AGIP

Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

AGIP's psychotherapy training programme aims to prepare students for practice in individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy through a training that leads to Professional membership of AGIP. Professional membership allows therapists to register as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

If you are considering applying for psychotherapy training in 2009, AGIP will be holding two Open Days for prospective applicants. These will be on 8 February 2009 and 25 April 2009. To book a place, please contact the AGIP office.

During 2006/7 UKCP undertook its quinquennial (five- yearly) review of AGIP. The following are extracts from its final report:
"AGIP offers an excellent training which clearly meets and even exceeds UKCP standards. Its seminar programme provides a sound psychoanalytic education. It addresses the work of contemporary trends in psychoanalysis but chooses to orient its programmes towards the founders of psychoanalysis. "
"The seminar programme aims for a thorough grounding in psychoanalytic theory with a clear direction. There is a demanding reading list and the ground is covered in an interesting way. This strongly indicates from the outset the diversity of psychoanalytic theory and thus sets the standard for a sound education in the major theorists."
"AGIP's home provides a very attractive base for prospective trainees and allows for an immersion in psychoanalytic thinking and practice which is very conducive to the trainees' development."

The course includes both academic and experiential work. It is psychoanalytically based, founded principally on the theories of Freud, Jung, Klein, Winnicott and other Object Relations theorists . Post-classical traditions are integrated within this analytic base. Clinical seminars are held from the second year onwards.

A principle aim of this pluralist course is to encourage an actively synthesising approach towards knowledge and practice in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The training encompasses a comparative exploration of the classical and contemporary psychoanalytic field, based on the view that the various theoretical orientations are complementary and that each, therefore, offers an insight into the principles of the others.

The seminar course is based on the exploration of theoretical models that have offered a dynamic understanding of the Unconscious. The syllabus is constructed as a means of enabling trainees to follow the development of psychoanalytic thinking and to view the areas of controversy within the field from different perspectives. Seminars are designed both around theorists who have contributed to the development of psychoanalytic thinking and the central psychoanalytic concepts that have evolved. The syllabus is continually reviewed and developed and AGIP reserves the right to make changes at any time to the training programme.

Throughout the course there is a focus on comparative psychoanalytic models connected to clincial work, which encourages and builds an understanding of the synthesis of theory and practice.

Seminars are held once weekly on a regular evening and on two Saturdays or Sundays per term during the four year course.

For further information about the course, click on the appropriate topic below:

• Entry Requirements and admission process
• Seminar Programme
• Personal therapy requirement
• Working with training patients
• Support for students
• Written Work
• Fees and costs
• Psychiatic Experience
• Groupwork
• Completion of the Course and Qualification
• Time Commitment
• Online application form

Potential applicants with additional queries may be offered a pre-application consultation with a member of the Training Committee - please contact the AGIP office if you wish to have such a consultation.