Irish Psycho-Analytical Association

Founded in 1942, the IPAA is the oldest psychoanalytic body in Ireland. Its founder, Jonathan Hanaghan, was sent here in 1926 by Freud’s friend and biographer, Ernest Jones: “It will take a Celt to start up psychoanalysis in Ireland.”

Although many elements of human nature seem universal in humanity, most psychotherapists, anthropologists, and sociologists would agree that each individual’s experience is embedded within the culture in which the person grew up. The traditions, accumulated knowledge and experience of the Irish Psycho-Analytical Association reflect three-quarters of a century of intensive psychotherapeutic work in Ireland, with Irish people.

Although strongly Freudian in its beginnings, springing as it did from Freud’s inner circle in the U.K., the Association and its members have incorporated the major advances in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy throughout the seven and a half decades of its existence.

It is characteristic of the Association that its philosophical and theoretical formulations have taken into account the transcendent dimension of life. The Association is in its eightieth year and enjoys a rich tradition of handing down psychoanalytic knowledge and experience from one generation of analyst to the next. The Association has supported psychoanalytic psychotherapy through many of the changes in Irish life during that time. Our ethos is about facilitating an understanding of unconscious process including the social unconscious and its influence on the individual. 

Our commitment to the highest level of training has delivered members with a wide range of theoretical knowledge from the great traditions of psychoanalysis. Uniquely our Saturday Night Group offered the opportunity to hear lectures on a psychoanalytic subject with the opportunity for open discussion. Our members are committed to contributing to new thought and theory within psychoanalysis and to the highest standards of clinical practice.

Enquiries about membership and psychoanalytic psychotherapy are welcome.