FAQ

A primary function of the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute is the training of psychoanalysts. As a treatment, psychoanalysis is based on the observation that individuals are often unaware of the connections between their emotions and their behaviors. When normal development is impaired by a conflict or trauma, the aim of treatment is the resolution of the unconscious conflicts impeding development. Analysis is an intimate partnership between the patient and the analyst. The patient becomes aware of the underlying issues, not simply intellectually, but emotionally, through the experience with the analyst. Successful treatment increases emotional capacity, alters psychic structures, and facilitates healthy growth. Psychoanalysts strive to listen to and understand their patients. This emphasis differentiates analysts from other mental health professionals who prescribe either medicine or behavior modification. Candidates for Adult Psychoanalytic Training require the maturity, integrity, and character necessary to function as a psychoanalyst.

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in the psyche, through dialogue between patient and psychoanalyst,[3] and the distinctive theory of mind and human agency derived from it.[4]

Freud was born to Galician Jewish parents in the Moravian town of Freiberg, in the Austrian Empire. He qualified as a doctor of medicine in 1881 at the University of Vienna. [5][6] Upon completing his habilitation in 1885, he was appointed a docent in neuropathology and became an affiliated professor in 1902.[7] Freud lived and worked in Vienna having set up his clinical practice there in 1886. Following the German annexation of Austria in March 1938, Freud left Austria to escape Nazi persecution. He died in exile in the United Kingdom in 1939.

In founding psychoanalysis, Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association and discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process. Freud’s redefinition of sexuality to include its infantile forms led him to formulate the Oedipus complex as the central tenet of psychoanalytical theory.[8] His analysis of dreams as wish-fulfilments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression. On this basis, Freud elaborated his theory of the unconscious and went on to develop a model of psychic structure comprising id, ego and super-ego. [9] Freud postulated the existence of libido, sexualized energy with which mental processes and structures are invested and which generates erotic attachments, and a death drive, the source of compulsive repetition, hate, aggression, and neurotic guilt.[9] In his later work, Freud developed a wide-ranging interpretation and critique of religion and culture.

Psychoanalytic theories and therapies strive to understand the unique phenomenology of a person. In doing so, the meaning and values that give significance to our lives are honored and supported. In our modern era of brain research, a person’s experience of living is sometimes reduced to a discussion of biochemicals and brain structures. Love, happiness, sadness, or misery can be simplistically “explained” by neuropathways, select brain regions, and neurotransmitters. While the remarkable advances of science have allowed researchers to understand how biological systems function during the experience of such emotions, they actually offer descriptions of how they happen, not explanations for these phenomena. By reducing the essence of the human experience (or any living creature’s experience, for that matter) to an objectified mechanistic system, we deny the most salient of human abilities, our imagination! Our capacity to create seemingly limitless ideas and stories has allowed the mind to be emancipated from the constraints of sensory reality. We imagine, invent, create, and transcend beyond the material world toward a world of potentiality. Certainly, psychoanalysis is still relevant today! Read more here: 7 Reasons Why Psychoanalysis Is Still Relevant Today | PsychStudies.net

The St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute, originally known as The St. Louis Psychoanalytic Foundation, dates to 1956, when a group of interested laypeople, academics and physicians saw the need to increase opportunities for adult psychoanalytic treatment in the St. Louis area as well as to promote psychoanalytic education and research. In 1974, the Foundation was granted status as a training facility by the American Psychoanalytic Association and became the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. Please click on the link below for more information about the history of the Institute.

Welcome to the Institute – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

a. Adult Analytic Training. A primary function of the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute is the training of psychoanalysts. As a treatment, psychoanalysis is based on the observation that individuals are often unaware of the connections between their emotions and their behaviors. When normal development is impaired by a conflict or trauma, the aim of treatment is the resolution of the unconscious conflicts impeding development. Click the link below for more information.

Training in Adult Psychoanalysis – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

b. Child/Adolescent Analytic Training. The psychoanalytic treatment of children and adolescents utilizes the same general and clinical theory as that of adults. When normal development is impaired or distorted by conflict, trauma or developmental impasse, the aim of treatment is the resolution of such impediments, as well as the increased awareness in the child of the meaning of the unconscious processes. As a result of psychoanalytic treatment the child’s strength increases, psychological structures are altered, adaptive capacities are restored and normal development resumes. Click the link below for more information.

Training in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

c. Child, Adolescent/Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. The Child Adolescent/Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program provides mental health professionals with theoretical and clinical training in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. CA/APP and former APP program graduates use their training for counseling and brief treatment applications, as well as intensive psychotherapies. Click the link below for more information.

Training in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

d. Open Analytic Classes. These are analytic training classes that are open to Mental Health Professionals and non-Candidates. Please click the link below for more information.

Open Analytic Theory Classes – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

e. Community Education (open to all). These are lectures & seminars open to the public at large. Please click the link below to see lectures/seminars available in 2025.

Lectures and Seminars – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

a. Child/Adolescent Analytic Training Application:

Analytic Training Application – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

b. Adult Analytic Training Application:

Analytic Training Application – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

c. Child, Adolescent/Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Program Application:

CA/APP Application – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Lectures/Seminars :

Spring Comm Ed Registration

a. Clinic Services: The Schiele Clinic provides accessible, affordable, and available psychotherapy with fees based on the client’s ability to pay. Therapy sessions are available over video conferencing platforms, or in person in the private Clinic space within the St Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. Several ofour therapists are available during the evenings and on weekends. The Clinic does not limit the number of therapy sessions a client can receive. Please click the link below for more information about the Clinic or to sign up for services.

About the Clinic – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Services: Sign up for Clinic Services – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

b. If you are interested in the Schiele Clinic practicum, please click on the link below.

Herbert S. Schiele Clinic Training Programs – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

OR fill out the interest form and someone will reach out to you promptly.

Clinic Training Interest Form – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

a. We offer comparable tuition rates with other Institutes in the U.S. Tuition rates may be subject to change from year to year.

b. Rates for each program for the current Academic year can be found at the link below:

Education at the Institute – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

a. Yes, we have both need-based and merit-based scholarships. These are available for CA/APP, Analytic Training, and Open Analytic classes. Please click the link below for more information about our scholarships.

Scholarship Opportunities – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Yes, we offer credits for Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, and other mental health specialists.

We are approved to offer CE credits by the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) for our programs and courses.

Please click on one of the links below to find out how to donate.

a. Donation Form

b. Other Ways to Give – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Please click on the link below to meet our Board Members,

a. Board of Directors – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Our faculty are specialists in their fields. Please click on the link below to meet our faculty.

a. Faculty Directory – Saint Louis Psychoanalytic Institute

Yes, we offer distance learning for those who are not local to the St. Louis and surrounding area. We strongly encourage in-person attendance for local students to foster a cohesive bond between students and instructors. Exceptions to this arrangement can be made by contacting the instructor of your class.