Theoretical study
Reading and discussion of Freud, Lacan and the authors who came after. In the tripod, in the institution's seminars; in the Alma Enlevo Method, in 720 hours and 24 modules, with assessment.
Psychoanalytic tripod and the Alma Enlevo Method: from the traditional model to focused and diffuse learning
The psychoanalytic tripod is the traditional training model of psychoanalytic associations: theoretical study, personal analysis and supervision, carried out over years and validated by the institution. The Alma Enlevo Method, from Academia Enlevo, keeps study mandatory and assessed (720 hours, final assessments and final paper (TCC)), organizes learning into moments of focus and of elaboration (the focused and diffuse modes) and gives back to the student the choice of analyst, supervisor and pace.
This page explains where the tripod comes from, where this model weighs on those who want to train today, what the science of learning shows about the focused and diffuse modes, how the campus resources apply this principle and what it means, in psychoanalysis, to authorize oneself as a psychoanalyst.
Personal analysis
The future psychoanalyst undergoes analysis to know their own unconscious. In the tripod, with an analyst accredited by the institution; in the Alma Enlevo Method, recommended, with the analyst the student chooses.
Supervision
The first sessions with patients are discussed with a more experienced psychoanalyst. In the tripod, with a supervisor from the institution; in the Alma Enlevo Method, recommended for those starting to see patients, with free choice.
Origin
What the psychoanalytic tripod is and where it comes from
The tripod was born at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Polyclinic, opened in 1920 and later turned into the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, and became known as the Eitingon model, after Max Eitingon, who organized it. In 1925, the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) created a training commission and began adopting this model as the standard for its societies.
Since then, the tripod has organized training in the associations: the candidate undergoes years of personal analysis with an analyst from the institution itself, sees patients under the supervision of accredited members and attends the theoretical seminars. It is the institution that decides when they are ready.
The model has trained generations of psychoanalysts and remains legitimate for those who choose this path. But it is an institutional tradition, not a rule of psychoanalysis nor a requirement of the law. Freud himself, in The Question of Lay Analysis (1926), argued that psychoanalysis should not be reserved for a single profession.
The traditional model today
Where the tripod weighs: cost, time and authorization
For those who want to train today, the traditional model has three points that need to be known before choosing:
Paid separately, for years
Analysis and supervision sessions are paid separately, over years, in addition to the seminars. The total cost depends on how long the training lasts, and for that reason it is not known in advance.
The duration belongs to the institution
The path usually takes years and has no defined deadline: it is the institution that assesses when each stage is completed. The pace of the person studying counts for little.
The institution decides
The student does not freely choose the analyst or the supervisor and does not decide when they are ready to see patients. The authorization to practice comes from outside, from the association itself.
None of these points makes the tripod wrong. They show why many people, especially working adults, look for a model with a known cost, a defined deadline and more autonomy.
Side by side
Traditional tripod and the Alma Enlevo Method, criterion by criterion
CriterionTraditional tripodAlma Enlevo Method
Theoretical studyTraditional tripodThe institution's seminars, for yearsAlma Enlevo Method720 hours in 24 modules, mandatory and assessed
Personal analysisTraditional tripodMandatory, with an analyst accredited by the institutionAlma Enlevo MethodRecommended, with the analyst the student chooses
SupervisionTraditional tripodMandatory, with a supervisor from the institutionAlma Enlevo MethodRecommended for those starting to see patients, with free choice
Clinical practiceTraditional tripodSeeing patients after stages are completedAlma Enlevo MethodAnalysis of clinical cases from the first month
How one learnsTraditional tripodReading and seminarAlma Enlevo MethodMoments of focus and of elaboration, with the campus's own resources
DurationTraditional tripodYears, defined by the institutionAlma Enlevo MethodFrom 6 to 24 months, at the student's pace
CostTraditional tripodAdded up over years, known only at the endAlma Enlevo MethodKnown at the time of enrollment
CompletionTraditional tripodThe institution declares the candidate fitAlma Enlevo MethodFinal assessments and final paper (TCC), with transparent criteria
Who authorizesTraditional tripodThe associationAlma Enlevo MethodThe psychoanalyst themself, with the peers they choose
How the training is assessed and completed · Comparison of training models
How the brain learns
Focused and diffuse learning: what science shows
Neuroscience describes two modes of thinking that alternate when we learn. Engineer and researcher Barbara Oakley popularized this distinction in the book A Mind for Numbers (2014) and in the course Learning How to Learn, created with neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski.
Concentrated attention
It is deliberate study: reading a difficult text, following a class, analyzing a case line by line. The brain works along already-known pathways and deepens what is in front of it.
Elaboration in the background
It is what happens when attention loosens: in a conversation, on a walk, listening to a podcast. The brain makes broader connections between distant ideas, and that is where many concepts finally make sense.
Learning well means alternating between the two. Focus alone tires the student and keeps them stuck to what they already know; dispersion alone does not go deep. In psychoanalysis this weighs even more: concepts such as the unconscious, transference and desire are rarely understood on the first reading; they mature between one reading and the next, in listening to a case, in a colleague's words.
The Alma Enlevo Method applies this principle: the training combines concentrated, assessed study with spaces for exchange, listening and elaboration, at each student's pace.
