“Dear Institute…”

This book is a collection of commentaries by 40 psychoanalysts-in training spanning across 29 different countries, shedding light on the state of contemporary psychoanalysis- its training, practice and relevance.The perception and landscape of typical psychoanalysis, the typical psychoanalyst and the typical psychoanalytic trainee has witnessed a tectonic shift since Dr. Sigmund Freud first introduced this technique over a hundred years ago. This book challenges and inspires us to think, at all levels, about reimagining how psychoanalysis should be taught in the 21st century. Inspired by Fred Busch’s “Dear Candidate” (Routledge, 2021), chapters are written in the style of personal letters from candidates to their faculty and institutes. Each contributor shares a piece of their mind-and their heart- about the trials and tribulations of the process of psychoanalytic training- what they cherished, what they loathed, why they spoke up, why they dropped out.This book is an important read for both prospective candidates as well as veteran psychoanalysts and institutional leaders.

"In “Dear Institute…”, Himanshu Agrawal brings together an international collective of analysts-in-formation who offer us informative, thought-provoking, courageous accounts of their experience of psychoanalytic training. Both the structure of the book and the individual contributions integrate past and present, internal and external, individual and institutional points of view. A short history of the contributor’s institute is shared at the beginning of each piece. The institute’s current contributions to, and sometimes interferences with, the formation of a developing analyst are portrayed. The sum of the book’s parts inspires a serious look at the ingredients of training, formal and informal, that contribute to the formation of curious, creative, rigorous graduates. This book is a must read for analysts involved in psychoanalytic training and an enticing roadmap for those who consider becoming a psychoanalyst."Harriet Wolfe, MD president, International Psychoanalytical Association“Dear Institute...” is a wonderful gift to the entire international psychoanalytic community and beyond. The letters collected here from 40 analysts-in-formation from almost all regions of the world continue an intergenerational dialog that began with 42 letters from older psychoanalysts to the younger generation in 'Dear Candidate' and is now proving extraordinarily fruitful. Each letter is fascinating in its very personal description of the changing experiences, the struggle with hopes, wishes, but also inner doubts and external obstacles in psychoanalytic training, such as problems with the time available, the costs of training or institutional conflicts. The opportunity to talk emerges as groundbreaking for all these questions: both with older psychoanalysts and within the younger generation, at the local Institute and internationally within the International Psychoanalytical Studies Organization (IPSO). Critical and grateful comments are in a creative interplay. The diverse suggestions in this partly poetic book are essential for the future of psychoanalysis in a changing world. My thanks to all contributors!"Dr. med. Heribert Blass, president-elect, International Psychoanalytic Association"More than an answer, “Dear Institute...” establishes a rich and truthful dialog with all those interested in psychoanalysis. Following the success of Dear Candidate, this book presents a cartography of psychoanalytic training around the world. Here we find love, doubts, ideals, passions, gratitude and creativity, in short, a human and dreamy perspective on the future of psychoanalysis and a testimony to psychoanalytic formations. With its unique wealth of images, “Dear Institute...” offers the reader dreams and distant lands, desire and thirst for knowledge, the past and the search for the unknown. Happy reading!"Thércio Andreatta Brasil, president of the Or

Himanshu Agrawal hails from New Delhi, India and is currently an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (USA). He is a psychoanalyst-in-training at the Minnesota Psychoanalytic Institute (USA).