Developmental struggles in psychoanalytic training

This chapter examines the developmental struggles faced during psychoanalytic training by psychoanalytic candidates whose parents are psychoanalysts. There can be strong parallels between the child’s experience of his psychoanalyst parent(s) and, later, the candidate’s experience of his teachers, supervisors, and analyst that lead to regressive pulls that make it difficult for such candidates to muster the necessary aggression to develop their own psychoanalytic voice. In addition, other parent–child dynamics, such as omniscience of parents, idealization, and a sense of transparency are discussed in the context of the developmental impact on children of psychoanalysts.