About the New York Freudian Society

The New York Freudian Society and Psychoanalytic Training Institute were founded in 1959 to provide training and a collegial community for psychoanalysts from many disciplines. The Society became a Provisional Member of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) in 1989 and a Component Society in 1993. The IPA is the oldest and largest international psychoanalytic organization and the world's primary accrediting and regulatory body for psychoanalysis.

Committed to the basic principles of Freud's profound discoveries, we identify ourselves in a historical context that began with that unprecedented revolution in the understanding of the human mind, and which continues to evolve in creative and influential ways. We are informed by post-Freudian developments and theoretical perspectives, current research on infant development and attachment, and recent neurobiological research that supports the physiological underpinnings of so many of Freud’s core theories of the mind. Our purpose is to contribute to that evolution through our active participation in the psychoanalytic movement, in a manner that respects, refines, expands, and shares our intellectual inheritance.

The New York Freudian Society membership is inter-disciplinary, and is based on professional commitment. Its purposes are two-fold: first, to offer those who are qualified an opportunity to belong to, and participate in, an active institutional structure; and second, to offer those who are qualified the opportunity for psychoanalytic study. The Institute, sponsored by the Society, offers training programs in adult, child and adolescent psychoanalysis, as well as psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the treatment of infants and parents, and an introductory program in psychodynamic psychotherapy for beginning clinicians.

An essential mission of NYFS is to provide a forum for the professional development of its members and candidates in an atmosphere of support and mutual respect. These values are made real through a vital spirit of inquiry and through stimulating interactive dialogue that contribute to our intellectual inheritance. It is the implementation of this vision that gives the society its substance.

The New York Freudian Society, formerly called The New York Society of Freudian Psychologists, is a not-for-profit membership organization, incorporated under New York State law. The Society has a Clinical Services program and an outreach program that provide therapeutic and educational services to our surrounding community. The Society functions (1) to foster the continuing theoretical and professional development of its members by providing scientific programs and advanced seminars; (2) to sponsor a Training Institute for instruction in and the study of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy; (3) to advance the science of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy through the encouragement of appropriate research; (4) to disseminate the ideas and findings of psychoanalytic research among other colleagues, related professionals and the general public. Members who wish to do so have the opportunity to participate in the governance, administration, educational and scientific work of the Society and Institute.

Graduates of the Psychoanalysis Programs of NYFS Training Institute are automatically granted membership in the Society upon payment of dues. Those graduated by other IPA institutes are invited to apply for membership, and may be admitted upon approval of the Board of Directors and payment of dues. Distinguished contributors to psychoanalysis, who are not clinical psychoanalysts, may be proposed for honorary membership. Inquiries about The New York Freudian Society and its membership requirements may be addressed to the Chairperson of the Membership Committee.

The New York Freudian Society is a Component Society of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). Graduates of the Institute who are trained in adult psychoanalysis are automatically recommended to the IPA for membership. They become members upon IPA approval and upon payment of IPA dues. The Society has a liaison officer who is responsible for administrative communications with the IPA.



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