About The William Alanson White Institute

For more than 80 years, the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology has distinguished itself as one of the world’s most prominent and respected psychoanalytic training and treatment centers. Our faculty and graduates continue to make major contributions to the professional literature and to assume significant leadership roles in academic and clinical training settings and in national and international professional organizations.

Mission
Our History
Our People
Institute Societies
Education & Services

Our Mission

The William Alanson White Institute, founded in 1943, is committed to innovation in the theory and practice of Interpersonal Psychoanalysis. Our focus is on the person as a social being within the surrounding culture. We train mental health professionals to apply these principles in a broad array of clinical settings with diverse populations. Central to our mission is serving the public with a range of affordable clinical services. We create vibrant programs for professionals and the community at large. We believe that people, through the enhancement of their own capacities, may more fully cope with the problems of living and the challenges of simply being human.

Acting Executive DIrector

Jack Drescher, MD

Member of the Board since 2024. He trained at the Institute where he is a Training & Supervising Analyst. He is Past President of both the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) and the New York County Psychiatric Society. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor at New York University’s Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. He is a 2022 recipient of the Mary S. Sigourney Award for his international work on gender and sexuality and a 2018 recipient of the American Psychiatric Association’s John Fryer Award.

The Interpersonal Perspective

Our History

The Institute was founded in 1943 as a revolutionary alternative to mainstream, orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis in the United States, by Erich Fromm, Ph.D., Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, M.D., Harry Stack Sullivan, M.D., David Rioch, M.D., Janet M. Rioch, M. D., and Clara Thompson, M.D.

Today, we still represent the most progressive wing of the psychoanalytic profession in the country.

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Learning and Giving Back

Our People

Many Institute graduates continue to remain actively involved with us in numerous capacities, an acknowledgement of the positive influence of psychoanalytic training in their professional and personal lives. Among other contributions, graduates serve as members of the faculty, as supervisors, or as psychoanalysts to current candidates. The administration and oversight of the Institute is provided by the Board of Trustees, the Council of Fellows, and numerous Standing Committees; many generously give their time and expertise pro bono.

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Making Long-Term Connections

Institute Societies

The Institute’s educational programs foster a sense of community that begins in training and continues long after graduation. The Societies offer graduates of the analytic training program a professional, intellectual and social community that extends this connection through the sponsorship of colloquia, social and other events.

The Psychoanalytic Society
Harry Stack Sullivan Society

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William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology 20 West 74th Street, New York, NY 10023 | (212) 873-0725