The PINE Psychoanalytic Institute of New England, East, Inc. was initially formed in 1975 under the leadership of a small number of prominent analysts from the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, including Dr. M. Robert Gardner. The mission of the PINE Institute was in his words:
“We envision an adventure of ideas. PINE will bring together a few candidates (analysts-in-training) and a few teachers in the professional closeness and lively atmosphere of a workshop. Candidates and teachers will explore critically the basic observations, methods and theories of psychoanalysis. We shall share candidly differences already held and differences that will arise in sustained study and discussion. In short, PINE will be devoted to shared curiosity and search.”
Subsequently, the PINE Psychoanalytic Society of New England, East, was formed in 1991 with the mission of educating the wider community about psychoanalytic ideas in a variety of outreach programs. In 2011 these two organizations were merged and renamed the PINE Psychoanalytic Center. In the years prior to 2014, the PINE Psychoanalytic Institute experienced a dwindling number of applicants. This was happening across the country in small psychoanalytic institutes. As a result, many of our senior analysts and faculty were underutilized. They chose to rejoin colleagues at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute which has a much larger membership and pool of candidates. A smaller group of analysts and other members stayed at PINE to ensure the continued progression and graduation of our analysts-in-training and to maintain our professional home.
In 2016-2017 we developed a Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Fellowship for early to mid-career mental health clinicians who are interested in learning more about psychodynamic theories and techniques. This fellowship has continued and expanded. We have offered a second and even third year of instruction by recruiting and combining faculty from PINE and other institutes. Members whose primary or sole affiliation is with PINE include senior analysts and others who graduated from PINE in the last two decades. Analysts and faculty from elsewhere who enjoy teaching small classes which allow for “sustained individual attention” have become reciprocal members and/or adjunct members, as well as adjunct faculty. Please also see Topic #4 below: Members. These old and new voices are coming together in thoughtful and inspiring ways.
Some of our fellowship graduates have gone on to pursue full psychoanalytic training; others have chosen to continue to study together as advanced fellows. We have encouraged our former fellows to teach alongside psychoanalytic faculty members, and we hope in the coming years to provide teaching opportunities for advanced fellows.
In 2022, when the last PINE analyst-in-training graduated, the PINE Board and members decided to transition from the PINE Psychoanalytic Center to the PINE Psychoanalytic Society of New England. We continue to sponsor the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Fellowship, and we offer members the opportunity to create other educational activities on topics of their interest.
At the inception of the PINE Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Fellowship, fellows and teachers met in members’ homes. During the COVID years of 2020 to the present, in-person gatherings were cancelled, replaced by Zoom-assisted classes. This makes our fellowship accessible to mental health clinicians living outside of the Boston area who do not have access to this kind of post-graduate education. These fellows have joined our classes from California, New Hampshire, Nebraska, western Canada, and China, as well as from areas within Massachusetts.