Equivalency Procedures for Assessing Individual Applicants for IPA Membership or for Recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent Analysts Trained in non-IPA Organisations


Introduction

1. This document complements the Procedural Code entries entitled ‘Requirements for Qualification and Admission to IPA Membership’, ‘Direct Members’, and ‘IPA Requirements for Training in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis’. 

2. This document outlines the IPA’s procedures to evaluate individual applicants, or individual applicants within groups applying for IPA status, who were not trained in IPA Constituent Organisations or Institutes, but who believe their training is equivalent to IPA requirements for either adult or Child and Adolescent psychoanalysis. 

3. The procedures also apply to those individuals trained in Child and Adolescent analysis in IPA Constituent Organisations or Institutes before those training programmes were formally recognised by the IPA under the procedures outlined in the Procedural Code entry entitled ‘IPA Requirements for Training in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis’.

Principles for the Maintenance of IPA Requirements

4. The maintenance of IPA requirements is an essential ingredient for the acceptance of a new IPA Member or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst.  IPA requirements will not be altered in order to serve specific circumstances.  Admission to IPA Membership or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst depends upon evidence that IPA requirements as defined in the Procedural Code documents listed in paragraph 1 above have been met.

5. The guarantee of IPA requirements benefits applicants.  If accepted as IPA Members or for recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent analysts, it is in the interest both of the IPA and the applicants that they enter the IPA on an equal footing with current IPA Members.

Authority to Assess and Apply IPA Equivalency Procedures

6. The IPA Board has delegated authority to the International New Groups Committee and its Site Visit Committees, Sponsoring, Facilitating and Liaison Committees, and Direct Member Assessment Committees, to implement the procedures in this document.  Applicants recommended in this way for IPA Direct Membership under these procedures are subject to approval by the Board, and, if approved, will become IPA Direct Members, or, in certain circumstances, they will become members of Provisional Societies, and thus IPA Members.  All uses of Equivalency Procedures carried out under the auspices of the ING Committee shall be included in the reports of the New Groups Committee to the Board.

7. Geographical application:
a. component societies in the United States of America may apply equivalency procedures to individual applicants, or to applicants within groups applying for IPA status under (2) above, without the consent of the IPA Board;
b. all component societies outside the United States of America may apply equivalence procedures for individual applicants only, without the consent of the IPA Board.

8. The Board has additionally delegated authority to the IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee (COCAP) to appoint sub-groups from the Committee to implement the procedures in this document which apply to recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalyst.  Applicants recommended in this way are subject to approval by the Board. 

IPA Training Requirements

9. The requirements for IPA adult analysis are defined in the Procedural Code entry: ‘Requirements for Qualification and Admission to IPA Membership’.

10. The requirements for recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent analysts are defined in the Procedural Code entry: ‘IPA Requirements for Training in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis’. 

11. These two documents should be used in implementing the procedures below.

Procedures for assessing functional equivalence

12. An applicant for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst may be deemed to have achieved Functional Equivalence with IPA requirements:
a. where the training received is directly comparable with the relevant IPA requirements, or
b. where the training received departs far enough or in enough ways from the relevant IPA requirements, but the applicant undertakes more training and/or can demonstrate clinical skills which meet IPA requirements.

Procedure A. (Formal Equivalence)

13. An applicant may be deemed to have received the equivalent of the training at an IPA Constituent Organisation or Institute and thus be eligible for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst if the training received is directly comparable with the relevant requirements defined in the documents referred to in paragraphs 9 and 10 above.

14. The Procedural Code entry: ‘Requirements for Qualification and Admission to IPA Membership’ establishes requirements according to three separate training models.  It is left to the judgement of those Committees authorised to implement these equivalency procedures to determine which of the models of training should be used for assessing equivalency for particular applicants.  Normally this should be the model of training employed by IPA Constituent Organisations in the county concerned or nearby countries, or that which was employed previously in assessing individuals for equivalency in the country concerned.  Under no circumstances should individual applicants from the same country be assessed for equivalency under different training models, without this being authorised in advance by the Chair of the International New Groups Committee.

15. In assessing Formal Equivalence, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures will:
a. ascertain that the organisation which delivered the training to the applicant was doing so in a way that is directly comparable to the relevant IPA requirements, and  
b. review the curriculum vitae of each applicant in order to determine whether or not applicants should be requested to attend personal interviews.

16. Some applicants may be found to have had training that is close to the relevant IPA requirements but may be different in some way.  In such circumstances, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures may decide:
a. that the differences are minimal and are not a bar to recommendation for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst, or
b. that further conditions must be met by the applicant, which may include some retraining or further training, followed by reassessment under these equivalency procedures, or
c. that the applicant's training departs far enough or in enough ways from the criteria of Procedure A that there is no Formal Equivalence and that the application should be deferred for reconsideration under Procedure B.

17. Where the Committees delegated to implement these procedures determine that further conditions must be met by the applicant, these should be specified in writing, and explained to the applicant.

18. Satisfaction of the relevant IPA requirements does not make IPA Membership or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst automatic.  The Committees delegated to implement these procedures should further satisfy themselves that there are no pending ethical or legal or other reasons for nevertheless excluding an applicant who meets the formal requirements for Procedure A from IPA membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst.  Any such reasons must be specified by the relevant Committees.

