The European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF) is composed of 43 European Psychoanalytical Societies that are Member Societies of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). The EPF was inaugurated in 1966 and endorsed by the IPA in 1969. Today there are over 8,000 psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts-in-training living and working in 33 countries in which 27 languages are spoken. The three official languages of the EPF are English, French and German.
All individual analysts, of each Member Society of the EPF, are simultaneously members of the IPA that presently has over 13,000 members. Therefore, the EPF is directly linked to IPA and all Member Societies are committed to the regulations of the IPA for psychoanalytic training and practice.
Whereas the IPA is an organisation for individual members of psychoanalytic societies in the world, the EPF is a Federation of European IPA Societies that was set up to function primarily as a scientific forum for European psychoanalysts. Regulation and governance of training requirements is administrated and regulated by the IPA whereas the EPF, through its heuristic and scientific activities, as set out in the EPF Constitution, contributes to the wider discussion of psychoanalytic education, regulation and dissemination.
Main Aims of the EPF (as written in the Constitution here)
- To foster the growth of psychoanalysis
- To maintain and improve standards of psychoanalytical practice, education and teaching
In order to achieve the above aims the Federation:
- Promotes research in psychoanalysis and disseminates information on the theory and practice of psychoanalysis
- Facilitates further communication among psychoanalysts by means of publications, newsletters, scientific conferences and other meetings
- Provides a forum for the discussion of allied scientific topics and other matters of concern to psychoanalysts
- Encourages contact between psychoanalysis and other disciplines
The Organisation and Structure of the Federation
The Council is the policy making and administrative body of the Federation and is composed of:
- The Presidents (or their official representatives) of the Member Societies
- The Executive
The Executive Committee is the administrative body of the Federation during the intervals between Council Meetings. It is nominated and elected as a team and is composed of the Officers of the Federation, namely
- The President
- Two Vice Presidents
- The General Secretary
- The Treasurer
- The General Editor
The Executive Committee, in its role as Members of the EPF Council, is responsible for conducting the Council Meetings biennially, to discuss EPF matters. These usually take place in March/April, for one day, before the Annual Conference, and in November, for two days, in the EPF House in Brussels. Occasionally there may be Extraordinary Meetings that take place online. Council Meetings offer the European Presidents an opportunity to bring items to the agenda related to developments in their societies and the IPA e.g. issues of psychoanalytic training and standards. The IPA President and IPA European Representatives (Euro Reps) are invited to join EPF Council Meetings when the agenda items are relevant to IPA matters.
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Psychoanalysis in Europe – 1945 – 1966
The history of the prelude to, inauguration and first twenty years of the EPF, was written by Han Groen-Prakken and published in the EPF Bulletin in 1986 (Bulletin 26 – 27). Read the full article here.
It is a meticulous and moving account of the way in which European psychoanalysts were determined to recover and revitalise psychoanalysis after the majority of analysts and their societies had suffered destruction, and in some cases death, during WW2. The impetus for uniting European societies to create dialogue and unification was led, mostly, by Raymond Saussure, of the Swiss Psychoanalytical Society, who became EPF’s first President (1966 – 1971). Training and standards were as central then as they are now, although the EPF, from its inception, confined its aims to cultivating heuristic dialogue while allowing the IPA to retain its role as the regulatory body of international psychoanalysis. This separate function has retained its importance until today.
The EPF was founded in 1966, in Paris, and three years later, it was ratified by the IPA in 1969, at a General Assembly in Rome. At that time the Federation was composed of 24 countries speaking 16 different languages.
European Psychoanalytical Federation – 1966 – today
As the reader will note above, since 1969, the EPF has almost trebled in size with currently 43 Societies, representing over 8,000 psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts-in-training, from 33 countries speaking 27 languages. The interactive map on the Home page of the EPF website will take you to each member Society of the EPF today here.
Each EPF Executive Committee, since 1966, has made an everlasting impact on the development of the EPF. The EPF website, that continuously evolves, illustrates the different areas of scientific development with scope for an ever expanding cultivation and dissemination of psychoanalysis.
The integration of Eastern European psychoanalytic Societies has been a very important initiative of the EPF with support from the IPA. This was a ten year project that ended in July 2023, since the Eastern European Societies had developed successfully enough to continue their psychoanalytic education autonomously. Meanwhile, EPF initiated a Candidates’ Weekend Seminar in 2024 and will continue to offer seminars and conferences that are aimed at supporting analysts-in-training as well as newly qualified analysts.
The EPF House in Brussels, bought by the EPF in 2015, is the Legal Seat of the EPF where many scientific activities take place each year for all European analysts as well as holding several IPA events.
In 2026 the EPF will be celebrating 60 active and creative years. There will be a Symposium to celebrate this great achievement. More information will be listed on the EPF Website in due course.
I warmly invite you to explore the EPF website where you can have access to information and to the EPF Bulletin online with its considerable number of articles since the 1970s. While the Annual Conference is the major event that brings all European analysts together in the Springtime, you will find on the website many other stimulating events taking place here.
We very much look forward to your participation and to meeting you soon.
Professor Jan Abram
EPF President