Self Psychology IASP
Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology
Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology
About Us
Contact Us
Training Programs
Educational Components
Seminars in 2009-2010
Events
Past Conferences
Links
Referral Services
Join Our Mailing List

About Us

The Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology offers a training program in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis with a particular emphasis on the psychoanalytic theory and clinical techniques of contemporary self psychology. The program has been developed and scheduled to be able to include candidates who live outside the Greater Toronto Area.

About the Training Program

The program consists of theoretical and clinical seminars (weekly Tuesday evening classes and monthly Saturday seminars), supervision of cases in treatment and personal psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. Clinically, the educational focus is on the study of subjective experience and intersubjective phenomena. The treatment approach emphasizes the techniques and skills of sustained empathic enquiry. From this perspective, close attention is paid to the state of the self, to the patient's experience of the therapist, (the transference) and to the therapist's experience of the patient, (the countertransference). The detailed study of the therapeutic relationship as it unfolds, especially the recognition and management of disruptions due to empathic errors, is a central focus in supervision and clinical discussions.

The core curriculum begins with an overview of psychoanalysis, from Freud through many of the post-Freudians. We then focus on the emergence and development of the self psychological approach from the traditional psychoanalytic theories, beginning with the study of Kohut's writings and proceeding to the contributions of others such as intersubjectivity, motivational systems, specificity theory, attachment theory, relational psychoanalysis, and other schools contemporary psychoanalytic thinking. Specific attention is paid to gender, trauma, dreams and developmental theory.

Upon graduation, students will receive diplomas recognizing their level of training and become eligible to join the Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology and to proceed to more advanced training.

For more information on IASP's training programs, please visit the "Training Programs" section of this site.

Back to top

Objectives of Training

Basic psychotherapy program:

At the completion of their training, candidates should be capable of treating a wide range of clients using the principles of psychoanalytic self psychology. Through their training, candidates will become able to:

  • Appreciate the need to maintain an appropriate therapeutic ambience
  • Recognize and respond optimally to the manifestations of selfobject transferences
  • Recognize and understand their own countertransferences
  • Understand the evolution of the self from a developmental perspective
  • Place the ideas of self psychology within the context of other schools of thought - psychoanalytic, historical and social
  • Develop their own independent thinking

Back to top

IASP Board

Midge Breslin*
President

Sonia Singer*
Vice President & Student Progress Chair

Alan Kindler*
President Emeritus, Curriculum Chair, Chair of Conference Committee

Helene Brodziak
Secretary & Coordinator of Self Psychology Study Group

Margaret Amerongen
Community Development Chair

Bruce Herzog*
Member-at-Large

Marsha Hewitt
Member-at-Large

Dan Perlitz
Treasurer

David Wright*
Admissions Chair

Cathy Martin
Post Academic Representative

Sue Findlay
Seminar Coordinator

* Executive Committee member

Back to top

Founding Members

Clarissa Barton, MB, FRCP(C)
Janet Cleghorn, MSW, CSW
Hazel Ipp, PhD
Sam Izenberg, MD, FRCP(C)
Alan Kindler, MBBS, FRCP(C)
Ellen Lewinberg, BSW, Dip.PSW, CSW
Judith Levene, MSW, PhD
Ophelia MacDonald, MD, FRCP(C)
Sandra Palef, PhD
Gary Rodin, MD, FRCP(C)
Gary Taerk, MD, FRCP(C)
Peter Thomson, MB, FRCP(C)
Elizabeth Tuters, MSW, CSW
Mary Wright, MBchB, FRCP(C)

Back to top

Advisory Board

Doris Brothers, PhD
Mark Gehrie, PhD
Joseph Lichtenberg, MD
Jean Baker-Miller, MD
Andrew Morrison, MD
Anna Ornstein, MD
Brenda Solomon, MD
Marion Tolpin, MD
Paul Tolpin, MD
Ernest Wolf, MD

Back to top

Faculty

Taras Babiak, MD, FRCPC
Midge Breslin, MEd
Rukhsana Bukhari, MD, FRCPC
Art Caspary, PhD, ClinicalPsych
Janet DeGroot, MD
Bruce Herzog, MD
Hazel Ipp, PhD
Sam Izenberg, MD, FRCP(C)
Rex Kay, MD, FRCPC
Alan Kindler, MBBS, FRCPC (Director)
Judi Kobrick, PhD
Jack Kohl, MD
Judith Levene, PhD
Josh Levy, PhD
Ellen Lewinberg, BSW, MSW (equiv.), CSW
Elliott Markson, MD, FRCPC
Clare Pain, MD
Sandra Palef, PhD
Garry Powell, MD
Gary Rodin, MD, FRCP
John Sloane, MD, FRCPC
Gary Taerk, MD, FRCPC
Elizabeth Tuters, MSW, CSW
Patricia White MD, FRCPC
Brent Willock, PhD
David Wright, BA, MDIV
Mary Wright, MBChB, FRCPC

Back to top

Who May Apply?

The four year training program is designed for mental health professionals whose major interest is individual psychotherapy. The admission process will take into account academic qualifications, emotional resources and capacity for empathy with others. Applicants will be expected to have an understanding of their own psychology and of the psychoanalytic process.

Back to top

Fees

Application $250.00 (non-refundable)
Classes: $3,500.00 per year
Supervision: by private arrangement

Back to top

In This Section

>> About the Training Program
>> Objectives of Training
>> 2010 Training Program
>> IASP Board
>> Founding Members
>> Advisory Board
>> Faculty
>> Who May Apply?
>> Fees

info@iasptoronto.com | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
©2010 IASP - The Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology, Toronto