Structure and outline of the training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the Society for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Sofia Bulgaria

Aim

Creating and managing a training that ensures quality knowledge and skills so by the end of it the candidate can obtain a qualification as an adult psychoanalytic psychotherapist and would have a stable understanding of the theory and technique of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, so that he is able to be a partner to their patients in the therapeutic process, to their colleagues in thinking about individual cases and to the community in processing and working through the events happening in the community.

Another aim is internalising the main principles of psychoanalytic psychotherapy – the primacy of psychic reality , working in the transference, ethical rules for working with a patient and their close ones, writing up and presenting cases, participating in clinical and theoretical discussions, based on a strive to widen our understanding of the patient’s unconscious, towards critical and creative thinking, self-knowledge and capacity to know and preside over the transference. Capacity for writing and presenting scientific and clinical texts.

Philosophy

At the foundation of the training are the principles and achievements of psychoanalysis, described by Freud and developed by the British school of Object Relations. Of course the candidates are exposed to other authors and achievements in psychoanalysis – Freudian School, Independents, but the main identity and prism of the training is the object relation tradition.

This is why a year of baby observation is incorporated in the training, as the valuable contribution of this format of learning is recognised for the development of skills for observation, description and conceptualising of the material, as well as for the understanding of the early psychological development and the specifics of the transference and countertransference.

Structure

Due to the specific circumstances in which the training is to be implemented and the need for teacher participation from different countries the training is to be done in “seminar/clinical days” in conjunction to reading seminars – twice a month, led by members of the Organisational committee, each going on for 90 mins. The aim is to meet the requirement for 45 hours theory seminars and 45 hours clinical seminars during the academic year. The proposal is for one training seminar to have four 90 min seminars – one theory, at which papers from the reading list will be discussed and three clinical seminars.

In order to accumulate the required clinical hours and number of presentations attendance and presentations at the Object Relation seminars are acknowledged as clinical work on the training

Baby observation is strongly recommended, but not required. Seminars are once weekly, conducted via Skype.

Seminars on Case Management and Clinical Writing are held twice a year, after starting work with a training patient.

The training has a reading list for each year, as the individual teachers have some freedom in choosing the texts they would teach within the relevant topic. This should be consulted and approved by the Chair of Training committee.

Requirements for Qualification

Personal Psychotherapy or psychoanalysis – minimum twice, recommended three times a week for the duration of the training.

At least two individual and one group meeting with candidate’s tutor per year.

Candidates are required to treat at least two training patients, twice, preferably three times a week. One training patient must be treated for at least two years and one for at least eighteen months. The training cases which will provide the candidate with a qualification, are to be supervised each by a different supervisor and the required frequency of the supervision is once a week. The work with the training patient should be presented by the candidate in the clinical seminars on a regular basis. Each patient is supervised by a different supervisor on a weekly basis until the candidate qualifies. The work with the training patient should be presented by the candidate in the clinical seminars on a regular basis. The candidate commits to not interrupting the therapy with his/her patients when qualifying, but only when it is clinically reasonable.

Baby Observation – candidates are encouraged to take up baby observation for a year. Candidates who observe a baby need to present at least three times in clinical seminars their clinical work. Baby observations are presented in the baby observation group. After one year observing a baby, Candidates write a paper on their experience.

After meeting the requirements outlined above, the candidate writes a clinical paper on their work with one of their training patients.

Managing bodies of the Training programme are the Training Committee and the Organizing Committee.

Members of the Training Committee:

Dr Alberto Hahn

Psychoanalyst, fellow of The British Psychoanalytic Society
Chair of “The Donald Meltzer Development Trust”
Chair of the training committee of the Training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy of the Society of Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Bulgaria.
Lecturer, training analyst and training supervisor in Tavistock Clinic, London
Lecturer and supervisor, British Psychoanalytic Society
Lecturer and supervisor, British Psychoanalytic Association
Guest lecturer and supervisor in Italy, Spain, USA, China, Argentina, France, Chile, Bulgaria.
Winner of the 2017 annual BAP (Bulgarian Association for Psychotherapy) award for contribution to the development of the psychoanalytic thought and practice

Dr. Robert Caper

Dr. Robert Caper is a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City. He is the author of four books and numerous papers on psychoanalysis and has lectured and taught extensively in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Spain, China, France, Brazil, Argentina and the UK. He has also served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.

Selina Perocevic

A child psychoanalytic psychotherapist in Northern England, lecturer

A child psychoanalytic psychotherapist in Northern England, lecturer, leader of Baby observations groups in UK and Bulgaria. She trained as child and adolescent psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, London. Candidate of Psychoanalysis at British Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Selina Perocevic – winner of the 2020 annual BAP (Bulgarian Association for Psychotherapy) award for contribution to the development of the training programme in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in Bulgaria, via the introduction of the “Infant Observation” method.