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THE PROJECT: BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
The International Association for Analytical
Psychology (IAAP) was set up in 1952 as a
non-profit making organisation to bring together
Jungian analysts working in different parts of
the world. One of its current priorities is the
active support of professional groups interested
in depth psychotherapy in countries with limited
financial and educational resources.
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Depth psychotherapy was banned in the Soviet
Union for more than 75 years of the 20th
century, But underground interest in its ideas
persisted, along with people’s hope for relief
from psychological distress. When perestroika
lifted the ban, self-taught Russian therapists
could study whatever theoretical literature was
translated. But they recognised that there could
be no substitute for the hands-on experience of
learning clinical practice that Western
trainings provide.
At the invitation of one of the new institutes
of psychoanalysis which sprang up after
perestroika, the Russian Revival Fund began
work in 1998 with a two-year programme
of teaching weekends in St Petersburg.
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The
enthusiasm for this encouraged us to develop the
thorough clinical training that Russian
colleagues wanted, first in St Petersburg and
since 2003 in Moscow as well. Importantly, they
also wanted this programme on their own home
territory. So unlike other initiatives which
finance a few individuals to train in the West,
this training has always been embedded in the
participants’ own culture. It is staffed by a
group of senior Jungian analysts who travel
from London four times a year to provide
personal therapy, theoretical teaching and
clinical supervision. The programme is
officially recognised and partly funded by the IAAP. It also has approval from the Russian
Ministry of Health.
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