New Center for Psychoanalysis

For many, mental health struggles are not always visible from the outside. They can feel like a constant internal dialogue — anxious thoughts, self-criticism, emotional overwhelm, numbness, or exhaustion that others may never fully see. “Mind Vomit” captures that inner experience with striking honesty: ‘This represents the daily conversation within my mind. Anxious thoughts, depressive thoughts, sub-thoughts, thoughts about the thoughts, a constant critical commentary and a tornado of darkness, numbness and complete inner turmoil.’ At the New Center for Psychoanalysis, we believe mental health conversations matter — not only in moments of crisis, but in the quiet, everyday experiences people carry within themselves. Awareness creates space for compassion, understanding, and connection.You are not alone in what you carry. Photograph: the Perspective Project

Today is California Nonprofits Day — a reminder of the important role nonprofit organizations play in supporting education, community, and mental health care. At The New Center for Psychoanalysis, we believe spaces for reflection, emotional understanding, and meaningful dialogue matter deeply — not only for clinicians, but for the broader community. As a nonprofit educational institution, we’re proud to support the training of future psychoanalytic and psychodynamic clinicians while fostering conversations that deepen our understanding of the human experience. Thank you to our faculty, candidates, members, supporters, and community for being part of this work. Please consider a donation to help us continue our vital work: https://www.n-c-p.org/cgi/page.cgi/donate.html.

This World Mental Health Month, we’re honored to showcase artwork exploring the complexity of the human emotional experience — and the powerful role creativity can play in supporting mental health. Featured here is The Academic Job Market: Oil by Emilia Favuzzi, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine. Through turbulence, exhaustion, pressure, and resilience, the piece reflects the emotional weight so many carry beneath the surface.Throughout World Mental Health Month, we’ll be sharing additional artwork and reflections highlighting the connection between creativity, emotional expression, and psychological well-being.
Learn more about our community and programs at N-C-P.org.

Applications are now open for NCP’s Adult Psychoanalytic Training Program (APT). Join a vibrant psychoanalytic community through our hybrid Wednesday seminars (2PM–6PM) and train alongside mental health professionals from across California. Throughout the program, candidates gain deeper insight through personal analysis, supervised training cases, case presentations, and clinical writing — while building the foundation for future leadership as psychoanalysts, educators, Training Analysts, and Supervisors.
Class size is limited for Fall 2026. Learn more and apply at NCP.org

‘There is a moment when you can’t help but sink deep down. Attacked by spiteful thoughts. But, oh dear! I was the monster.’
As we enter Mental Health Awareness Month, Jayoon Choi’s reflection reminds us of a central psychoanalytic truth: the fears that overwhelm us often arise from parts of ourselves we have yet to fully understand. In psychoanalysis, this recognition becomes a turning point—shifting us from fear to curiosity, and opening space to explore the unconscious conflicts that shape our thoughts, emotions, and sense of self.
Photograph: Jayoon Choi/the Perspective Project

On this day in 1856, Sigmund Freud was born. By his 74th birthday, he had a clear-eyed view of the occasion, writing to his wife Martha: "There was of course no way of evading the nonsense of the birthday."

170 years later, we can't evade it, nor would we want to. His ideas continue to shape how we understand the mind, human behavior, and ourselves.

Happy birthday, Freud.

Honoring a Foundational Thinker in Psychoanalysis.
On the birthday of Sigmund Freud, we reflect on several of his most enduring theoretical contributions:

He introduced the structural model of the psyche
Freud conceptualized the mind as consisting of the id, ego, and superego—dynamic systems that mediate instinctual drives, reality, and internalized moral standards.

He developed the theory of the unconscious as a dynamic system
Rather than a passive storehouse, Freud described the unconscious as actively shaping thoughts, behaviors, and symptoms through processes like repression and conflict.

He formalized psychoanalytic technique
Freud established core methods such as free association, dream analysis, and the interpretation of transference, which remain central to psychoanalytic practice.

He linked early development to adult psychopathology
Freud’s theory of psychosexual development emphasized that early childhood experiences play a formative role in personality structure and later psychological symptoms.

Freud’s work continues to influence contemporary psychoanalytic theory, clinical practice, and broader conversations in psychology and the humanities.

Learn more about psychoanalytic training and theory at the New Center for Psychoanalysis: N-C-P.org.

For more information on our Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program (CAPP), please visit: https://www.n-c-p.org/certificate-child.html

Some moments from our 20th Anniversary celebration at NCP.