Why study psychoanalysis at the American Society of Freudian Psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis remains one of the most demanding and transformative disciplines in the study of human subjectivity. Since its founding by Sigmund Freud, it has required theoretical rigor, ethical seriousness, and a sustained commitment to psychic suffering. In a contemporary landscape in which many approaches move away from the original foundations of psychoanalysis, the American Society of Freudian Psychoanalysis stands out as an international reference committed to preserving the classical Freudian tradition.
The importance of the classical Freudian tradition
Freud did not simply create a theory of the mind. He also developed a clinical method grounded in listening to the unconscious, understanding defense mechanisms, addressing psychic conflict, and working through transference. To study classical Freudian psychoanalysis is to return to the sources and to understand the structure of subjectivity as Freud formulated it through clinical observation and conceptual coherence.
Today, many schools and trends have drifted away from these Freudian pillars. Empty jargon, distance from actual clinical work, and the replacement of psychoanalytic rigor with ideological or merely philosophical readings have weakened the field. Choosing a formation that remains faithful to Freud’s original work is therefore a decision grounded in responsibility and seriousness.
Psychoanalytic genealogy: a living inheritance
One of the Society’s major distinctions is its commitment to psychoanalytic genealogy. Psychoanalytic knowledge is not transmitted only through books. It is also transmitted through formation itself, in which one analyst is formed by another within a lineage that reaches back to Freud’s earliest circle.
The genealogy associated with the Society traces a line from Sigmund Freud through Samuel Freud, then Clara Freud, and later Joseph Knobel Freud, an Argentine psychoanalyst based in Spain who became an international reference in work with childhood and adolescence. The tutors connected to the Society received direct formation within this tradition and transmit it with the same seriousness. When a student enters the program, they become the next link in that chain.
A complete and accessible formation
The Society’s psychoanalytic training is 100% online, allowing students throughout Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking regions to access a serious program without needing to relocate. Unlike fragmented and generic formations, the course is built around the classical tripod of psychoanalytic formation: theory, clinical supervision, and personal analysis.
The curriculum is organized into five modules, covering the foundations of psychoanalysis, orthodox Freudian authors, clinical cases, clinical structures, and contemporary developments. The goal is not merely technical instruction, but the formation of a solid clinical perspective supported by real experience and by the discipline of analytic listening.
Ethical and technical commitment
To become a psychoanalyst is, above all, to assume an ethical commitment to the suffering subject. The Society guides its formation through responsibility, discretion, neutrality, and respect for the unconscious. Students learn early that the analyst is not a moral judge or adviser, but rather a listener to symptoms and a translator of the language of the unconscious.
The Society also preserves a technically rigorous education, avoiding conceptual dilution and the abandonment of central psychoanalytic concepts. Repression, the unconscious, drive, Oedipus, transference, defense mechanisms, and symptom formation are all taught with depth, clarity, and clinical relevance.
Recognition and legal validity
Although psychoanalysis is not regulated by professional boards in Brazil, its practice is legally recognized as an occupation, including under the Brazilian Classification of Occupations (CBO 2515-50). The Brazilian Federal Constitution, Article 5, item XIII, also guarantees the free exercise of professions, including psychoanalysis, subject to the qualifications required by law. The Brazilian Civil Code (Law 10.406/2002) likewise permits autonomous professional services such as analytic listening.
The certificate issued by the American Society of Freudian Psychoanalysis is valid throughout Brazil and respects the legal framework for free courses, with international institutional backing.
Access to knowledge without barriers
The program is offered at accessible tuition levels without compromising educational quality. The Society also offers scholarships for residents in Brazil, helping new analysts enter a demanding and ethical formation. The aim is to democratize access to psychoanalytic education while preserving the rigor and seriousness the field requires.
Conclusion: a meaningful choice
Choosing where to study psychoanalysis is more than selecting a course. It is choosing how you want to listen to the world and to human suffering. Studying at the American Society of Freudian Psychoanalysis means joining a living genealogy, committing to classical theory, and being formed with ethical seriousness, intellectual depth, and clinical responsibility.
If you are looking for a serious formation aligned with the Freudian tradition and want to become part of a psychoanalytic lineage that respects listening, technique, and the desire to know, this is your place.
Apply now and become part of this history.