The Advanced Candidacy Program shall be open only to independently licensed clinical practitioners from the fields of psychology, clinical social work, psychiatry, nursing, and mental health counseling.

Applicants for advanced candidacy should generally be 10 years beyond completion of their respective terminal professional degrees and should have spent most of their professional time, during those 10 years, in the practice of intensive, long-term, psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy.

Applicants' clinical work should present clear evidence of sustained interest in, and substantial commitment to, the application of psychoanalytic thinking in the clinical setting.

Applicants should have either already terminated a substantial personal analysis or, if they are still in analysis, should be beyond the third year of their personal analysis with a qualified psychoanalyst.

Note: Although some applicants may not have had a formal analysis, they may still be considered for advanced candidacy if they meet all other criteria and have had substantial periods of personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy and in other respects qualified for advanced candidacy. Such individuals would commence a personal analysis upon enrollment in the program for advanced candidates

Applicants for advanced candidacy should have achieved psychoanalytic theoretical knowledge at least at the intermediate level. Ideally, they have command of the literature commensurate with MIP candidates in the regular program who are entering their fourth year of classes. Advanced Candidates should also be self-directed persons who are capable of thriving in less structured learning environments.

Applicants for advanced candidacy should be able to present to the Admissions Committee documentation of their theoretical knowledge in the form of Syllabi for the psychoanalytic courses they have taught, as well as a representative sampling of their psychoanalytic publications.

Please note, however, that applicants for advanced candidacy are still to be considered as candidates and students. Thus, they will not be expected to demonstrate, at the time of application, mastery of psychoanalytic knowledge beyond what would be expected of advanced candidates at comparable psychoanalytic institutes.

Advanced Candidates are required to participate, at a minimum, in a two-part, once-a-week seminar for two academic years. The seminar consists of two six-week segments each semester — a Clinical Seminar and a Theoretical Seminar.

The Clinical Seminar is led by a senior psychoanalyst. Advanced Candidates take turns presenting their supervised analyses for discussion among their peers. All Advanced Candidates are expected to attend the Clinical Seminar during the first two years of doing control work and to present their analytic supervised analyses to their peers before graduating. Advanced Candidates who get a late start in their control work will present their cases in a clinical seminar, even if this involves attending classes beyond the minimum two-year coursework requirement. Candidates who have completed their coursework in MIP's 4-Year Training Program are welcome to join the Advanced Candidates Clinical Seminar, and many partake of this opportunity.

The Theoretical Seminar has the goal of bringing together and consolidating the theoretical viewpoints and knowledge that the Advanced Candidates have acquired through their prior training and other course work, as well as filling in the theoretical gaps of individual candidates. The colloquium serves the further purpose of introducing Advanced Candidates to MIP's unique perspective, consistent with the comparative focus of the MIP curriculum.

In addition to the Clinical and Theoretical Seminars, the Admissions Committee may require individual Advanced Candidates to take other courses and tutorials or to undertake other ways of acquiring background and further education in areas in which the Committee deems candidates to be deficient or in need of more fully developed perspective.

Advanced Candidates may also be asked to participate in other facets of the general curriculum, such as participating in workshops open to the community, or presenting their control work to Clinical Seminars in the regular program.

Advanced Candidates are required to take an Elective seminar in the Mini-Semester Program during the first year of their training, and an Ethics course during their second year.

Newly admitted candidates will join an ongoing cohort with a previously determined curriculum. These candidates will participate in determining the curriculum for the following year.

Three supervised analytic cases are required for graduation. Two of the analytic patients are traditional analytic cases. The third analytic case may be a traditional analysis or a “non-traditional case” with modified parameters (see the description below for Non-traditional Case). A total of 200 hours of supervision is required to graduate. As we do not have a group of designated training and supervising analysts, our students are free to choose their supervisors from a large range of analysts both local and international.

Because the Advanced Candidate Program offers only two years of formal coursework, candidates must enter the program ready to begin at least one analytic control case under supervision. It is preferable that applicants already have several patients in their practices who are being seen on a two or three times a week basis, and that one or two of these patients might be appropriate for conversion from psychotherapy to psychoanalysis.

The candidate may begin to conduct analyses under supervision with the approval of the Candidate Advisory Committee (CAC) once a personal analysis has either begun or an earlier personal analysis has met the requirement. Supervisors are chosen by the candidate and approved by the Training Committee. In general, MIP encourages the choice of supervisors from different theoretical persuasions to have a fully comparative experience.

Accepted advanced candidates may qualify for supervisory credit for analytic work supervised by a qualified analyst before applying to MIP on one analytic case. Candidates should speak to their Training Committee Liaison to inquire about the process.

The Non-Traditional Case: As one of their supervised control cases, MIP candidates are encouraged to consider working with someone who will expand their experience and potentially contribute to thinking about who can be treated in psychoanalysis and how less traditional ways of working may be creatively understood and framed. Modifications of the frame, such as the frequency of meetings will be guided entirely by what is clinically feasible with this individual—perhaps more meetings, perhaps fewer. This “non-traditional” case may differ in terms of diagnosis, conceptions about who is “analyzable,” and what those terms mean. The evolving meaning of these variations can then be shared, discussed, and further understood in MIP clinical seminars.

Applicants for the advanced track should have either already terminated a substantial personal analysis or, if they are still in analysis, should be beyond the third year of their personal analysis with a qualified psychoanalyst.

Note: Although some applicants may not have had a formal analysis, they may still be considered for advanced candidacy if they meet all other criteria and have had substantial periods of personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy and in other respects qualified for advanced candidacy. Such individuals would commence a personal analysis upon enrollment in the program for advanced candidates.

Applicants for advanced candidacy who have completed prior, substantial personal analyses may qualify for the personal analysis component of training. However, the Admissions Committee may recommend or require further treatment. After acceptance into the program, the pursuit of further psychoanalysis or psychotherapy may be recommended or required. Any formal recommendation concerning further treatment would be discussed between the candidate and his or her Liaison. Supervisors are expected to collaborate with the Liaison and candidates.

MIP regards the personal analysis as a vital part of a candidate’s clinical training. Because MIP does not have a training analyst system, candidates may freely select a psychoanalyst who has graduated from a qualified analytic training program who is in good ethical standing, and who meets the approval of the MIP Training Committee. Since the privacy of the treatment is deeply respected, the personal analyst does not report to the Institute.

Candidates are required to be in a 4 times per week analysis to begin their supervised analytic cases.

MIP offers many opportunities for further learning and specialization beyond the core 4-year curriculum. The Training Program in Psychoanalysis offers specialized weekend workshops to candidates throughout their 4 years. Required courses include: Infant Research, the work of Beatrice Beebe, Development, taught by Norka Malberg, a course on D.W. Winnicott and a course on Ethics. In addition, candidates are required to take three additional MIP Continuing Education courses offered through our Psychoanalytic Dimensions catalog which are offered throughout the year.

The final project is broadly viewed as an opportunity for candidates after their psychoanalytic training to study an issue in depth and present their work to colleagues. It has also proven to be an opportunity to enhance one's professional development and identity as a psychoanalyst.

For the final project, each candidate is required to choose a topic of theoretical or clinical interest to develop and write an expression of his/her creative involvement with psychoanalysis. Topics chosen have been highly varied and are always tailored to individual interests. While some projects are written (e.g., a paper for publication), others are taught (e.g., teaching a “Psychoanalytic Dimensions” course). The Institute is open to creative and different modes of expression in the final project.

The project is developed and presented to the Candidate Advisory Committee as a culmination of candidates’ training. Many projects have been subsequently published.

The Candidate Advisory Committee (CAC) is comprised of all three Supervisors, an appointed Liaison to the MIP Training Committee, and an Advisor if the candidate wishes to include one. The committee meets annually to discuss and promote the candidate’s progress during his or her training experience, to review ongoing cases, and to support the final project. The annual meeting is an opportunity for candidates to talk about their experiences both educationally and clinically and to invite the “team” to partner with them in setting further training-related goals.

Two core curriculum courses per academic year are eligible for 15 CEUs, CMEs, or CEs each. Courses taken through Psychoanalytic Dimensions are eligible for additional continuing education credits. Upon completion of the full 4-year training program, qualifying candidates can anticipate up to 132 credits. The advanced track’s continuing education curriculum is unique per candidate, so the total amount of credits may differ case by case.

Per APA requirements, psychologists must attend 100% of a course to be eligible for continuing education credit. Per NASW requirements, social workers must attend 80% of a course to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis (MIP) is fully committed to conducting all activities in strict conformance with the ethical principles and guidelines of the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.