The Society of Couple Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists was formed in 1988 as a professional organisation for graduates of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (formerly the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute). Its members have worked tirelessly to uphold high professional standards and promote couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy both nationally and internationally. To this end the Society has been creative and innovative from the start and although it is a small society it has associate members from different parts of the world.
SCPP organises an annual Study Day which attracts a large audience and remains a significant annual event on the psychoanalytic community's calendar. It has hosted two international conferences and it produces an international journal, "Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Couple Work". SCPP members have written, edited, and contributed to much of the available literature on couple psychoanalytic work.
Working psychoanalytically with couples is a challenge; few psychotherapists train specifically to work with couples, and of course not all clients want to make the commitment to such in-depth work. Those who do however, often find that they are able to make sense of and give meaning to, difficulties and situations that may have seemed impossible to bear or understand. The relief that such understanding brings to the couple is often helpful and liberating not just for them, but for the whole family.
The SCPP aims to continue to develop the understanding of psychoanalytic work with couples and to establish a place within the psychoanalytic community that recognises the value and importance of working with couples. It also aims to increase public awareness of the significance, helpfulness and often real pleasure, to be found in the shared exploration of unconscious dynamics in the relationship with one's partner.
