About the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis

About Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a general theory of individual behavior and experience. Its ideas both contribute to and draw from the biological and social sciences, group behavior, history, philosophy, art, and literature. As a developmental theory, it also informs child psychology, education, law, and family studies.

By examining the relationship between body and mind, psychoanalysis can deepen understanding of how emotions affect health and illness. Its framework emphasizes that:

• Every individual is unique.
• Thoughts and actions can be influenced by factors outside conscious awareness.
• Past experiences help shape the present.

What Is Psychoanalysis?

As a form of treatment, psychoanalysis is based on the observation that people are often unaware of factors influencing their emotions and behavior. These unconscious influences may contribute to unhappiness, troubling personality patterns, difficulties in work or relationships, changes in mood, or problems with self-esteem.

Because these influences operate outside conscious awareness, advice, self-help materials, and determined efforts of will may not provide sufficient relief. Psychoanalytic treatment seeks to help individuals recognize and understand these underlying patterns.

History

The organization’s origins date to 1914, when thirteen charter members met at St. Elizabeths Hospital, five years after Sigmund Freud’s lectures at Clark University. Meetings stopped in 1918 when several members left for military service during World War I.

During the 1920s, the Washington Psychopathological Society and the Washington Psychoanalytic Association offered lectures and seminars. In 1930, members of those organizations, led by Ernest E. Hadley, founded the Washington-Baltimore Psychoanalytic Society. It was recognized by the International Psychoanalytic Association and joined organizations in New York, Chicago, and Boston in federating the American Psychoanalytic Association.

The Society established a psychoanalytic education program in 1933. From 1946 through 1952, its combined institute operated under a joint committee, with local education committees in Washington and Baltimore. Growth in faculty and enrollment eventually led to separate institutes, both of which received full status from the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1955.

Beginning in the 1980s, the Washington Psychoanalytic Society expanded its programming for people interested in psychoanalytic principles who were not necessarily pursuing full analytic training. The Washington Psychoanalytic Foundation was created in 1990 to support these programs and raise funds. A review of the organization’s structure and governance began in 2000, eventually producing the name Washington Center for Psychoanalysis, a revised mission statement, and governance by a board of directors.

Additional historical detail appears in D. Noble and D. Burnham’s chapter, A History of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, published in Psychoanalysis and Psychosis, edited by Ann Silver, M.D. (International Universities Press, 1989).

Organization and Education

The source page identifies the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis, Inc. as a nonprofit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia to advance the professional and educational activities of its members and candidates. It also describes the Center as an affiliate society of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

The page states that the Center sponsors continuing education for physicians and psychologists and that its programs meet specified continuing-education criteria for social workers. It also notes that the organization is legally qualified to receive gifts, contributions, and bequests.