International Psychoanalysis

Barrier busting is a business term recently used by Amory Lovins*, an energy wizard and CEO of the Rocky Mt. Institute. He is referring to the need for all those concerned with oil consumption and alternative energy to work together towards a solution. I applaud this concept as it relates to psychoanalysis as well. Psychoanalysis needs to bust barriers too.

The richness of this profession is due to the mix of psychoanalysts, some with doctorates and many without. Exclusionary practices are damaging this profession. Case in point: Today I received an invitation to a meeting

NEW PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVES ON PREJUDICE
Making a Difference in Society
A Conference for the Application of Psychoanalysis to Problems in Society
Co Sponsored by the Harry Stack Sullivan Society,
William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Society, and
Contemporary Psychoanalysis

A conference on prejudice that clearly excludes clinical social workers on its program and on its planning committee – people who have earned the right to practice psychoanalysis, and who have made major contributions to this profession – is misguided and divisive.

My hope, in this short essay, is first of all to educate those who are prejudiced against masters level social work psychoanalysts and lay analysts, and secondly, along the same lines, to make a plea that we respect and listen to diverse points of view from different disciplines.

Anyone who embraces psychoanalytic work knows how difficult and rewarding it can be. Putting energy into turf wars is draining and takes away the chance to learn from each other. Discrimination persists now because of status issues, as the world of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy becomes increasingly stratified under economic pressure. But now is a time to join together as we have much to share. Read the rest of this entry »

 
 
 
Click Here To Read: The Certification Debate as a Manifestation of Our Unacknowledged Ambivalences by Leon Hoffman.
 
Click here to Read: For the historical background of this dabate, Paul Mosher and Arnold Richards’s paper “The History of Membership/Certification in the APsaA: Old Demons, New Debates.”
  
 
 
 
  

APsaA members are discussing the subject of certification. This editorial by Arlene Kramer Richards gives us one person’s personal experience of the process, along with suggestions for the future. The piece was originally published in États Generaux de la Psychanalyse (2000) and appears here with the requisite permissions. The IP Blog looks forward to many comments so that people can reflect, with open minds, on their positions - whatever they may be.

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DISCUSSION OF THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS AT THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION

By Arlene Kramer Richards

I became a certified member of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1998. My experience in becoming certified has caused me to think long and searchingly about the purposes and the consequences of this process. The personal pain induced by the process is the spur for my thinking, but the thinking has gone on long after the pain was assuaged by the concern and sympathetic listening of a few close friends and many colleagues. The process began when I decided to attend a meeting at which prospective candidates for certification were invited to discuss the process. The members of the committee who were present at the meeting assured the prospective candidates that the process would be collegial and that they wanted to use it to get to know the candidates and their way of working as analysts. This sounded good to me. They also gave details of how to write up cases for certification and, most importantly for me as someone who had trained long ago and outside the institutes of the American, said that they were willing to accept a selection of cases from senior people rather than demand that we write up all the cases we had ever had. That was reasonable. I wrote the cases as I would for scientific papers. I tried to spotlight the difficulties that arose in the analyses themselves and the thoughts that had occurred to me as I wrote them up now, many years later. Informed that they had been insufficient, I was encouraged to go to Toronto in May 1998 to present my work in person. This time, I was to bring process on current hours. I was shocked to find that the small subcommittee that interviewed me at that time did not believe that I had presented to them well enough to show that I understood the analytic process. After another write up and another interview, I was told that I had now shown that I did understand the analytic process. For a senior analyst who had done many analyses and supervisions and had been the co-chair of an IPA pre-congress on analytic supervision as well as having been a training analyst so long that some of my analysands were now training analysts, this did not feel good. Was the problem me or was it the process? Or was it both? Much of my thinking about this has been in the service of figuring this out. To begin at the beginning, there was the case write ups. Read the rest of this entry »

