How can I get as much exposure to psychodynamic psychotherapy as possible in a clinical PHD/PsyD program?

[Tom4705]

I bought the insiders guide to applying to Clinical Psychology programs and started looking over the programs (many programs have literally 0 faculty with any psychodynamic exposure, which is....something. I'm going to try to focus on the ones that do)

Beyond looking at programs with psychodynamic oriented faculty, how could I increase my chances of exposure via pre doctoral internship, post doc internship, externship, etc? Any other advice?

I understand that many/most Clinical Psychology PHD/PsyD programs will have training/exposure in CBT which is fine however I am VERY interested in all things related to psychodynamic therapy and want as much exposure to it as possible.

I understand there are psychoanalytic institutes that you can train in AFTER becoming licensed but if at all possible I'd want exposure earlier on.

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[R. Matey]

This is probably a better question for the individual programs that you are considering given that exposure will occur mostly in coursework and/or practicum/internship sites. You can also use the APPIC directory to locate internship sites with this explicit focus.

 

[summerbabe]

The same way somebody who wants acute inpatient, geriatric, forensic, etc experience: via external practicum during grad school, matching to a predoc internship with this focus and continuing education once you’re licensed.

Some programs have a very strict vetting process for external pracs or like mine, assigned people to pre-designated pracs based on our needs and preferences.

Other programs rely too much or exclusively on each student to identify their pracs and do some vetting afterwards.

So being in an area where psychodynamic stuff might happen in the community would likely help.

 

[Shiori]

If I'm being honest, my time on campus was mostly focused on research and going to class. When I learned about psychotherapy in coursework, it was theoretical in nature and touched on many different modalities. I was learning to think like a clinician in general rather than a clinician with a specific theoretical orientation.

One approach might be to look at research being done that speaks to you and see if any of the authors are faculty somewhere. My theoretical orientation developed the most based on my research interests and diving into the literature. My research was focused on PTSD and grief, so I learned a lot about CBT/ACT, exposure-based approaches, attachment theory, emotion-focused therapy, etc. I got to spend a lot of time thinking about insight-based theory that were very existential in nature contrasted with skill-based theories focused on cognitive restructuring. Then I had a solid foundation to discuss these different thoughts with my externship supervisors who were from all sorts of backgrounds.

In other words, research may be an easy way to create space for this kind of deep dive. You'll be spending a lot of time reading alone outside of pracs and classrooms. You'll need that kind of passion to sustain you through at least a dissertation and likely other manuscripts.

 

[psycho1391]

University of Detroit Mercy has a PhD program that is dynamically focused. Happy to talk to you about pros/cons of the program if you want to PM me.

 

[Tom4705]

University of Detroit Mercy has a PhD program that is dynamically focused. Happy to talk to you about pros/cons of the program if you want to PM me.

PM sent!

 

[psycho1391]

Pros--you get tons of dynamic experience, the practica are great, and clinical supervisors are super helpful

Cons--its only partially funded and its not a ton of research

 

[PsyDr]

1) Geography:

a. I feel like everyone is hinting that psychodynamic approaches are more common in the northeast, without explicitly telling you that psychodynamic approaches are more common in the northeast.

b. Identify psychoanalytic institutes near your program

Adult Psychoanalytic Training – American Psychoanalytic Association

2) Age:

a. The old-old psychologist professors are likely to have trained in psychodynamic approaches. Ask them about their experiences once you are in their classes.

3) Most psychoanalytic institutes have evening "events" (i.e., lectures). That would be a good way to gain exposure.

 

[R. Matey]

The old-old psychologist professors are likely to have trained in psychodynamic approaches. Ask them about their experiences once you are in their classes.

Can confirm. I had three psychodynamic supervisors in training with a guesstimated mean age of about 65.

 

[curiouscat777]

GW's PsyD program is fully psychodynamic

 

[WisNeuro]

GW's PsyD program is fully psychodynamic

But also, unfortunately, a terrible EPPP pass rate.

 

[PsyDuck90]

CUNY-City College is dynamically focused, as is Adelphi. NYC also has several dynamically focused practicum sites. However, the fact that you’re having such a hard time finding dynamically focused clinical psych training should tell you something about its status in the field.

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

However, the fact that you’re having such a hard time finding dynamically focused clinical psych training should tell you something about its status in the field.

Yep. Psychodynamic views are an ever-decreasing minority view in academic psychology, and for very, very good reasons. Hell, even the NYC bubble (which is very psychodynamic and with which I am quite familiar) has, in my anecdotal experience, been staring to thin.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I bought the insiders guide to applying to Clinical Psychology programs and started looking over the programs (many programs have literally 0 faculty with any psychodynamic exposure, which is....something. I'm going to try to focus on the ones that do)

Beyond looking at programs with psychodynamic oriented faculty, how could I increase my chances of exposure via pre doctoral internship, post doc internship, externship, etc? Any other advice?

