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Required coursework includes seminars, electives, case conferences, and special programs as described below. Further details of the psychoanalytic training curriculum, including exact course dates, instructors and syllabi can be found at this link to the Analytic Training Program Webpage.
Psychoanalytic learning groups have unique needs and responsibilities including:
The following classroom policies are designed to create a frame for psychoanalytic learning that supports the functioning of the group toward these aims.
All candidates commit to upholding the confidentiality of any clinical material discussed, including a commitment not to reference any clinical vignettes or clinical process material outside the classroom, even in disguised form. In addition, any process notes used in case conference (in print or electronic form) will be destroyed or returned to the presenter immediately following the case presentation.
In order to create a classroom environment that allows for reflection and containment of the strong affects evoked in the study of psychoanalytic material, infants are not permitted in the classroom. The presence of an infant (even a resting infant or quietly alert infant) demands some degree of attunement from all in the room, at both conscious and unconscious levels. The aim of this policy is to allow candidates and instructors to focus their full attention on the class material and other members of the learning group, rather than inevitably having their attention divided between the learning process and whatever may be evoked for a given individual in response to an infant.
This policy is designed to prioritize the optimal functioning of the psychoanalytic learning group, and we regret the hardship it imposes on candidates who are parents of newborns. Infants are very welcome in the common areas of the SFCP building under the supervision of a caregiver, so that candidates may tend to their infants as needed throughout the day when not in class.
Please note that classes for the incoming cohort in 2023-24 and beyond will be held in-person for candidates, with remote participation available only as needed for exceptional circumstances (e.g., due to illness, travel, or other circumstances, etc.). Candidates who live more than 1.5 hours away are asked to attend classes in person a minimum of once per month. Instructors will also be encouraged to participate in person to the greatest extent possible. In addition, there may be other circumstances (e.g. new parent, medical leave, etc.) whereby remote attendance is permitted for the majority of the time, with the expectation that candidates attend class in-person a minimum of once per month.
Please review SFCP’s current policies and procedures for Hybrid Learning, available at this link.
All classes in the Adult Psychoanalytic Training Curriculum are held on Fridays from 8:00am - 1:45pm for 34 weeks/year, for 4 years. Each Friday consists of three 90-minute class periods, and two breaks as shown:
8:00 - 9:30 Class
9:30 - 9:45 Break
9:45 - 11:15 Class
11:15 - 12:15 Lunch/Candidate Meetings
12:15 - 1:45 Class
The psychoanalytic training curriculum includes a carefully-planned and integrated sequence of required seminars. Candidate cohorts, organized by year, take this seminar sequence together during Year 1 - Year 4 of analytic training. It is common for changes in cohort composition to occur due candidates taking unanticipated leaves of absence or resuming training after a leave, or on the occasion that candidates transfer from other training programs.
Electives are taken for one 7-week period each in the second, third, and fourth years of training. Candidates in Years 2 - 4 will have the opportunity to vote on which Electives are offered each year, based on proposals submitted annually by potential instructors. Every attempt will be made to assign candidates to the Elective of their choice. Post-seminar candidates are welcome to participate in Electives on an optional basis, but are not eligible to vote on which Electives are offered.
First year candidates will have their own case conference designed to address the issues of deepening treatment and beginning analyses.
During Years 2 - 4, combined groups of second-year, third-year, and fourth-year candidates will be assigned to take either an Adult case conference sequence or a Child/Adolescent/Adult case conference sequence. All candidates are offered an opportunity to present an Adult, Adolescent, or Child case at least once during Years 2 through Year 4 of their training.
All candidates are required to take at least one year of the Child/Adolescent/Adult Case Conference sequence during their analytic training, and candidates who have a special interest in child-adolescent analysis can request to take this sequence a second time.
Candidates participate in facilitated Reflection Groups as part of their training experience. Reflection Groups (described at this link) offer an opportunity for candidates to reflect together on the social and emotional aspects of learning as a group, and the ways in which psychoanalytic training is impacting their identity, their clinical work, and their perspectives on wider society. Reflection Groups are a required part of the SFCP Analytic Training Program, and candidates are expected to attend regularly along with other classes as part of their seminar cohort.
Each year, in the spring, one full day of classes is reserved for candidates to design their own program of study (Intersession). Intersession programs have traditionally been focused on an area of applied psychoanalysis - e.g. psychoanalysis and art, psychoanalysis and film, psychoanalysis and politics, etc. Intersession is organized solely by a designated subcommittee of the Candidate Association, and a portion of candidate tuition is earmarked to fund this program (e.g. to pay an honorarium to an invited speaker, to purchase tickets to SF-MOMA, etc). Though the Curriculum Committee does not supervise the content of the Intersession program, attendance is mandatory for all candidates enrolled in the curriculum, and is tracked along with other required courses in the curriculum. Post-seminar candidates are welcome to attend Intersession on an optional basis.
Each year, as part of Visiting Professor Week, class time is reserved for the entire candidate group to meet with the Visiting Professor to discuss a candidate case presentation (Candidate Colloquia). Though the Curriculum Committee does not organize this candidate-only event, candidate attendance at Candidate Colloquia is mandatory and is tracked along with other required courses in the curriculum.
In addition to completing all coursework in the four-year curriculum described above, all candidates must complete the post-seminar Graduation Paper Workshop and submit an approved Graduation Paper prior to April 15th of the year they plan to graduate. [Please refer to the section below entitled Graduation Paper for information about the Graduation Paper Workshop and graduation paper requirements].
[**Note: If unanticipated circumstances require you to interrupt your training or change to part-time attendance, please contact the Dean and the Curriculum Chair as soon as possible to discuss your situation. Please refer to sections below on Candidate Schedule Changes for a description of policies around Interruptions in Training and Part-Time Attendance.]
