50 years of IFPS societies in Switzerland: Psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed patients and philosophical contributions to the international psychoanalytic discussion

Abstract

The Swiss member societies of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, namely the two existential analytic societies and the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Kreuzlingen, have always stressed the philosophical foundation of psychoanalysis as psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed and psychotic patients. The colleagues working in these institutes have often cooperated very closely with analysts from the International Psychoanalytical Association. This paper stresses the important contributions for inpatient psychoanalytic approaches.

Key words:

• Swiss IFPS societies
• philosophy
• psychoanalysis with psychotics

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Klaus Hoffmann

Author

Klaus Hoffmann, born in 1954, is a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy as well as in psychosomatics. He works as Medical Director of the Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in the Centre of Psychiatry in Reichenau (Germany), as head of the Institute of Psychoanalysis (IfP) Zürich-Kreuzlingen (Switzerland), and as Professor for Clinical Psychology at Constance University. Since 2000, he has been a member of the executive commitee of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS).