Czech Society
for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Rules for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents within the CSPAP

(state by 22.2.2000)

Training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and adolescents has been organized by the Czech Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (hereinafter the CSPAP) under its Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (hereinafter the IPP), according to the principles of the EFPP (European Federation of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy). The training program is post-graduate in nature, and is intended for those interested in working with children and adolescents.

The training system is made up of the following steps: acceptance of candidates, personal individual training, theoretical education, supervision and a final colloquy. The IPP keeps records on training and organizes it.

The following conditions must be met in order to gain qualification as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist:

1. Acceptance of applicant for training

   The applicant must be qualified to pursue a medical or psychological profession, or another profession related to health care. Exceptions may be made in the case of individuals who have been practicing psychotherapy for a certain period of time but do not meet these conditions. The applicant will make his interest known to the head of the IPP's children's section. All applicants will be provided with the necessary information on the acceptance procedure for the training program. Two training therapists from the IPP's children's and individual sections will independently assess the suitability of admitting the candidate to the program by means of a personal interview with him. The training therapists will evaluate the results of these interviews independently of one another and present them in written and oral form at the next IPP training committee meeting. The training committee decides by a three-fourths majority on the acceptance of the applicant as a candidate. If doubts are raised, the applicant will be invited for further independent evaluation by a third training therapist. The applicant will be informed of the training committee's decision in writing by the section head. A decision by the training committee not to accept an applicant is not subject to appeal. However, an applicant who was not accepted into the training program may reapply for acceptance later, though not earlier than after a period of two years. A CSPAP fee in an amount set by the CSPAP committee is part of the acceptance procedure. If the applicant is accepted as a training candidate, he may begin personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a training therapist he himself chooses, following agreement with the therapist. Otherwise he may refer to the training committee.
    

2. Personal training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy

   The candidate will take part in intensive training at least two times a week for a period of approximately three years. (In exceptional cases only, two hours once a week, with a break between the two sessions.) The minimum number of hours is 300, and one session of psychoanalytic psychotherapy lasts 45 - 50 minutes. The candidate will undergo personal training either with a CSPAP training psychotherapist or with a training psychoanalyst from the Czech Psychoanalytic Association. The training psychotherapist reports to the training committee only on the candidate's completion or interruption of training. He will not provide other information. The candidate may transfer to personal analytical therapy with a different training therapist. However, such a transfer must always be discussed by the training committee, which issues a statement of its position regarding the transfer.
    

3. Theoretical education

   The theoretical part of the training program takes place according to the IPP teaching curriculum. The content of the course should be in accordance with basic EFPP standards. The course of instruction takes the form of lectures and seminars in theory. The candidate applies for the course of instruction by handing in an application to the head of the children's section of the CSPAP. The candidate must have completed at least 70 hours of personal training before beginning theoretical instruction. He will subsequently be informed of the deadlines and conditions of the course. The course of instruction (lectures and seminars) is scheduled for a period of three years. The course will end with a written examination, whose results will be announced to candidates in "pass/fail" form. If the candidate does not pass the examination, he may take a corrective examination. A second corrective examination may be taken only with the permission of the training committee. If the candidate still does not pass, he will be dismissed from the training program. An overall plan of general and specialized instruction will be made available in written form, and will be published in the society's reports. The fee for the course of instruction is to be paid in advance to the society's account, according to information made available before instruction begins.
    

4. Supervision and final colloquy

   The supervisory part of the training program may begin at the candidate's request after he has completed half of the self-experiential part of the training program, or at any later time. The head of the children's section passes on the candidate's request to two training therapists, who evaluate him by means of an interview (the candidate's own therapist may not take part). The IPP training committee decides on the candidate's acceptance for supervision at its next meeting, in the absence of the candidate's own training therapist. The committee either approves the candidate's request for acceptance or rejects it, at the same time suggesting a further procedure (for instance, deferring the commencement of supervision). This assessment is performed only at the beginning of the first supervision. The candidate is informed of the start of supervision by the head of the children's section. Three cases are required for supervision, each in a different age category (pre-school child, school-age child, adolescent). In at least one of the cases the patient must come for a session at least twice a week, and the overall duration of therapy should be at least one year (one and a half years in the case of one patient). The frequency of supervision should be once every two weeks, and the total amount of hours for all supervisions should be at least 80 hours. The supervisor informs the training committee about the candidate's work with the patients, in the absence of the candidate's therapist. The training committee follows the candidate's progress in supervision and, if necessary, recommends that the candidate continue with supervision beyond the required number of hours, or that the candidate undergo a third supervision. Following successful completion of supervision, the candidate will produce a paper based on one of the supervised cases for his final colloquy. The paper should consist of 15 - 20 pages. The paper must be submitted to the training committee in eight copies for preliminary evaluation. The head of the training committee will inform the candidate as to whether the paper is acceptable for defense. The final colloquy is open to all members of the society. At least three members of the training committee must participate in it (not counting the candidate's own training therapist). Immediately following the final colloquy, the committee will evaluate the candidate's presentation, his paper and the earlier results of his training, and vote on a final evaluation and the completion of the candidate's training by a three-fourths majority. In the event that the candidate's presentation at the colloquy is not successful, he has the right to repeat it following revision work. Should this second attempt also be unsuccessful, the training committee may allow a third and final colloquy. The chairman of the training committee will issue confirmation of the candidate's completion of the training course in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and an authorization for him to practice psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The successful candidate may then apply for the status of a regular member of the CSPAP, which will be approved at the next meeting of its regular members.
    

5. Dismissal of a candidate from training

   The IPP CSPAP training committee may dismiss a candidate from the training program in the following cases:
   • If he does not fulfill the duties of a candidate, that is, if he does not pay the prescribed fee for training, or is absent from training for an extended period of time,
   • If he cannot satisfy the demands made on him by the training program, e.g. is unable to complete personal therapy, does not take the final examination, or fails at the second and/or third colloquy,
   • If in the course of training he exhibits personal or ethical problems, which would disqualify him from working as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist.
   A proposal for dismissal of a candidate, which may be submitted by any member of the CSPAP, is voted on by the training committee in secrecy and must be accepted by four-fifths of all the members of the committee.
    

6. Non-reporting system in the IPP's work and maintaining confidentiality

   A non-reporting system is used in the training committee's work.
   A candidate's personal training therapist
   • is not entitled to vote on matters concerning his candidate,
   • is physically excluded from committee proceedings concerning his candidate,
   • maintains secrecy regarding the progress or content of the candidate's work,
   • may not carry out supervision of his candidate, and is excluded from any evaluative activities by IPP commissions concerning his candidate.
   • The training committee does not disclose information concerning the evaluation of candidates and their progress to other IPP and CSPAP members. Confidentiality may be breached only in the case of a proposal for dismissal of a candidate from the IPP, and then only to the extent necessary to properly ascertain the grounds of such a proposal.
      

7. Rules of procedure

   All decisions of the training committee are made in the form of a vote taken among the members in attendance; a simple majority of all the members must take part.

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