The fate of training cases

Area of Science:

• Psychoanalytic education
• Psychotherapy training
• Clinical psychology

Background:

• Analytic patient treatment is a critical, yet understudied, aspect of psychoanalytic education.
• Little direct attention has been given to the formative experience of treating patients during psychoanalytic training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the characteristics and outcomes of training cases managed by candidates before graduation.
• To assess the impact of graduation on the continuation and termination of psychoanalytic treatments.
• To evaluate the overall success rate of training cases in psychoanalytic education.

Main Methods:

• A questionnaire survey was administered to graduates of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research (1983-1992).
• Data collected included information on training cases, treatment duration, and post-graduation analysis course.
• 70% of 71 graduates responded, providing data on 151 terminated cases.

Main Results:

• Candidates accumulated an average of nine years of experience treating training cases before graduation.
• 35% of cases terminated before graduation were invariably considered unsuccessful, indicating 'failed cases' are common.
• Graduation did not appear to precipitate case terminations, and most candidates continued supervision post-graduation.
• Only 23% of terminated training cases were rated as successful, though methodological limitations exist.

Conclusions:

• The 'failed case' is a frequent occurrence in psychoanalytic training and should be anticipated.
• Graduation serves as a milestone rather than a definitive end to analytic training, with ongoing supervision being common.
• The findings raise important questions about the influence of training requirements on candidate education and the fate of training cases.