The Institute

NPSI follows the British object relations School of psychoanalysis, studying classical and contemporary theoreticians and clinicians including the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud: Melanie Klein, Hanna Segal, Donald Winnicott, Donald Meltzer, Wilfred Bion, Betty Joseph, Ronald Britton, and others.

Distinct from psychoanalytic training programs not allied with British object relations, the focus at NPSI is on the infant’s earliest emotional experiences with the primary caretaker (usually the mother) and how this relationship shapes one’s core sense of self and serves as a lens through which all relationships with self and others are experienced throughout life. This careful study of early mental life tends to translate into a way of working psychoanalytically with patients that is particularly attuned to pre-verbal as well as verbal forms of communication.

We encourage mental health professionals who are interested in learning more about the process of becoming a psychoanalyst to explore the following section on psychoanalytic training. 

For an overview of the Kleinian approach (an important facet of the British Object Relations School), see Robert M Young’s paper, “Being a Kleinian is Not Straightforward”