19. Recommendations for IPA Direct Membership following implementation of Procedure A by the Committees delegated to implement these procedures must be formally reviewed by the New Groups Committee to ensure that the procedures have met the requirements, and forwarded to the Board with a recommendation. 

20. Recommendations for recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent analysts following implementation of Procedure A by sub groups appointed by the IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee (COCAP) must be formally reviewed by the whole Committee to ensure that the procedures have met the requirements, and forwarded to the Board with a recommendation.

Procedure B (Evaluated Equivalence)

21. Procedure B may be applied to applicants where their training departs far enough or in enough ways from the criteria of Procedure A that there is no Formal Equivalence.  Such applicants can only qualify for IPA Membership or for recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent analyst by:
a. carrying out retraining or further training to meet IPA requirements, and/or
b. demonstrating appropriate clinical skills which meet IPA requirements. 

22. In assessing Evaluated Equivalence, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures will:
a. analyse the differences identified in Procedure A in the training received by the applicant in order to identify any shortcomings in actual clinical work conducted by the applicant, and
b. review the curriculum vitae of all Procedure B applicants prior to interviewing such applicants.

23. Following initial interviews with applicants under Procedure B, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures will:
a. specify the retraining or further training required to meet IPA requirements before the applicant can be reassessed for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst, or
b. carry out as many further interviews as are necessary to establish clinical competence by means of the presentation and discussion of one or more current cases.

24. Where the Committees delegated to implement these procedures determine that retraining or further training must be undertaken by the applicant, this should be specified in writing, and explained to the applicant.

25. In assessing clinical competence, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures will provide a written report which discusses the applicant’s demonstrated clinical capability to conduct an analysis, which shall include, but is not limited to, evidence of the ability:
a. to foster and sustain an analytic process over time and demonstrate an understanding of unconscious activity, mechanisms and motivations;
b. to understand and use the transference;
c. to use observations of counter-transference to make formulations and interpretations to guide interventions;
d. to discern affects and latent unconscious themes from the material of sessions;
e. to monitor progress and impasses, in particular to be able to recognize and follow developmental aspects in working with patients;
f. to apply the principles listed in the IPA Procedural Code entry Ethical Principles and Procedures, under Principles 2B ‘For Psychoanalysts and Candidates’.

26. Following further interviews to establish clinical competence on the basis of the items above, the Committees delegated to implement these procedures may determine:
a. that an applicant is eligible for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst, or
b. that retraining or further training to meet IPA requirements should be undertaken prior to reassessment of the applicant, or
c. that the applicant is not eligible for IPA Membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst.

27. If the finding is that the applicant is not eligible for IPA Membership or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst, the relevant Committee should offer the applicant the opportunity to discuss the findings.  The applicant should be informed of the right to reapply after two years from the date of the Committee's finding.

28. Satisfaction of the relevant IPA requirements does not make IPA Membership or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst automatic.  The Committees delegated to implement these procedures should further satisfy themselves that there are no pending ethical or legal or other reasons for nevertheless excluding an applicant who meets the formal requirements for Procedure B from IPA membership or for recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst.  Any such reasons must be specified by the relevant Committees.

29. In all cases assessments under Procedure B will be subject to further review after recommendation by the Committees delegated to implement these procedures. 

30. Recommendations for IPA Direct Membership following implementation of Procedure B by the Committees delegated to implement these procedures must be formally reviewed by the New Groups Committee to ensure that the procedures have met the requirements, and forwarded to the Executive Committee with a recommendation. 

31. Recommendations for recognition as IPA Child and Adolescent analysts following implementation of Procedure B by sub groups appointed by the IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee (COCAP) must be formally reviewed by the whole Committee to ensure that the procedures have met the requirements, and forwarded to the Executive Committee with a recommendation.

32. The Executive Committee will review all such recommendations and:
a. refer them back to the International New Groups Committee or to the IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee (COCAP) where they are not satisfied for any reason, or
b. submit them to the Board for approval.

33. All recommendations to the Board for IPA Membership or recognition as an IPA Child and Adolescent analyst assessed under Procedure B must state that:
a. the applicant was assessed under Procedure B of these equivalency procedures, and
b. that the recommendation has been reviewed by the International New Groups Committee or the IPA Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis Committee (COCAP) for confirmation that the procedures have met the requirements.

 

Change Log

Approved by Executive Council, Santiago, July 1999.

Whole document revised, IPA Child and Adolescent procedures added, and approved by the Board in principle in January 2007, with final approval in March 2007.

Addition that Constituent Organisations may not employ the Equivalency Procedures without prior Board approval, approved July 2009.

Amendment to paragraph 7 to allow Constituent Organizations to employ equivalency standards without approval of the Board, approved July 2015.

Amendment to paragraph 7 to institute a geographical application of the authority to assess and apply IPA equivalency procedures, approved June 2016.

 

*This change record is for background information only and does not form part of the Procedural Code. If there is any conflict between a statement in the Procedural Code and a statement in this change record, the change record will be disregarded.