The International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) is an association including 12,000 psychoanalysts as members and works with 70 constituent organizations. It was founded in 1910 by Sigmund Freud, on an idea proposed by Sándor Ferenczi.
In 1902 Sigmund Freud started to meet every week with colleagues to discuss his work, and so the Psychological Wednesday Society was born. By 1908 there were 14 regular members and some guests including Max Eitingon, Carl Jung, Karl Abraham, and Ernest Jones, all future Presidents of the IPA. Society became the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society.
In 1907 Jones suggested to Jung that an international meeting should be arranged. Freud welcomed the proposal. The meeting took place in Salzburg on April 27, 1908. Jung named it the "First Congress for Freudian Psychology". It is later reckoned to be the first International Psychoanalytical Congress. Even so, the IPA had not yet been founded.
The IPA was established at the next Congress held at Nuremberg in March of 1910. Its first President was Carl Jung, and its first Secretary was Otto Rank. Sigmund Freud considered an international organization to be essential to advance his ideas. In 1914 Freud published a paper entitled The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement.
The IPA is the world’s primary accrediting and regulatory body for psychoanalysis. The IPA's aims include creating new psychoanalytic groups, stimulating debate, conducting research, developing training policies and establishing links with other bodies. It organizes a large biennial Congress.
There is a Regional Organisation for each of the IPA’s 3 regions:
Europe—European Psychoanalytical Federation (or EPF), which also includes Australia, India, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, South Africa and Turkey;The IPA is incorporated in England, where it is a company limited by guarantee and also a registered charity. Its administrative offices are at The Lexicon in Central London.Latin America—Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies of Latin America (or FEPAL);North America—North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (or NAPSAC), which also includes Japan and Korea.Each of these three bodies consists of Constituent Organisations and Study Groups that are part of that IPA region. The IPA has a close working relationship with each of these independent organisations and values them highly, but they are not officially or legally part of the IPA.
The IPA's members qualify for membership by being a member of a "constituent organisation" (or the sole regional association).
Constituent Organisations
Argentine Psychoanalytic AssociationArgentine Psychoanalytic SocietyAustralian Psychoanalytical SocietyBelgian Psychoanalytical SocietyBelgrade Psychoanalytical SocietyBrasília Psychoanalytic SocietyBrazilian Psychoanalytic Society of Rio de JaneiroBrazilian Psychoanalytic Society of São PauloBrazilian Psychoanalytical Society of Porto AlegreBrazilian Psychoanalytical Society of Ribeirão PretoBritish Psychoanalytic AssociationBritish Psychoanalytical SocietyBuenos Aires Psychoanalytic AssociationCanadian Psychoanalytic SocietyCaracas Psychoanalytic SocietyChilean Psychoanalytic AssociationColombian Psychoanalytic AssociationColombian Psychoanalytic SocietyCordoba Psychoanalytic SocietyCzech Psychoanalytical SocietyDanish Psychoanalytical SocietyDutch Psychoanalytical AssociationDutch Psychoanalytical GroupDutch Psychoanalytical SocietyFinnish Psychoanalytical SocietyFrench Psychoanalytical AssociationFreudian Psychoanalytical Society of ColombiaGerman Psychoanalytical AssociationGerman Psychoanalytical SocietyHellenic Psycho-Analytical SocietyHungarian Psychoanalytical SocietyIndian Psychoanalytical SocietyInstitute for Psychoanalytic Training and ResearchIsrael Psychoanalytic SocietyItalian Psychoanalytical AssociationItalian Psychoanalytical SocietyJapan Psychoanalytic SocietyLos Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic StudiesMadrid Psychoanalytical AssociationMato Grosso do Sul Psychoanalytical SocietyMendoza Psychoanalytic SocietyMexican Assn for Psychoanalytic Practice, Training & ResearchMexican Psychoanalytic AssociationMonterrey Psychoanalytic AssociationNew York Freudian SocietyNorthwestern Psychoanalytic SocietyNorwegian Psychoanalytic SocietyParis Psychoanalytical SocietyPelotas Psychoanalytic SocietyPeru Psychoanalytic SocietyPolish Psychoanalytical SocietyPorto Alegre Psychoanalytical SocietyPortuguese Psychoanalytical SocietyPsychoanalytic Center of CaliforniaPsychoanalytic Institute of Northern CaliforniaPsychoanalytic Society of MexicoPsychoanalytical Association of The State of Rio de JaneiroRecife Psychoanalytic SocietyRio de Janeiro Psychoanalytic SocietyRosario Psychoanalytic AssociationSpanish Psychoanalytical SocietySwedish Psychoanalytical AssociationSwiss Psychoanalytical SocietyUruguayan Psychoanalytical AssociationVenezuelan Psychoanalytic AssociationVienna Psychoanalytic SocietyGuadalajara Psychoanalytic Association (Provisional Society)Moscow Psychoanalytic Society (Provisional Society)Psychoanalytic Society for Research and Training (Provisional Society)Romanian Society for Psychoanalysis (Provisional Society)Vienna Psychoanalytic AssociationAmerican Psychoanalytic Association ("APsaA") is a body which has in membership societies which cover around 75% of psychoanalysts in the United States of America (the remainder are members of "independent" societies which are in direct relationship with the IPA)."Study Groups" are bodies of analysts which have not yet developed sufficiently to be a freestanding society, but that is their aim.
Campinas Psychoanalytical Study GroupCenter for Psychoanalytic Education and ResearchCroatian Psychoanalytic Study GroupFortaleza Psychoanalytic GroupGoiania Psychoanalytic NucleusKorean Psychoanalytic Study GroupLatvia and Estonia Psychoanalytic Study GroupLebanese association for the development of psychoanalysisMinas Gerais Psychoanalytical Study GroupPortuguese Nucleus of PsychoanalysisPsychoanalytical Association of Asuncion SGSouth African Psychoanalytic AssociationStudy Group of Turkey: Psike IstanbulTurkish Psychoanalytical GroupVermont Psychoanalytic Study GroupVilnius Society of Psychoanalysts"Allied Centres" are groups of people with an interest in psychoanalysis, in places where there are not already societies or study groups.
Korean Psychoanalytic Allied CentrePsychoanalysis Studying Centre in ChinaTaiwan Centre for The Development of PsychoanalysisThe Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies of PanamaThe first 23 Congresses of IPA did not have a specific theme.
Erich Fromm questioned this organization and finds that the psychoanalytic association is "organized according to standards rather dictatorial".
Elisabeth Roudinesco notes that IPA professionalizing psychoanalysis has become "a machine to manufacture significant". She also notes that in France, "Lacanian colleagues looked IPA as bureaucrats who had betrayed psychoanalysis in favor of an adaptive psychology in the service of triumphant capitalism". She speaks of the "IPA Legitimist Freudianism, we mistakenly called "orthodox" ". Among Roudinesco's other criticisms, she talks about "homophobia" in the IPA, considered as a "disgrace of psychoanalysis.
On the other hand, most criticisms against IPA tend to stick to Lacan's point of view of the fifties, unaware of most of the developments, variety of schools and training models within this association in the last decades. It should be noted that one of the three training models in the IPA (the French Model), is mostly due to Lacan's ideas and their perspectives regarding the training.
