Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology

The American Board and Academy of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology (ABAPPP) is a Specialty Board of the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). The examination in Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic (PA/PD) Psychology is designed to certify that candidates have met the Specialty’s educational, training, and experiential requirements. This includes a performance-based examination that assesses the competencies necessary to provide high-quality services in the Specialty.

A primary responsibility of ABAPPP is to establish a Board Certification process that recognizes and promotes Specialty-level standing in PA/PD Psychology and Subspecialty-level standing in Psychoanalysis. Specialty-level standing reflects competence beyond that required for licensure, yet remains attainable for most practitioners with appropriate specialized education, training, and practice. Board certification in PA/PD Psychology is a prerequisite for Subspecialty certification in Psychoanalysis, which requires additional education, training, and experience.

The Specialty of Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Psychology represents training beyond doctoral and internship requirements. Although the field encompasses a wide range of modalities and settings (e.g., group, couples, and family therapy; school-based work; assessment; and organizational contexts), supervised experience in individual psychotherapy remains a foundational component of training for board certification in PA/PD.

ABAPPP reviews each applicant’s materials to evaluate whether their doctoral and postdoctoral education, training, supervision, and post-licensure experience demonstrate sufficient breadth and depth in the Specialty. Because the American Psychological Association first recognized PA/PD as an official postdoctoral Specialty in 2022, many applicants may not have completed formal postdoctoral training programs in psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychology. The Board recognizes that training occurs through multiple pathways and at varying levels of intensity across a professional career. For example, some applicants may have received extensive supervision during doctoral practica or internships, while others may have begun PA/PD training at the postdoctoral or post-licensure stage. ABAPPP welcomes applicants from all such training backgrounds.

Stages and levels of training in the PA/PD Specialty and the Psychoanalysis Subspecialty are organized within the framework of a Taxonomy of Education and Training (APA, 2020). This taxonomy clarifies the distinction between Specialty and Subspecialty and describes opportunities for specialization at each stage of training (doctoral, internship, postdoctoral, and post-licensure). The terms defined in the taxonomy are used to establish pathways for training in PA/PD Psychology.

For information regarding the Subspecialty in Psychoanalysis, please click here.