Czech Society
for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

Rules for Training in Individual Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy
at the IPP CSPAP

(state by 22.2.2000)

Individual training in psychoanalytical psychotherapy has been organized according to the principles of the EFPP (European Federation of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy in the public sector), of which the CSPAP became a guest member in 1998. The training takes place at the IPP of the CSPAP.

Training in individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy is post-graduate in nature, and is intended for those interested in working with adults and children. (Within the CSPAP's children's section, training is organized according to the rules of the children's section, following completion of personal training and supervision with one adult patient.)

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

Training in individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy may take place only within the CSPAP's Institute of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy (hereinafter IPP) or its branch locations. The Institute keeps records on training and organizes it.

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

1. Acceptance of applicant for training.

   1. The training applicant makes his interest in entering the training program known to the heads of the IPP's individual training section by telephone or in writing. All applicants will be provided with the necessary information on the acceptance procedure for the training program.
   2. The applicant must already be qualified to pursue a medical or psychological profession, or another profession related to health care, before being accepted into the training program. Exceptions may be made in the case of individuals who have been practicing psychotherapists for a certain period of time but do not meet these conditions, provided they have at least one year of clinical or consulting practice.
   3. The applicant will be given two entrance interviews by each of two IPP training therapists, to whom he will pay the prescribed fee for these activities.
   4. The training therapists will evaluate the entrance interviews independently of one another, and present the written and oral results thereof at the next IPP training committee meeting.
   5. The object of the evaluation is the applicant's fitness for undergoing personal training, as well as for pursuing the profession of a psychoanalytical psychotherapist. His education, the usefulness of the training in practice and the applicant's personal characteristics are all assessed.
   6. The training committee decides by a three-fourths majority on the acceptance of the applicant as a candidate. If doubts of a substantial nature are raised, or if the evaluation is incomplete, the applicant will be invited for a further, independent evaluation by a third training therapist.
   7. The applicant will be informed of the training committee's decision in writing by the section head or a designated training therapist.
   8. A decision by the training committee not to accept an applicant is not subject to appeal.
   9. An applicant who was not accepted into the training program may reapply for acceptance later, however, not earlier than after a period of two years.
   10. If the applicant is accepted as a training candidate by a decision of the training committee, he becomes a training candidate, and may begin individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy with a training therapist he himself chooses, following agreement with the therapist.
   11. If the training therapist is unable to accept the candidate, they will agree together on a certain waiting period, or the candidate will refer to another training therapist or to the training committee.
        

2. Personal training in psychoanalytical psychotherapy.

   1. 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.
   2. The candidate will undergo personal training either with a training psychotherapist recognized by the CSPAP or with a training psychoanalyst of the Czech Psychoanalytical Association.
   3. One session of psychoanalytical psychotherapy lasts 45 - 50 minutes.
   4. The training psychotherapist reports to the training committee only on the candidate's completion or interruption of training. He will not provide other information.
   5. 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

   1. Instruction in psychoanalytical psychotherapy takes place according to a teaching curriculum whose formation IPP members and candidates contribute to through their comments. The content of the course of instruction should be in harmony with basic EFPP standards.
   2. The candidate may attend lectures and seminars in theory organized by the CSPAP after having completed at least 70 hours of personal training.
   3. The candidate applies for the course of instruction by handing in an application to the training committee of the individual training section of the CSPAP, which will inform him of the deadlines and conditions of the course of instruction.
   4. A minimum of eight participants is required to form a new candidate instruction group.
   5. Instruction in the form of lectures will take place over the course of three years. (Seminars will be included in the course of instruction according to the capacity of the lecturers and the candidates' opportunities for taking part in them.)
   6. If instruction is to take place primarily by means of lectures, the program of instruction will end with a written examination, whose results will be announced to candidates in "pass/fail" form.
   7. If the candidate does not pass the examination, he must 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.
   8. Lecturers are obliged to provide candidates with references to secondary literature or allow them to borrow literature available in the society's library.
   9. An overall plan of general and specialized instruction will be made available to all candidates in written form, and will be published in the society's reports, along with a time schedule for the course of instruction, at least two months before the new course of instruction begins.
   10. 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.
   11. Non-payment of the fee may be grounds for dismissal of a candidate from the training program.
        

4. Supervision and final colloquy

   1. The training institute for individual psychoanalytical psychotherapy appoints a team of supervisors. Their names are available from the section head.
   2. The basic team of supervisors is made up of training therapists who are regular members of the society. The concurrence of training and supervision is recommended.
   3. The candidate applies for supervision himself through the heads of the individual training section still during personal therapy.
   4. The head of the individual training section sends the candidate for two interviews with training therapists, who assess his suitability for beginning supervision (the candidate's own training therapist may not assess him). This assessment is performed only at the beginning of the first supervision.
   5. The training committee may recommend continuation of personal training in concurrence with supervision to such candidate, who has finished personal training yet and applies for supervision.
   6. The training therapists' committee decides on the acceptance of the candidate for supervision in the absence of the candidate's own training therapist.
   7. The candidate is informed of the beginning of supervision by the head of the individual training section.
   8. Two cases are required for supervision, preferably one of each sex and with two different supervisors (but not with the candidate's personal therapist).
   9. A total of 150 sessions with the patient is assumed for each case for supervision.
   10. The patient must come for a session at least twice a week, and the frequency of supervision should be once every two weeks. The total amount of hours of supervision should be at least 40 hours for each case for supervision.
   11. Supervision will take place regularly, even during short-term interruptions of psychoanalytical psychotherapy by the patient.
   12. The supervisor informs the training committee about the candidate's work in the absence of the candidate's therapist.
   13. The training committee follows the candidate's progress in supervision and, if necessary, recommends that the candidate continue with supervision beyond the required 40 hours of supervision or that the candidate undergo a third supervision.
   14. 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 20 - 30 standard A4 pages, and should comprise the initial interview, the course of the therapy, a meta-psychological analysis and two sample sessions, of which one should include work done with dreams.
   15. 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 within two months as to whether the paper is acceptable for public defense.
   16. The date for a public defense of the final colloquy will be set by the training committee no later than three months after the candidate's paper is submitted.
   17. The final colloquy is open to all members of the society. At least three members of the training committee must participate in it (not including the candidate's own training therapist).
   18. 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. All decisions will be made by a three-fourths majority, with the candidate's own therapist excluded from voting.
   19. 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.
   20. Within one month, the chairman of the training committee will issue confirmation of the candidate's completion of the training course in psychoanalytical psychotherapy, whereupon the psychoanalytical psychotherapist may apply for the status of a member of the CSPAP.
        

5. Dismissal of a candidate from training.

   The IPP 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 and education 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 psychoanalytical psychotherapist.

   Any member of the CSPAP may submit a proposal for dismissal of a candidate. Such a proposal is voted on by the training committee in secrecy, and must be accepted by four-fifths of all the members of the committee.

   A decision to dismiss a candidate may be appealed. It is possible to apply again for admission as a training candidate after a period of two years, under the conditions for re-admission set by the training 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 in 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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