I’m very pleased to report that in the first half of 2014, the VCP still is favored and appreciated by the IPSO members. The VCP provides its participants with the unique opportunity to experience other cultures of psychoanalytic thinking, practicing, and training. The opportunity for exchange during a VCP with psychoanalytical candidates and analysts from a foreign institute and society is stimulating for further development of one’s own psychoanalytic identity. Many of the past participants in the VCP expressed their wish for even more exchanges with fellow colleagues than was provided during their VCP. So, if you are interested in a mutual exchange with others and open to different ways of psychoanalytic thinking, then practicing the VCP surely is the right thing for you!
In February 2014, the Indian Psychoanalytical Society agreed to take part in the VCP, and now we have the first psychoanalytical society from South or South East Asia on the list of the participating institutes. This was initiated by the interest of Gagandeep Kaur Makka (a candidate from Kolkata/India) – following her participation at the IPSO Congress in Prague – who wished to take part in the VCP and successfully approached her society to join the VCP. I recommend that you take a look at the updated list of the participating institutes on the IPSO website
We had a large number of visitors and applications again for the VCP from all over the three IPSO regions in the last 6 months:
- Eduardo Llanos from the Peruvian Society of Psychoanalysis visited the Psychoanalytic Association of Madrid, Spain from the end of January until mid-February 2014. He reported about his unforgettable experience there made possible by the concern, support, and constant attention of our colleagues and candidates in Madrid.
- Karem Cainelli from the Psychoanalytical Society of Porto Alegre, Brazil visited the Italian Psychoanalytical Society in Milan in February 2014.
- Flavia Salerno and Andrea Pagnacco from the Italian Psychoanalytical Society visited the Paris Psychoanalytical Society, France (Société Psychanalytique de Paris, SPP), in February/March 2014. As a result of their visit they were highly motivated to get similar experiences in other countries, but also wishing to return to the SPP as soon as possible.
- Charles Baekeland from the Psychoanalytic Association of Madrid, Spain, visited the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC) in San Francisco, USA, in April 2014. He found his visit very stimulating and interesting, which “set his mind buzzing with ideas and gratitude”. Experiencing the comparative approach to training at PINC seemed to him an effective way to discuss, compare, differentiate, and attempt at an integration of the enormous theoretical complexity of the psychoanalytic field.
- Then, we had Gisela Zapata from the Psychoanalytic Association of Madrid, Spain, who visited the Institute of Psychoanalysis of the British Psychoanalytical Society (BPAS) in London in April 2014.
(to read these reports, please login to our website and visit VCP - REPORTS ).
We are going to have several VCPs during the next months which I look forward to hearing all about.
On behalf of the IPSO Excom, I wish to thank all the colleagues and candidates who actively help organize the VCP and make it repeatedly an interesting and stimulating experience for both the visitors and the hosts.
If you are interested in learning more about the VCP and how to apply, please don’t hesitate to contact one of us.
In General: Holger Himmighoffen, President-elect [email protected]
In North America: Kathryn McCormick, VP-elect for NA [email protected]
In Latin America: Isabel Silveira, VP-elect for LA [email protected]
In Europe: Sergio Anastasia, VP-elect Europe [email protected]
Holger Himmighoffen
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