Progress in Psychoanalysis

"Books and essays on psychoanalysis seem to alternate between those that focus on its future and those that focus on its decline and marginalization. Is our current state of pluralism a sign of health and vitality or of decay and fragmentation? Progress in Psychoanalysis: Envisioning the Future of the Profession is a serious and rigorous effort to grapple with the tensions of the future of psychoanalysis under pressure to meet our health care system’s demands for access, cost containment, research evidence, and public accountability. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic education."-Lewis Aron, Ph.D., Director, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis

"This book, with broad reach, addresses a pervasive problem of closed-mindedness within the culture and among the "citizens" of the psychoanalytic community. That closed-mindedness has been shaken in recent decades, but still includes much excessive either/or thinking about theory, technique, training, research, and what psychoanalyst’s can do. And the book addresses this head-on in its theoretical sections, and by concrete illustration in its sections on training, research, and work beyond the one-to-one in-the-office. It is very much a worthwhile read for the already-openminded and a necessary read for all the others. Having discovered in my own Clinical/research/teaching life the value of such open-mindedness. I found it fascinating again and again as I read through it and recommend it highly."-Fred Pine, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City

"This book is a breath of fresh air. Perhaps a life-saving one. What unites its chapters is a recognition of two closely related facts: (1) that psychoanalysis is not important -- it is about something important -- and (2) that psychoanalysis is not about itself -- it is about the human mind, an object of study that we share with other disciplines."-Mark Solms, Chair of Neuropsychology, University of Cape Town and Research Chair, International Psychoanalytical Association

"The profession of psychoanalysis faces immense challenges to its viability. This stunning text captures both the internal and external challenges and it offers solutions. In three sections, "Perspectives’, "Research and Training", and "Beyond the Consulting Room", the book addresses the need to integrate disparate theoretical perspectives while maintaining clarity about core principles, to realize the relevance of psychoanalytic psychotherapy research, to develop meaningful collaborations with allied disciplines and to get smart about how the profession engages with health care reform. This book offers a path to a fundamental re-orientation of the profession and how it can thrive."-Harriet L. Wolfe, M.D., President, American Psychoanalytic Association; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UCSF