Controversies in Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Lectures from the Faculty of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute

Controversies in Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Lectures from the Faculty of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, edited by Manuel Purer, Edward Nersessian, and Carmela Perri. Madison: International Universities Press, 1998. 197 pages.

These lectures and debates of the faculty of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute are transcriptions of meetings held between 1989 and 1991 to revise the institute's educational policy, in light of shifts affecting analytic training, theory, and practice. Change occurred in the U.S. as a result of the acceptance of non-M.D.'s into the American Psychoanalytic Association, the relegation of psychoanalysis to one of several competing paradigms of therapy from its central position within psychiatry, and the withdrawal of the analytic community from involvement in the direction and teaching of medicine and psychiatry.

A short opening section, "The Future of Psychoanalysis," contains essays by R. Michels and C. Brenner. Michels foresees the creation of other forms of institute governance-for example, in universities outside of medical or health settings-which will compete with the current free-standing institutes by offering alternative training models. The profession will change as those institutes most successful in attracting good candidates become the dominant ones. Michels and Brenner advocate a shift in curriculum, away from more speculative theories of the mind (including Freud's), toward psychoanalysis as a method and clinical process, and theories that can be evaluated in the clinical situation. Fearing a dilution of professional standards, Brenner proposes that institutes concentrate on standardizing the analytic method, a view not shared by Michels, who feels that the danger of sterility in the field is currently far greater than the danger of "impurity." Many other issues, like the need for marketing and research, and the relationship between psychoanalysis and other disciplines, are raised in the discussion that follows.

The second section on the pluralism of contemporary psychoanalytic theory and technique-"The 'Common Ground' of Psychoanalysis"-regroups essays composed in response to R. Wallerstein's controversial paper "One Psychoanalysis or Many" (1988), which in turn inspired the 1989 IPA Congress in Rome and stimulated the publication of several articles in the International Journal of Psycho-Analysis between 1989 and 1991, including A. Richards's theoretical paper 'The Search for Common Ground" (1991), reproduced here. Richards, Nersessian, Ennis, and Calder all take issue with the de-linking of theory from practice that Wallerstein effects in an effort to find a common ground in clinical practice amongst the worldwide diversity of analytic theories. Richards examines the question in light of Hanly's distinction between correspondence and coherence theories of truth. Critical of contemporary tendencies to relinquish Freud's ideas or to indiscriminately amalgamate current theories, Nersessian presents an approach to evaluating our theoretical tenets and building upon our foundations, in a way that also leaves room for innovation.

The theme of theoretical pluralism is pursued on a more practical level in the next two chapters, which deal with whether and how to teach candidates alternative psychoanalytic theories, and the latest knowledge from neurobiology.

Supervision is the subject of the last chapter. Considered by many to be a bastion of psychoanalytic orthodoxy, the New York Institute has traditionally remained close to a drive/defence/conflict model in the context of an ego psychological metapsychology, and shunned Kleinianism, the British object relations approach, self-psychology, etc. While remaining committed to what they term the classical theory, faculty members concur on the need to expose candidates (at least minimally) to these "alternative" theories. The discussion clusters around themes repeated throughout the book: the problems engendered by theoretical pluralism, the reciprocity between theory and technique, the related difficulty in teaching a model theoretically divergent from one's own, the need to find "objective" ways to evaluate clinical practice, and the role of tradition in contemporary psychoanalysis.

From a Canadian perspective, to which many analysts were exposed to several "divergent" theories (including those also of the French school, and in some cases, of Lacan) during their training or afterwards, and are familiar with at least one, the position of the New York Institute seems theoretically and clinically restrictive. In particular, one wonders if and how candidates analyze certain groups of patients (narcissistic, borderline, perverse), the treatment of whom motivated or contributed to the development of some of these theories.

This book bears witness to a commendable effort made by the faculty of the New York Institute to stand back and reflect upon a broad range of issues of import for orienting its educational policy. One wishes that such deliberations would take place periodically in all institutes, particularly in times of change or upheaval. The inclusion of transcripts from the discussions adds frankness and transparency to the book. From my own perspective, however, I was struck by a relative consensus and lack of controversy in the views expressed by faculty members (in light of the title of the book). If its format is interesting, its pertinence suffers from the long time lag between the staging of these lectures and their publication (especially "The Common Ground of Psychoanalysis"). An update on what directions were taken or changes made by the Institute, and any ulterior developments, would have made an appropriate complement. Nersessian's essay is well worth reading, and the reader will find some useful information on contemporary American trends (particularly in the paper by Michels) and helpful observations about supervision, but on the whole there are few surprises in this book. Readers who have a specific interest in the New York Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, and those involved in psychoanalytic education and curriculum planning, will find this book most useful.

[Author Affiliation]

Louise Carignan

326 Somerset West, #200

Ottawa, ON K2P 0J9