The Psychoanalytic Center of California (PCC) is a non-profit psychoanalytic society and institute established in 1984 and a component society of the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) since 1993. PCC is also a member of the Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies (CIPS) which brings together IPA component societies in the United States around their shared interests.

PCC is unique among the psychoanalytic societies in the United States in our focus on the exploration of the deepest layers of the unconscious mind through the lens of the contemporary British object relations model of psychoanalysis. Our work is passionate, intimate, and rigorous, offering the potential for life-changing transformations.

As a society, we are a dedicated and welcoming volunteer membership organization comprised of psychoanalysts, candidates (psychoanalysts-in-training), mental health professionals, and individuals interested in the application of psychoanalytic ideas to other fields (e.g., science, literature, and art).

As a training institute, we offer several opportunities for advanced training in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented therapy. Our programs include a multi-year course of study culminating in certification in Psychoanalysis or Child Psychoanalysis; one-year programs in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and child psychoanalytic psychotherapy; and other small group educational offerings that explore primitive states of mind. All of our programs feature our specialized focus on the work of Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Wilfred Bion, Donald Winnicott, Frances Tustin and those who later developed their ideas about the unconscious and its application to clinical work as well as everyday life.

PCC also offers a rich continuing education program that features expert psychoanalysts from all over the world who provide weekend and evening seminars to our local and broader practice community. Through our accreditation with the California Medical Association (CMA), we are able to provide continuing medical education (CME) credit for physicians and, through our accreditation with the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), we are able to provide continuing education credits to LMFTs, LCSWs, and other licensed counselors in California. Psychologists in California may apply credits from our CME accredited activities towards their licensure requirements as well.

In the 1960s, a group of analysts from the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and the Southern California Psychoanalytic Society and Institute developed a keen interest in British Object Relations’ theory and practice and invited Kleinian and Middle-School clinicians from London to come to Los Angeles to lecture and supervise clinical work. Segal, Rosenfeld, Bion, Winnicott and Guntrip were among them. As an outcome of that endeavor, Wilfred Bion moved to Los Angeles in 1968, followed closely by Albert Mason. Susanna Isaacs-Elmhirst joined them some time afterwards.

The 1970s saw a period of enormous turbulence in Los Angeles psychoanalysis. Those analysts who worked with Bion and Mason were prevented to advance to Training Analyst status; seminar bibliographies were purged of Kleinian references and “attacks” on character were rampant. Free thought and inquiry were stifled in this climate of repression.

“Disenfranchised Kleinians” began to meet in private study groups, at Reiss-Davis Child Study Center and at the Department of Psychoanalysis of the California Graduate Institute, a freestanding graduate school of psychology.

The Psychoanalytic Center of California grew out of the CGI Department of Psychoanalysis in the early 1980s. The Chair of the department, Dr. James Gooch, was holding regular meetings with candidates to address their needs and issues regarding training, and organizational components of the Department. Most of the driving force and actual work of organizing and establishing the PCC as a psychoanalytic society stemmed from the candidates. In 1984, PCC submitted Articles of Incorporation to the State of California, and thus PCC was legally born with James Gooch as President of the Society.

In 1987, following some philosophical conflicts between PCC and CGI, most members and candidates in the Department of Psychoanalysis decided to separate from CGI and to start a PCC training program, the Institute, which received approval from the California Medical Board. Seminars started in the fall of that year with Richard Alexander as the founding Dean of the Institute. A number of members from the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and Society and the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute and Society joined PCC.

Although most of the original members of PCC were strongly influenced by Klein and/or analyzed by Bion, the majority believed and were committed to the development of an ecumenical curriculum and faculty and adhered to principles of lay analysis. In 1987, when the International Psychoanalytic Association adopted a policy of opening new IPA societies, PCC applied to become a Provisional Society and became an IPA Component Society in 1993.

PCC strives at preserving the philosophy of openness and inclusiveness of its founders by offering a comprehensive program of studies in the theory and practice of psychoanalysis with a particular emphasis on the exploration of the primitive aspects of the mind, starting with a full year dedicated to the works of Freud and to a course in Infant Observation using the method developed by Esther Bick at the Tavistock Clinic. The curriculum is built on the principles of object relations deriving from Klein, Winnicott, and Bion, while also including classical Freudian psychoanalysis and other contemporary psychoanalytical models.