Fund for Psychoanalytic Research

he Fund for Psychoanalytic Research, which was established in 1976, is dedicated to the support of psychoanalytic research and scholarship, while nurturing the development of psychoanalytic investigators.

The Fund receives its support from donations of APsA members and through a regular allocation in the yearly budget of the Association. The Committee of the Fund is comprised of members of APsA who are involved in psychoanalytic research as primary investigators or as consultants and informed scholars. The Committee is augmented by the participation of consulting researchers and scholars who are not members of APsA and who may or may not be psychoanalysts.

Goals

To support basic and applied research involving psychoanalytic perspectives and observations
To support young scholars interested in engaging in psychoanalytic research
To provide psychoanalytic scholars an opportunity to consult with experienced investigators around an idea, methodological issue, or existing dataset

Scope of Research

The Fund recognizes that psychoanalytic research has taken place along the broadest lines. Its primary intent is to support rigorous empirical research projects that test psychoanalytically based hypotheses. To this end it will support studies that can advance knowledge of psychoanalytic theory and practice, and those that link psychoanalysis with neighboring disciplines such as developmental psychology or neuroscience. The scope of this research can include (but is not limited to):

Systematic, hypothesis testing research into psychoanalytic and psychodynamic treatment processes and outcomes (including the development of reliable and valid measures of appropriate variables related to process and outcome)
Experimental studies testing hypotheses about infant, child, and/or adult development
Experimental studies testing psychoanalytic hypotheses about unconscious processes that may manifest in a variety of different ways and that may be embedded in studies that have implications for or are derived from other adjacent fields, such as psychophysiology, social psychology, personality psychology or the general study of psychopathology.

In addition, other forms of research can be supported. These studies may include intellectual history work, philosophical studies, and scholarly applications of psychoanalysis in fields such as history and literature.

While the Fund invites applications from multiple methodological points of view, it is especially supportive of experimental work directly relating to what is distinctive about psychoanalysis, including research relating to psychoanalytic or psychodynamic psychotherapy. The link between the proposed research and uniquely psychoanalytic positions, questions, and theories should be made explicit in the research proposal as part of the discussion of the specific aims and significance of the proposed study.

Application & Additional Information

Research Links

Psychoanalytic Psychology

Click here to read the recent article in Psychoanalytic Psychology based on a study supported by APsA’s Fund for Psychoanalytic Research:

“Rorschach Assessment of Ego Involvement in Affect Regulation: Interrater Reliability of Form Dominance in Shading and Achromatic Color Responses” by Anthony D. Bram, Donald J. Viglione, Oren Lee-Parritz, Kiley A. Gottschalk, Jed A. Yalof, James H. Kleiger, Ksera Dyette, and Ali Khadivi (April 2023)