s psychoanalysis is no antiquated theory but a vibrant, ever-evolving way of understanding people’s inner worlds and the complexities of human relationships. Training in psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis fosters deep access into the elaborate networks that make up mental life, illuminating and loosening entrenched patterns of behavior and fostering the growth of new ones, leading to profound, long-lasting change. In addition to enhancing clinical skills and expanding intellectual understanding, psychoanalytic training brings about life-altering self knowledge and psychological development in the trainee, helping him or her cultivate a unique, authentic, and actualized clinical voice.

Why Train at NIP?

Training in psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy is both didactic and experiential, creating a powerful immersive experience that promotes personal and professional development. NIP’s approach to training is unique in its comprehensiveness and attention to the needs of each candidate. The psychoanalytic training program consists of classes in theory and technique; direct clinical work with patients under expert clinical supervision; and personal psychoanalysis. Our didactic courses are taught by a highly esteemed faculty who are well known in the field for their publications, presentations and leadership in professional organizations. The faculty’s expertise and the small class size foster an atmosphere of intellectual curiosity and creative dialogue that contributes to an intense, scholarly, and in-depth educational experience. The extensive curriculum includes a thorough history of traditional psychoanalytic thought, from its Freudian origins up through the latest contemporary developments in neuroscience and attachment theory. NIP’s program of study foregrounds cutting edge approaches to therapeutic action, encompassing contemporary Freudian, object relational, interpersonal, and self psychological theories with a strong emphasis on contemporary relational psychoanalysis. In addition, trainees benefit from a strong, warm, vibrant community dedicated to ongoing learning and professional development. Now in its fifth decade, NIP enjoys an international reputation of clinical and scholarly excellence, a thriving in-house treatment center, and the ongoing, dedicated involvement of its many distinguished alumni.

Please see COVID Protocols for more details about in-person course attendance.

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