Yes you can have a great career in Psychotherapy!
Dr. Brenner draws from four decades of experience and discusses that a career dedicated to psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy is not only viable as solo private practice but also remains deeply relevant in today’s time.
A Note on Private Practice
I recently became the representative from the American Psychoanalytic Association to the American Psychiatric Association (APA). When I attended the APA. Assembly Meeting last November with new colleagues from across the country, we naturally did what people usually do when they first meet. We looked for common ground by describing the nature of our psychiatric careers. Not surprisingly, virtually everyone was incredulous to hear that I was in solo private practice, seeing patients for long term intensive psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.
Their responses ran the gamut, from “Really, are people still doing that??”, to “How does anyone afford that anymore?”, to “Isn’t that obsolete with all the new advances we have?”, to “How can you listen to people all day long”?, to “ What do you think of TMS and ketamine?”, to “ Do you like what you are doing?”, etc., etc.
My new colleagues were also rather curious to actually meet a senior clinician who has been in such a private practice for more than four decades. After all, more than 50% of today’s psychiatrists do not provide any psychotherapy at all, and according to recent surveys, only about one in five psychiatric visits involved any psychotherapy, (Cantor, 1/8/2022).
Such interactions with these colleagues did not allow for a detailed discussion about how my residency, psychoanalytic training, early clinical experiences, study groups, and relationships with mentors which were crucial aspects of my professional development. Moreover, I did not get the chance to tell them how important it has been to have found an area of special interest that I became known for, psychic trauma, and one which became a source of referrals over the years.
The message is that it is still quite possible to develop and maintain a private practice founded upon psychoanalytically oriented treatment. Additional training beyond one’s psychiatric residency is essential, in my opinion, to acquire the self knowledge, resilience, and technical skills to develop such a career. In these uncertain times, the need is greater than ever for people to have private, safe place to heal themselves through a deeper understanding of how their minds work.
This brief note does not do justice to the complexity of our professional decisions and choices. Feel free to contact me if you would like more information.
Ira Brenner, MD, DLFAPA
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Sidney Kimmel Medical School
Thomas Jefferson University
Training and Supervising Analyst
Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia
610-667-3183
Ira Brenner, MD, DLFAPA
Dr. Brenner is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, where he is Director Emeritus of the Adult Psychotherapy Training Program. He also serves as Behavioral Consultant to the San Diego Zoo. He has a special interest in the area of psychological trauma; he chairs the Holocaust Discussion Group and co-chairs the Dissociative Disorders Discussion Group at the meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He has authored over 100 publications, co-edited three special issues of The International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, and has published six books:
The Last Witness- The Child Survivor of the Holocaust, co-authored with Judith Kestenberg (1996),
Dissociation of Trauma- Theory, Phenomenology, and Technique (2001),
Psychic Trauma- Dynamics, Symptoms, and Treatment (2004),
Injured Men-Trauma, Healing, and the Masculine Self (2009),
Dark Matters- Exploring the Realm of Psychic Devastation (2014), and
The Handbook of Psychoanalytic Holocaust Studies- International Perspectives (2020).
He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Assoc., a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and of the American College of Psychoanalysts, as well as Phi Beta Kappa and the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. Dr. Brenner has received a number of awards, including the Gratz Research Prize for his work on the Holocaust, the Piaget Writing Award for his 2001 book, the Gradiva Award for his 2009 book, the Bruno Lima Award for his work in Disaster Psychiatry (2002), Practitioner of the Year Award from The Philadelphia Psychiatric Society of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society (PaPS), the Presidential Award from PaPS (2016), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (2019). He has also received The Hayman Award for Holocaust Studies from the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (2017). He lectures nationally and internationally, and has a private practice of adult and child analysis, in the greater Philadelphia area.