My Psychoanalytic Journey

Abstract

In this article I describe the evolution of my psychoanalytic thought and my current perspective of psychoanalysis, after almost a half century of professional practice. For the most part, three ideas have guided this evolution: (1) considering the patient’s mind as the major source of knowledge; (2) my firm belief that the patient–analyst dialogue, taken from the Gadamerian point of view, is the best way to have access to the patient’s mind and also to that of the analyst himself; and (3) the notion that the mind constitutes an open, dynamic, and nonlinear system in constant interaction with the environment that surrounds it. In my writings, I have tried to show that the therapeutic action in the psychoanalytic process is formed by the therapist–patient interaction. I also propose that psychoanalysis must endeavor to be a social therapy, even as it treats individuals, and go beyond what is purely instinctual so as to emphasize what is particular to human beings and sets us apart from the other animal species.

Notes

¹ Later on, when I became a candidate, the Portuguese-Spanish Society of Psychanalysis split up and became the Sociedad Española de Psicoanálisis or SEP (The Spanish Society of Psychoanalysis) in Barcelona, the Asociación Psicoanalítica de Madrid or APM (The Psychoanalytic Association of Madrid) in Madrid, and the Sociedad Portuguesa de Psicoanálisis (The Portuguese Society of Psychoanalysis) in Lisbon.

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Notes on contributors

Joan Coderch

Joan Coderch, M.D., is a member of the Spanish Psychoanalytical Society and emeritus Professor at University Ramon Llull in Barcelona.