Austen Riggs Center

The Austen Riggs Center is known for its internationally-recognized tradition of providing intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy in a voluntary, open, and non-coercive community. Patients not helped in other settings can often benefit from deeper, more thorough psychodynamic evaluation and treatment. For over 100 years, the Riggs has offered residential psychiatric treatment based on intensive, four-times-weekly individual psychotherapy, provided by psychiatrists. From residential to supervised and unsupervised apartment living, Riggs provides continuity of care with the same interdisciplinary team throughout a patient's stay. Treating an average of 60 patients, Riggs remains one of the few psychiatric treatment centers in the United States committed to the intensive work necessary to help patients take charge of their lives.Erikson Institute for Education and ResearchErik H. Erikson, renowned humanist psychoanalyst and former Riggs staff member, recognized that individuals could not be understood apart from their psychosocial and historical contexts. Riggs' Erikson Institute develops this connection by promoting education and research in psychodynamic thought and treatment and by applying the clinical learning to the problems of the larger society. The Erikson Institute aims to bring the work of Riggs into dialogue with other mental health professionals, human service institutions, and scholars from a range of disciplines. The Erikson Institute includes: A Research Department and internshipsA Fellowship program in psychiatry and clinical psychologyThe Erikson Scholar programLectures and workshops for mental health professionalsAn organizational consultation service, especially for human service institutions