Our History

In 1973, the San Diego Psychoanalytic Society was accredited by the American Psychoanalytic Association as one of thirty-one constituent societies. The Board on Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association granted full accreditation to the Institute, as a center to conduct psychoanalytic training, in December 1977. Subsequently, the Society and Institute merged in 1989, bringing together in one organization psychoanalytic training programs, scientific programs and collegial activities for its members, as well as educational meetings and activities for the larger mental health and lay community. It currently has graduate members and members-in-training from diverse backgrounds and is a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Psychoanalytic Association, and FIPAS, the organization of southern California psychoanalytic institutes and societies.

Our Mission Statement

The San Diego Psychoanalytic Society and Institute (SDPSI) is a nonprofit corporation and is accredited by the California Medical Association, the California Psychological Association, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, and the Board of Registered Nurses as an approved provider of continuing education credits.

Our Goals

 SDPSI has the following goals as a combined training institute and professional society:

  1. To establish and maintain an accredited institution of learning in the field of psychoanalysis.
  2. To provide training in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in accordance with the standards for such training, as established by the American Psychoanalytic Association.
  3. To promote research in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis.
  4. To provide professional growth and collegial activities for its members.
  5. To foster the dissemination of psychoanalytic knowledge and the integration of psychoanalysis with allied fields and professions.
  6. To facilitate the availability of affordable psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy to the community.
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