Section I: Psychoanalytic Practitioners

Psychoanalytic Practitioners was established in the early days of Div. 39. Our membership is composed of psychologists and other qualified mental health professionals.

• Our Psychoanalytic Practitioner’s principal mission is to promote and advocate for the practice of psychoanalysis.
• We also seek to further the professional interests of practicing psychoanalysts and to encourage communication among them.

The section encompasses a broad spectrum of diverse theoretical approaches to psychoanalysis, and in line with our mission we support many creative and innovative activities in the field.

• Programs at conferences.
• Film series relevant to psychoanalytic topics.
• Special workshops across the country.
• Our newsletter, The Round Robin, an informal journal with original articles and commentary on a wide range of themes and issues of interest to our section and to the larger psychoanalytic community.

Creative interchange with psychoanalysts from outside the USA, a number of whom have joined the section as foreign members and present their work at special meetings.

We look forward to your involvement with our section, and we trust that you will find it a fruitful experience.

Our members are active in many psychoanalytic organizations.

Div. 39 adopted the standards formulated by the founding group of Section I.

The essentials of the section's standards eventually were incorporated into the training guidelines of the Psychoanalytic Consortium, which is composed of five major psychoanalytic membership organizations that represent the majority of psychoanalysts in the United States.

• The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry
• American Association for Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work (AAPCSW)
• American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA)
• Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies (CIPS)
• Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Div. 39) of the American Psychological Association

The Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPEinc), a national-level accrediting body derived from the Consortium and incorporated in 2001, currently subscribes to the same standards as those of our section in the accreditation process for psychoanalytic training programs throughout the United States.