Many thanks to Jane Hall for bringing the recent Papal visit to the attention of the psychoanalytic community. (Click here to read Jane S. Hall’s editorial.) An international event of this importance has the potential to elicit deeply held emotions in individuals that rise to the surface and reverberate in our society at large. Having attended the Papal Mass at the Washington Nationals Stadium, I witnessed both the hushed attentiveness of over forty thousand faithful in the stands as well as several placard-carrying protestors shouting outside the front gates. Not unexpectedly, people expressed strong feelings around this event. As a psychoanalyst as well as a practicing Roman Catholic, the Papal visit and the reactions to it were of great interest to me.I would now like to share some psychoanalytic thoughts about a particular incident that occurred during this time. My intent is to show that the effects of clerical sexual abuse might be evident in one victim’s encounter with the Pope. Read the rest of this entry »

The International Psychoanalytic website is pleased to present an important op ed piece by Marian Tolpin. This eminent analyst from Chicago explains clearly, articulately, and persuasively why the training analyst title should be retired. The Executive Board of the International Psychoanalytic Association would not permit its publication. The International Psychoanalytic Blog stands for freedom of expression and welcomes comments on this important and timely article.

Jane S. Hall
Op Ed Editor

Thoughts on the Group Self of psychoanalysis,
in light of the controversy over Training Analysis status

Marian Tolpin, M.D.

There is currently a great deal of debate taking place in psychoanalytic training centers, around the world and here in the United States, concerning whether there should be a separate category of graduate psychoanalysts designated as specially qualified to analyze future psychoanalysts. Among those who do believe that there needs to be such a category, further debate has raged on what that special qualification might entail and on the particulars of how (when, by whom) it should be established and evaluated.

In what follows below I reflect on my own experiences in regard to this category and on the lengthy history of the Training Analysis question as a disruptive force in institutional psychoanalysis. As I consider why this fractious issue, which has caused so much dissension in our profession, remains perpetually unresolved, I conclude that the Training Analysis serves a Group Self cohesive function. As such, it joins a list of other myths that have served that function in the past; myths that were clung to but ultimately had to be relinquished in the face of contradictory evidence. Read the rest of this entry »

I was surprised at my own personal reaction to seeing the Pope on television here in New York City. My hope was stirred as I saw this man who in his white robe spoke of human rights and peace. Cynic that I can be, I was moved and wondered, with the psychoanalytic part of my brain, “what was going on?” I am not a Catholic, nor am I religious. In fact, organized religion mystifies me although I see its benefits for those who choose to practice it. I began to wonder what the Pope and psychoanalysis have in common and came up with one fact: both the church and psychoanalysis are losing candidates. Read the rest of this entry »

Click Here to Read: An Op-Ed by Sheldon Goodman on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.

Congressman Edward Markey

Click Here to Read:  Congressman Edward Markey’s article on Privacy
Click Her to Read: Editorial on Safeguarding Private Medical Data in the New York Times, March 26th, 2008. 

A Tale of Two States

By Stephen L. Richards and Jennifer Bishop Jenkins
 This is a tale of two states. Let’s call them State A and State B.

 Both State A and State B have the death penalty.

 In State A, the anti-death penalty movement is strong, well-financed, and well-publicized.

 In State B, the anti-death penalty movement is initially weaker, poorer, and not so well-publicized.

In State A, an innocent man, fitted for his burial shroud, comes within hours of execution.

In State B, no innocent man ever comes close to execution.

Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to publish Alice Maher’s op ed piece - especially on the eve of our Future of Psychoanalytic Education conference on Dec. 1 & 2 - an ecumenical conference that is bound to influence us all.

Alice says: “The ability to tolerate time, tension, paradox, and ambiguity, to develop greater capacity for empathic imagination, and to be able to learn and change in relationship to an Other, are essential elements of a good analytic process. They need to become goals for our society as well.”

This is exactly what this first ecumenical conference aims to accomplish.

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Harnessing Thanatos : Is it possible to analyze the forces of war in a way that leads to real change? by Alice Lombardo Maher, M.D .

I find that I’m unable to address the topic of conflict among analysts without focusing on the larger phenomena of prejudice and war. If it’s true that there’s more dissention within the analytic community than outside it, it’s because we’ve yet to find ways to address group conflicts on a scale larger than our individual consulting rooms, so the same dynamics that lead to war are emerging in bold relief from within our own community. If we can discover ways to use analytic tools to address the problem of large-scale inter-group conflict, we have an opportunity to unify our paradigms and give society an invaluable gift. If not, the problem will continue to play itself out in our own society, and our “Tower of Babel” will eventually collapse.