The Alma Enlevo Method in practice
The campus resources in each mode of learning
On the Academia Enlevo campus, the study platform, each resource has a role along the path:
Classes and 24 modules
720 hours of study, with all classes recorded to review as many times as needed.
Implicated and Subversive Reading
Reading the authors in critical dialogue, not in repetition: to read is to interpret and question.
AI-simulated clinical cases
Simulated patients, with persona, history and resistances, to train listening before seeing patients.
Fortnightly live classes
Two per month, with the professor, dedicated to clinical cases: reasoning, listening and handling. They are recorded.
Critical Listening Circle
Small groups in which students present and discuss their own listening, among peers.
Guided Ethical Self-Confrontation
Self-knowledge work with method and guidance.
Psicanaliticamente podcast
Psychoanalysis to listen to on the go, when attention loosens and ideas connect.
Group supervisions and lectures
Live meetings to discuss cases and broaden the repertoire.
Personalized track and curated library
Exclusive material (articles, case studies, protocols) and a track that respects each student's time.
Autonomy
Authorizing oneself as a psychoanalyst
The psychoanalyst derives his authorization only from himself.
Lacan placed authorization at the center of training: no one becomes a psychoanalyst because an institution stamped a paper, but because they sustain, before themselves and others, the place of the one who listens. Years later, in Seminar XXI (1973–1974), he completed the sentence: the psychoanalyst derives his authorization from himself and from a few others.
This complement is decisive. Authorizing oneself is not training alone: it is choosing whom one trains with, who listens to one's analysis, who discusses one's cases. In the tripod, these others are defined by the institution. In the Alma Enlevo Method, the one who chooses them is the student.
Study and be assessed
720 hours in 24 modules, with final assessments: the theoretical foundation is mandatory and proven.
Train listening
Clinical cases from the first month, in the live classes, in the simulated cases and in the Critical Listening Circle.
Write the final paper (TCC)
Organize clinical thinking in writing; the best papers are published in the journal Interapia.
Choose your others
Analyst and supervisor of free choice. After graduating, up to 3 analysis or supervision sessions at no cost.
Authorize yourself
With the certificate and the path completed, the decision to start seeing patients belongs to the psychoanalyst.
What changes for the student
The Alma Enlevo Method gives back freedom of choice
From 6 to 24 months
Minimum of 6 months for those who already have a foundation; 8 to 9 months for those starting from scratch; up to 2 years with more in-depth study.
You choose
Personal analysis is strongly recommended and done with the professional the student chooses.
You choose
Available at Enlevo or with another professional, recommended for those starting to see patients.
Known in advance
The price of the training is set at enrollment, with materials and certificate included.
Rigor and freedom do not exclude each other. Study remains mandatory and assessed, with final assessments and final paper (TCC); what changes is that the choices concerning each person's life and clinical practice return to the one who will practice psychoanalysis.
Frequently asked questions about the psychoanalytic tripod
What is the psychoanalytic tripod?
It is the traditional training model of psychoanalytic associations, made up of theoretical study, personal analysis and supervision, carried out over years and validated by the institution. It emerged at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in the 1920s (Eitingon model) and was adopted by the IPA from 1925 onward.
Is the psychoanalytic tripod mandatory by law?
No. The tripod is a tradition of psychoanalytic associations, not a requirement of Brazilian law. Psychoanalysis has no federal council nor regulation as a profession; free training is supported by the LDB (Law 9,394/96).
Does the Alma Enlevo Method follow the tripod?
It keeps the three elements, but changes who decides. Theoretical study is mandatory and assessed (720 hours, final assessments and final paper (TCC)); personal analysis and supervision are recommended, with professionals freely chosen by the student.
Do I need to undergo personal analysis to complete the training at Academia Enlevo?
It is not a prerequisite for completion. Personal analysis is strongly recommended for those who will see patients and is done with the analyst the student chooses. After graduating, the student has up to 3 analysis or supervision sessions at no cost.
What is focused and diffuse learning?
They are two modes of thinking that alternate when we learn: the focused mode, of concentrated attention, and the diffuse mode, in which the brain makes broader connections with attention loosened. The distinction was popularized by Barbara Oakley, in the book A Mind for Numbers and in the course Learning How to Learn.
How does the Alma Enlevo Method use the focused and diffuse modes?
It alternates concentrated study (modules, implicated reading, AI-simulated cases) with spaces for elaboration (Critical Listening Circle, Psicanaliticamente podcast, group supervisions and lectures), at each student's pace.
What does “the psychoanalyst derives his authorization only from himself” mean?
It is a sentence by Jacques Lacan, in the Proposition of 9 October 1967: no one becomes a psychoanalyst merely through a title granted by an institution. In Seminar XXI (1973–1974), Lacan completed it: “and from a few others”. Authorizing oneself includes choosing whom one trains with.
How long does training through the Alma Enlevo Method take?
From 6 to 24 months. Six months is the minimum for those who already have a foundation; those starting from scratch usually take 8 to 9 months; and access is valid for up to 2 years for those who want more in-depth study.
Are those trained through the tripod and those trained through free training equally psychoanalysts?
In Brazil, yes: there is no mandatory council or professional registration, and both paths are legitimate. What changes is the training model, the time, the cost and who decides on analysis, supervision and the moment to start seeing patients.