Specialty Specific Requirements

Overview:  Training requirements are meant to be flexible enough to accommodate candidates whose experience might reflect differing levels of PA/PD emphasis through their doctoral, postdoctoral, and post-licensure careers. Candidates who have completed APA and CPA-accredited clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs may have had limited exposure to PA/PD Psychology and, therefore, emphasize PA/PD training at the postdoctoral or post-licensure levels. Other candidates may have extensive experience in graduate school and internship and require less experience at the postdoctoral level to meet ABPP PA/PD Psychology eligibility.

Many candidates will have received their advanced didactic and clinical experience in the context of a psychoanalytic institute-based one-or two-year postdoctoral/post-licensure PA/PD psychotherapy training program or in the first two years of a four-year psychoanalytic training at an institute or university-based program. In many cases, the training requirements of these programs will satisfy most of the requirements outlined below.

Candidates are encouraged to work with an ABAPPP mentor to help with relating their training experiences to the requirements.

1. Didactic Experience

Areas of required didactic instruction, which may occur at any stage of training, must sum to the equivalent of a Major Area of Study (MAS) in doctoral didactics (See Taxonomy and equivalency pages) and include each of the following areas:

• Foundations and history of psychoanalysis/psychodynamic psychology
• Normative and pathological psychological development
• Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theories and techniques
• Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic case conference
• Diversity and multicultural practice

There are a variety of ways to achieve equivalency for the MAS doctoral didactic requirements:

• Graduate school coursework
• Postgraduate 1-2 year didactic or training program
• APA-Approved Continuing education
• Guided reading through a mentorship program or with a consultant
• Teaching of PA/PD courses
• Dissertation or published scholarship in PA/PD Psychology

The didactic experience requirement may be satisfied with courses carrying titles similar to those listed above or, alternatively, the required areas may be infused throughout several learning experiences in the PA/PD curriculum. Candidates are invited to present a narrative of their didactic experiences in their SPECIALTY-SPECIFIC PSYCHOANALYTIC AND PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOLOGY APPLICATION  indicating how their didactic experiences fulfill the above requirements.

2. Supervised Clinical Experience (Doctoral and Postdoctoral)

Settings:

• The supervised clinical experience requirement may involve a range of settings, client populations, and modalities that have in common PA/PD training (i.e., individual and group therapy, assessment, testing, family, consultation, inpatient hospital, schools, child, adult).

Doctoral plus postdoctoral training path:

• PA/PD supervised clinical experience in the context of at least two doctoral MAS level practicum or an MAS-level internship (50% PA/PD),

plus:

• One year of MAS-level (80%) postdoctoral supervised clinical experience in PA/PD Psychology in a successfully completed formal post-doctoral residency training program in professional psychology that is accredited by the APA or CPA or from an APPIC member program,

Or,

• An informal supervised postdoctoral training experience at the MAS-level (80% PA/PD) or at least one year of work experience that is comprised of at least 80% of time working in PA/PD Psychology. The 12 months of experience need not be consecutive.

Postdoctoral only training path:

• Two years of formal or informal postdoctoral and/or post-licensure training that is equivalent to an MAS-level (80% PA/PD). Face-to-face supervision or consultation is required for the training experiences. The 24 months of supervised postdoctoral experience need not be consecutive.

Exceptions:

• Any variance from the above two scenarios will be decided on a case- by-case basis by the Credentials Reviewer in consultation with the Board.
• Post-licensure experience may be with PA/PD consultation, rather than formal case supervision.

3. Individual PA/PD Psychotherapy Training

• Supervised (Doctoral and Postdoctoral levels) and/or Consulted (Post-licensure level) clinical experience in individual PA/PD psychotherapy (child and/or adult, a minimum of 2 years of 1 hour per week supervision on a minimum of 4 hours per week of individual adult and/or child psychotherapy).
• The supervised and/or consulted psychotherapy experience can occur during any combination of practica, internship, postdoctoral, or post-licensure practice experiences.

4. Personal Psychotherapy or Psychoanalysis

• Minimum 2 years weekly personal PA/PD psychotherapy or psychoanalysis with a doctoral level psychoanalytic and/or psychodynamic psychotherapist or a doctoral level psychoanalyst. Eighty minimum total hours, which need not be consecutive.

5. Professional and Scholarly Engagement in PA/PD Psychology

A documented pattern of professional and scholarly activity. Demonstrate at least one type of involvement in each of the areas below:

• Continuing professional education through national and local conference and workshop attendance, case conferences, reading, etc.
• Scholarly engagement through dissertation, masters or doctoral research or clinical writing; journal and book publication, book reviews, national and regional conference presentations, case presentations, research, etc.
• Organizational membership: Active membership in at least one national, international, regional, or local psychoanalytic organization; editorial board membership; leadership position in a PA/PD organization, psychoanalytic institute, or PA/PD program; teaching; advocacy.

Senior Psychologist Option

Psychologists who meet the above degree, internship, and postdoctoral criteria AND have 15 years or more of postdoctoral experience following licensure are eligible for the Senior Psychologist option.  The aim of this program is to bring into ABAPPP senior colleagues who have made a significant career contribution to the field. Details regarding the Senior Option application process are described below in Chapters V and VI.