Freud taught us that the need to disavow aspects of our selves can lead to symptoms, problematic relationships, and self-destructive acting out, but the opportunity to give voice to those forbidden thoughts, over a long period of time and struggle, can be healing. But his model of thanatos gave us no useful tools, and a feeling of impotence, in relation to social forces. Individual analyses tend not to deal with prejudice except as it arises as part of a dynamic construct in the treatment. But can a democratic analyst analyze a patient to become a better republican? Can a Kleinian analyst give birth to a Freudian or a Relationist? Read the rest of this entry »

It is a privilege to introduce this op ed piece by Robert Langs whose major volumes on the technique of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, with their clear explication of the function of the ‘frame’ in treatment, have guided many clinicians on the journeys they take. In this piece, Lang takes on a different kind of travel using the Bible as a guide.

Jane S. Hall, op editor

[Note: Langs’ latest book, Beyond Yahweh and Jesus: Bringing Death’s Wisdom to Faith, Spirituality, and Psychoanalysis, may be ordered through our Book Mart - click here.]

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How Religion—Yes, Religion—Can Save Psychoanalysis
Robert Langs, M.D.

The separation between psychoanalysis and religion has been as wide and as inviolate as that between church and state. As we know, Freud saw the belief in a transcendental God as a reflection of a wish for an omnipotent father and given his inner-need centered theory of the mind, after seeing religion as the quest for an illusion, his study of Moses not withstanding, he was more or less finished with the subject. As a result, despite the prevalence of religious beliefs, he failed to respond to Thomas Hobbes’ long standing 17th century call for the study of ‘man’s religious nature’ and thus did not engage in a thorough psychoanalytic investigation of religious beliefs and the Bible. In contrast, Jung offered psychoanalytic investigations of various aspects of religion, especially the stories of Job and Christ, and he argued that we must turn to the Bible for fresh insights into psychology and contrariwise, that only psychology can freshly illuminate the Bible. Read the rest of this entry »

In New York, perhaps more so than in the rest of the country, turf wars are increasing as the turf itself seems to be shrinking. Waging war is expensive in terms of time and money. Such war waging is costing the art, craft, and science of psychoanalysis precious energy and it is for this reason that I post this editorial written by Arlene Kramer Richards. This short and eloquent piece will be delivered at the December 1 and 2 Conference: The Future of Psychoanalytic Education, an ecumenical meeting with Jurgen Reeder as keynote speaker. (Click here for conference details)
Jane S. Hall, Op-Ed Editor

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Why Do I Want to Include Our Colleagues in Licensing as Psychoanalysts? by Arlene Kramer Richards

Different points of view about psychoanalytic education and theory can be grouped, I think, into two categories. One camp argues that psychoanalysis must be safeguarded from those who would debase it by using the name to include therapies that are scheduled for less than three times per week. The other camp argues that psychoanalysis is, as Freud himself defined it, the use of the concepts of transference and resistance to understand the unconscious and especially unconscious affects, wishes, prohibitions and fears. Who is right?

The question has theoretical and practical aspects. Read the rest of this entry »

Douglas Kirsner discusses his new research published in his recent article, ‘Do as I say, not as I do: Ralph Greenson, Anna Freud and Superrich Patients’ (Psychoanalytic Psychology, Vol. 24, 3, 2007, pp. 475-486).
Op ed by Douglas Kirsner
     Today it can be difficult to imagine a time when psychoanalysis ruled the roost in mental health. During the 1950s and into the 1960s the major psychiatry programs were psychoanalytically oriented and more than half the chairs of psychiatry were analysts. Psychoanalysis was the default option for understanding and for cure. Psychoanalysts effectively controlled psychiatry, where psychoanalysis commanded immense respect as they did in the culture at large where it was an important part the zeitgeist, not only in New York. Read the rest of this entry »

Edwin Fancher has responded to No one owns psychoanalysis (the first editorial posted on August 7th). He addresses the issue of times per week by giving us his history of Freudian psychoanalytic training starting with the Eitington model in Berlin. Mr. Fancher’s contribution is presented as an opinion piece rather than a comment because of its substance, as was Jennifer Harper’s piece, NAAP and Licensing: Fact and Fiction, (August 28th) because of its depth and breadth.

