Who We Are
Toronto Psychoanalytic Society (TPS) is a not-for-profit association of professional psychoanalysts engaged in the development and advancement of clinical psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic thought in Toronto. It was founded in 1965 as a branch of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society (CPS), a component society of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) founded by Freud, with headquarters in London, England.
The IPA is the world’s leading association of professional psychoanalysts. It establishes training requirements to which component psychoanalytic training institutes must adhere, as well as standards of practice and ethical guidelines that members of component societies must uphold.
The Toronto Psychoanalytic Society (TPS) is an association of psychoanalysts who through having completed their training have qualified for membership in the TPS, CPS and IPA.
The Toronto Institute of Psychoanalysis (TIP) is composed of senior members of the TPS who have, in addition, qualified as Training & Supervising Analysts. They are charged with the responsibility of analyzing and supervising candidates in training. They also oversee the processes of admission of candidates, the assessment of their progress in training, the development and administration of the curriculum, the evaluation of members of the TPS who have applied to become training analysts, among other functions.
The TIP was established in 1969 as a branch of the Canadian Institute of Psychoanalysis (CIP). The TIP is now the largest psychoanalytic training program in Canada. As a component society of the IPA and a branch of the CIP, the TIP provides the only training in clinical psychoanalysis in Toronto with internationally recognized standards of excellence and ethics.
In addition to the training of psychoanalysts, the tps&i presents a range of educational programs throughout the academic year that are open to the community. The Advanced Training Program in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (ATPPP), in addition to offering a two-year clinical training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, sponsors biannual Scientific Sessions that focus on timely clinical and theoretical issues in long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Since 1983, the Extension Program of the TPS has offered to the public a series of courses on a wide range of clinical and applied psychoanalytic topics, including the highly attended annual course “Psychoanalysis and Cinema.”
Each year since its introduction in 2005, the TPS offers a one year, twenty-four week, introductory course on the principles of psychoanalysis. The Fundamental Psychoanalytic Perspectives Program combines teaching of basic concepts of psychoanalysis with presentation of clinical cases and explanation of therapy technique. Although not a training program, it could easily serve as a preliminary to one.
Many of the monthly scientific meetings of the TPS are open to the community and focus on a wide range of theoretical and clinical issues, as well as applications of psychoanalysis in other fields. In 1990, the signature event of the tps&i was established as The Annual Day in Psychoanalysis and has become an important event in the education calendar of Toronto’s community of mental health professionals. With the growing interest in clinical psychoanalysis and applied psychoanalysis in Toronto, the tps&i seeks to reach a broad clinical and academic audience interested in the full spectrum of psychoanalytical thought.
Membership in the TPS is limited to individuals who have completed psychoanalytic training at a branch of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Institute or another psychoanalytic institute sanctioned by the International Psychoanalytic Association.
Who is a Guest? Guests of the TPS are respected individuals from varied disciplines who have a strong interest in psychoanalysis and who have successfully completed an application process. Being a graduate of the ATPPP and the FPP entitles one to apply for guest status.
For a lively and in-depth account of the birth of psychoanalysis in Toronto, and the development of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, read Dr. Douglas Frayn’s Psychoanalysis in Toronto.
For further information on the various programs and activities sponsored by the tps&i, or to inquire about training in clinical psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, contact us.