NIP's Certificate Program in Psychotherapy Integration for Psychoanalysts and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (PIP) is offered to licensed and psychodynamically experienced mental health professionals, including graduates of analytic programs, who want to expand their clinical skills.

In light of current uncertainties about meeting in groups, we have decided continue to offer our courses via ZOOM for the 2024-2025 academic year.

The Psychotherapy Integration Program is responsive to the changing climate in psychoanalysis. PIP is designed for analytic therapists who are interested in learning the methods and rationales of newer, additional modalities, and a basic philosophy and unifying conceptualizations that enable them to make sound clinical choices in integrating and applying these modalities. Coursework is designed to increase analytic practitioners’ clinical skills and versatility, extending therapeutic options with a wide range of patients.

Students choose from a range of courses focused on alternate modalities. Courses run for five to ten sessions, with offerings varying from year to year. A total of thirty sessions, including completion of Clinical Theories of Psychotherapy Integration, qualifies a student for certification. Certificate courses can be taken in one year, or over time. Students may also take individual courses of interest to them without seeking certification.

The program teaches an advanced approach, developing both the foundational principles of psychotherapy integration as well as the specific methods of well-established modalities having strong empirical and theoretical support.  Relational analytic psychotherapy is used as the baseline therapy into which other approaches and perspectives are selectively assimilated. This grounding theoretical approach to integration is taken throughout. 

Modalities are covered through didactic coursework, experiential learning, and readings, combined with group supervised clinical practice.  Instructors are senior analysts who are experts in both their specialty area and psychotherapy integration. 

This year, in addition to the two three session courses, Clinical Theories of Psychotherapy Integration I and II, which are required for the certificate, PIP will offer an eight week course in CBT and Psychoanalysis, an eight week course in Internal Family Systems Therapy, and an eight week introductory course to Somatic Approaches in Psychoanalysis. This allows interested students to receive a certificate in one year. Potential courses for the following year might be Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Focusing, and others.

Foundations of the Program

This program has evolved from several empirical truths: We know that no single psychotherapy approach is uniformly best for all people all the time; each has benefits and limitations, and that a strong therapeutic relationship is a common factor underlying all effective forms of psychotherapy. Because relational psychoanalysis is, in our opinion, the richest, most comprehensive perspective on the therapy relationship, it forms the basis, or foundation modality, into which we integrate other approaches.

The many psychoanalysts who have acknowledged the desirability of having a wide variety of methods available have discovered that specialized trainings are now available to clinicians. However, PIP is unique as a psychoanalytically-based program, taught and supervised by clinicians who are recognized as both analysts and specialists in other approaches. Further, classes and group supervision are shared by like-minded practitioners. Working alongside other clinicians to expand skills and develop a nuanced flexibility is stimulating, supportive and rewarding. Hence, students' most difficult task—integrating new methods into the analytic—is facilitated as nowhere else.

Therapeutic action is a multifaceted process and at times a modality or modalities other than an analytic one promotes the leading edge of change more effectively than the analytic method alone. For example, by focusing specifically on enhancing individuals' coping skills, cognitive-behavior therapy, takes advantage of the mutative role of behavior change, which the verbally privileged analytic approach does not emphasize.

Additionally, other modalities can heighten the experiential features of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, which is decisively important. The synergistic integration of forms of therapy that can heighten the immediacy of emotional experience contributes to an integrative therapeutic whole greater than any of its individual component modalities. 

See Co-Director Kenneth Frank's Blog Post, which expresses our philosophy HERE.

A Relational Theoretical Approach to Assimilative Integration

Our approach is "assimilative" integration with a relational psychoanalytic baseline. Assimilative integration is a form of theoretical integration that allows psychoanalysts (and others) to maintain their baseline perspective on psychotherapy, while drawing flexibly on the wisdom and methods of other schools in order to enhance the quality of therapeutic benefits.

Theoretical integration rather than technical eclecticism is our objective. Without exercising disciplined creativity in practicing integration, a clinician may apply a poorly reasoned, idiosyncratic, or hit or miss collection of methods. 

Continuing Education Credits

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0018.

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #Psyan-0004.

The National Institute for the Psychotherapies is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education credits for psychologists. The National Institute for the Psychotherapies maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

This certificate program is approved 55 continuing education contact hours. CE hours are apportioned as credits are completed.

Meeting Day & Time

Classes are held at NIP on Mondays from 1:00 to 2:50.

Personal Psychotherapy

In addition to past or ongoing analytic therapy experiences, candidates are strongly urged to seek out personal therapy in the modalities studied in the program. We believe this is a valuable didactic and professional as well as personal growth opportunity. While very strongly encouraged, it is not required. PIP's administrators can direct you to qualified therapists.

For More Information

Please direct all PIP inquiries to Jill Bresler (drjbresler@gmail.com) or Kenneth Frank (kennethafrank@gmail.com), Co-Directors, at (212)582-1566