Psychoanalysis in The UK
The London Psychoanalytical
Society was founded by Ernest Jones on 30 October 1913. With the expansion of psychoanalysis in the United Kingdom the Society was renamed the British Psychoanalytical Society in 1919. Soon after, the Institute of Psychoanalysis was established to administer the Society’s activities. These
include: the training of psychoanalysts, the development of the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, the provision of
treatment through The London Clinic of Psychoanalysis, the publication of books in The New Library of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Ideas. The Institute of Psychoanalysis also publishes The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, maintains a library, furthers research, and holds public lectures. The society has a Code of Ethics and an Ethical
Committee. The society, the institute and the clinic are all located at Byron House in London.
The society is a component of the International Psychoanalytical Association, a body with members on all five continents that safeguards professional and ethical practice. The society is a member of
the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC); the BPC publishes a register of British psychoanalysts and psychoanalytical psychotherapists.
All members of the British Psychoanalytical Society are required to undertake continuing professional development.
Through its work – and the work of its individual members – the British Psychoanalytical
Society has made an unrivalled contribution the understanding and treatment of mental illness. Members of the Society have
included Michael Balint, Wilfred Bion, John Bowlby, Anna Freud, Melanie Klein, Joseph Sandler, and Donald Winnicott.
Current senior psychoanalysts in the Society continue to have international recognition as leading
theoretical and clinical psychoanalysts, including Rosine Perelberg, Gregorio Kohon,Don Campbell, Ron Britton, Jonathan Sklar,
Roger Kennedy. The society continues to develop new generations of innovative psychoanalysts with achievements in and outside
the NHS, including the work of Kate Pugh and Fatima Del Solar in developing a wider understanding of psychoanalytic work with
children to health professionals, Giovanni Polizzi, and Josh Cohen and many others. Although the Society is no longer divided
formally into seperate organised groups for the Training, most psychoanalysts continue to belong to and identify with the
Contemporary Freudian, Independent and Kleinian Groups. These identifications and specialised understandings and approaches
continue to be important identities for psychoanalysts and their praxis. Schematically, these groups could be said to be approaching
the subject of psychoanalysis from different vertices; Love, Individuation and Hate.
The Institute of Psychoanalysis is the foremost publisher of psychoanalytic literature. The 24-volume Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological
Works of Sigmund Freud was conceived, translated, and produced under the direction of the British Psychoanalytical
Society. The Society, in conjunction with Random House, will soon publish a new, revised and expanded Standard Edition. With [The New Library of Psychoanalysis] the Institute
continues to publish the books of leading theorists and practitioners. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis
is published by the Institute of Psychoanalysis. Now in its 84th year, it has one of the largest circulation of any psychoanalytic
journal.
This page contains extracts from the Institute of Psychoanalysis website.