I understand that many/most Clinical Psychology PHD/PsyD programs will have training/exposure in CBT which is fine however I am VERY interested in all things related to psychodynamic therapy and want as much exposure to it as possible.

I understand there are psychoanalytic institutes that you can train in AFTER becoming licensed but if at all possible I'd want exposure earlier on.

Why do you want psychodynamic training? What experiences draw you to that?

 

[ForTheLoveOfPsychology]

I bought the insiders guide to applying to Clinical Psychology programs and started looking over the programs (many programs have literally 0 faculty with any psychodynamic exposure, which is....something. I'm going to try to focus on the ones that do)

Beyond looking at programs with psychodynamic oriented faculty, how could I increase my chances of exposure via pre doctoral internship, post doc internship, externship, etc? Any other advice?

I understand that many/most Clinical Psychology PHD/PsyD programs will have training/exposure in CBT which is fine however I am VERY interested in all things related to psychodynamic therapy and want as much exposure to it as possible.

I understand there are psychoanalytic institutes that you can train in AFTER becoming licensed but if at all possible I'd want exposure earlier on.

Hi there, I had similar aspirations when I was applying to psych doctoral programs. As others have said, consider looking for an area where you have access to psychodynamically-focused practicum sites (some psychoanalytic institutes do indeed offer practicum placements), where you can get a solid theoretical foundation in tandem to the clinical training. Yes, you'll find most of these in the northeast. In my experience, I've learned the most from passionate and knowledgeable supervisors. Within psychodynamic training, it is key to do a lot of background reading on your own and then bring theoretical questions to your supervisors to deepen your understanding through dialogue. This approach is even more fruitful when you get to see the concepts come to life in your cases.

While I do agree that the demographic of dynamic supervisors skews older, I've noticed a trend of contemporary 'relational psychodynamic' psychologists on the rise.

As for doctoral programs, dynamically focused training programs do exist. Other members dropped some names, and you can continue your search for these kinds of programs online. I would suggest looking at Adelphi Clinical Psychology PhD program and Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Clinical PsyD program.

 

[quickpsych]

I bought the insiders guide to applying to Clinical Psychology programs and started looking over the programs (many programs have literally 0 faculty with any psychodynamic exposure, which is....something. I'm going to try to focus on the ones that do)

Beyond looking at programs with psychodynamic oriented faculty, how could I increase my chances of exposure via pre doctoral internship, post doc internship, externship, etc? Any other advice?

I understand that many/most Clinical Psychology PHD/PsyD programs will have training/exposure in CBT which is fine however I am VERY interested in all things related to psychodynamic therapy and want as much exposure to it as possible.

I understand there are psychoanalytic institutes that you can train in AFTER becoming licensed but if at all possible I'd want exposure earlier on.

1) Geography:

a. I feel like everyone is hinting that psychodynamic approaches are more common in the northeast, without explicitly telling you that psychodynamic approaches are more common in the northeast.

b. Identify psychoanalytic institutes near your program

Adult Psychoanalytic Training – American Psychoanalytic Association

2) Age:

a. The old-old psychologist professors are likely to have trained in psychodynamic approaches. Ask them about their experiences once you are in their classes.

3) Most psychoanalytic institutes have evening "events" (i.e., lectures). That would be a good way to gain exposure.

This is spot on , can confirm point a.) as went to a mostly psychodynamic program (with family systems and family therapy as their secondary primary although was mostly psychodynamic and general assessment ).

Can confirm point b as the older professors were a mix of psychodynamic, family systems (a few trained at some well known back in the day family systems lab out west), and some psychoanalytic. It’s my understanding and towards end of my time there they were developing more neuropsych and assessment options . Barely any CBT.


And point C, there’s a bunch of psychoanalytical training centers in the Northeast. In multiple states. There’s even a well known social work program further up I think near Boston that was once rated the top social worker program and was heavy on psychoanalytic theory.

The area where I went to school also does have a lot of CBT heavy programs including the one Beck created and also that positive psychology researcher.

On a side note I felt like I got a deeper and more well rounded training with psychodynamic/systems focus alongside the standard assessment fare than I would have gotten with more manual based approaches like CBT. Some may agree and some may disagree but I think learning and training on the quote unquote more traditional and deeper theories and treatment approaches is the way to go then circle back if want and learn manual structured and behavioral approaches. Makes the toolbox available to you much more robust. These days I find value in both but I think I would feel less effective and less well rounded if I only trained in CBT. Rather than other way around. Just my opinion but CBT especially is quite simple at its core and easy to gain skill sets in later through continuing education. It’s great for certain things (and seems to be the go to for places like the VA as I suppose it’s seen as efficient and easily taught to mid levels in a way that’s easy to implement) but falls flat for others.


Overall it seems smaller schools have more of what OP is looking for while larger schools lean more CBT, ACT, REBT, and others.