There are many schools of psychoanalysis. This Editorials section of the blog is open to all who are interested in writing Op-Ed articles and comments on them.

The Op-Ed format gives us a forum for exchanging ideas with each other and expressing opinions. The blog form is not impeded by space requirements so all opinion pieces and comments can be posted. Analysts have a tendency to talk past each other instead of listening with open minds. Vehemently defending our beliefs affects our ability to see beyond them. Civil dialogue leads to growth.

Write soon.
Jane S. Hall, Op-Ed Editor

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An editorial by Edwin Fancher
a founding director, Washington Square Institute for Psychotherapy and Mental Health founding president, New York School for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

I would like to support Rick Perlman on the issue of the inadequacy of the standards of training for the New York State Licensed Psychologist status, which are based on standards promoted by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP). I have many disagreements with the NAAP standards, but believe that the most important issue is the lack of a frequency in the requirements for psychoanalytic training, which I will address.

Frequency has a long and complicated history in psychoanalysis, but I believe it is worthwhile to review some of that history, and I will touch on a few points in regard to how the issue of frequency influences: 1, the definition of psychoanalysis itself, 2. the distinction between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, 3. the controversy over lay analysis, 4. scientific research into clinical technique, and 5. political controversy between organized professional groups on a state and national level. Read the rest of this entry »

As Op Editor of InternationalPsychoanalysis.net I am pleased to post a new editorial from Jennifer Harper about a current debate in the United States on a recent licensing bill passed by several states due to the effort of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP). More than an opinion piece, Jennifer Harper has given a history and explanation of NAAP’s efforts to protect psychoanalysis. Although this piece was written in response to my recent editorial, I feel that its depth and breadth merits its own editorial space. Your responses are welcome.

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An editorial by Jennifer R. Harper, MDiv
Past-President, NAAP
Chair, Psychoanalytic Recognition Committee, NAAP

Many thanks to Jane S. Hall for her editorial of August 7, 2007 and for her thoughtful outline of qualities that make good analysts. I applaud her effort to initiate an on-line conversation around a number of issues that have aroused consternation among various psychoanalytic groups and individuals over the meaning of the term psychoanalysis and of the requirements for training that are reflected in the New York state license.

The license we have in New York state is a product of many defensive maneuvers carried out over a period of more than 30 years on behalf of evolving groups, including various subgroups of existing mental health interests and more recently of the legislative efforts and organization of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP).

Contrary to the perception that NAAP has aggressively pursued licensing for psychoanalysis, NAAP has in fact aggressively defended lay analysis against multiple attempts by the existing mental health professions (medicine, later psychology and more recently social work) who seek to own and control the scope of practice of psychoanalysis within their own licenses; thereby denying the existence of independently trained psychoanalysts. Even in this history of struggle there are efforts that we can all support and join around as we seek ways of cooperating more clearly among ourselves around our common interests and our continued differences — as psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

An editorial by Jane S. Hall

I am dizzy, perplexed, confused, and distracted by all the debates on standards and credentials taking place in the United States. At APsaA there is something called certification after graduation that many see as unfair and archaic; at CIPS people have differing opinions about the NAAP inspired licensing bill; at NYFS there are some (not many) who disagree with the new, non-evaluatory policy about selection of training analysts; in California, a state where people have to drive sometimes long distances for therapy, some analysts in training wish that three times a week was acceptable for a training case; and surely, there are other debates I know nothing about. Instead of focusing on the facts that psychoanalysis is far from the public’s mind and that there is a dearth of candidates, too much energy is being spent on deciding just how many hoops one must jump through to call themselves an analyst and then a training analyst. My plea is for ecumenical cooperation to replace the infighting that is draining our field of the energy needed to re-build the reputation of psychoanalysis as a valid form of treatment and study. Read the rest of this entry »