Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

Support the Center

CPTR members smile and applaud during event.

Like all academic departments, the Center is supported by the University, grants, and contributions. We have close to 100% participation of our faculty in an annual fundraising drive. We also rely on the generosity of foundations and members of the general public to fund our research, teaching, and clinical programs. Throughout the history of the Center, these contributions have helped us train the next generation of psychoanalysts and to fund groundbreaking psychoanalytic research. We have trained future university presidents, deans of medical schools, chairs of departments of psychiatry, and numerous professors of psychiatry and psychology.

OUR RESEARCH

Key research accomplishments have included:

  • David Levy’s has made pioneering contributions to the field of attachment theory.
  • Abram Kardiner’s work with traumatized soldiers was instrumental in the development of the field of PTSD and trauma studies; Susan Coates has continued this tradition. 
  • Daniel Stern is an internationally known infant researcher.
  • Beatrice Beebe has made further important contributions to the field of infant studies. 
  • Arnold Cooper, Otto Kernberg, Roy Schafer, and Herb Schlesinger have made immense contributions to psychoanalytic metapsychological theory and theory of technique. 
  • Otto Kernberg has developed the field of transference-focused psychotherapy. 
  • Outcome studies were pioneered by John Weber and significantly refined by Steven Roose, who provides a leadership role in our current projects. 
  • Many faculty members work with the chronically and persistently mentally ill – Eric Marcus has developed a theoretical construct for work with psychotic patients.

YOUR SUPPORT

Major fundraising goals for the next five years include:

  • Funding a named chair in psychoanalytic research
  • Funding our state-of-the-art comparative outcome study of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
    • The outcome study aims to measure and compare the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy, supportive-expressive psychotherapy and psychoanalysis as treatment for chronic complicated depression. 
    • Primary outcomes will be assessed with a variety of instruments measuring symptom level, global functioning, and interpersonal relationships. 
    • Leadership grants of $50,000 from the Center and $150,000 from the American Psychoanalytic Association have been received to fund this study.  
  • Funding our child programs

To discuss opportunities for giving, please contact [Add contact]