There were no psychoanalytic societies devoted to Sigmund Freud in Boston prior to his visit to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1909, though after 1909 there were individuals interested in Freud's writings, including James Jackson Putnam, L. Eugene Emerson, Isador Coriat, William Healy, and Augusta Bronner.

The present society and institute (abbreviated BPSI) was founded by psychoanalyst Franz Alexander around 1931.

[2] The Boston organization became a constituent Society of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1933, and was recognized as a full Society/Institute by APsaA in 1947.

[3] In its early years, the Department of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital was strongly associated with BPSI, especially through its first chief Stanley Cobb.

Persons who have been associated with the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute include the following: