Where is psychoanalysis today? Sixty-two psychoanalysts share their subjective perspectives on the state of the art of psychoanalysis: A qualitative thematic analysis

Abstract

Today it is still necessary and useful to deal with the empirical foundations and cultural dimensions of a discipline such as psychoanalysis that has played a vital role in shaping the contemporary world, on both sociocultural and clinical levels. This study aimed to describe and summarize the perspectives of experienced psychoanalysts on important aspects of psychoanalysis today. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 62 psychoanalysts. The interview data were processed using a theory-informed thematic analysis. There were 12 macro-themes: important aspects of psychoanalysis, important authors in psychoanalysis today, “contemporary psychoanalysis,” the proliferation of psychoanalytic “schools,” psychoanalytic identity and psychotherapy, psychoanalytic training, the Oedipus complex, dreams, the relationship between psychoanalytic theory and outcome and process research, the relationship between psychoanalysis and research in the neurosciences, empirically validated psychoanalytic concepts, and the marginalization of psychoanalysis. Our study revealed the image of a pluralistic psychoanalysis that the participants interviewed show they have, with various schools/definitions/sources, where Freud and the classical model are contested by numerous other approaches.

Key words:

• psychoanalysis
• psychoanalytic psychotherapy
• crisis of psychoanalysis
• psychoanalytic pluralism
• research on psychoanalysis

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here https://doi.org/10.1080/0803706X.2021.1991594.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alberto Stefana

Alberto Stefana, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and researcher. His main clinical area of interest is the psychotherapy of adults with psychological or psychiatric conditions or illness. He has worked as psychotherapist at the psychiatric unit of the Spedali Civili Hospital of Brescia, still works in private practice, and is currently the recipient of a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship on the project “Evidence-based assessment in psychotherapy.” The main areas of scientific interest focus on the history and epistemology of psychoanalysis, evidence-based assessment and treatment, therapeutic relationship, and psychopathology. He has published more than 50 articles in international journals such as the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Journal of Affective Disorders, and Bipolar Disorders, and the monograph History of countertransference: from Freud to the British Object Relations School (Routledge, 2017).

Barbara Celentani

Barbara Celentani is a psychologist and psychotherapist. She received her postgraduate specialization at the Scuola di Psicoterapia Psicoanalitica, Turin, Italy. Her main study and research interests are migratory processes, single case studies in psychotherapy research, qualitative thematic analysis, and different perspectives and clinical orientations in psychoanalysis.

Aleksandar Dimitrijevic

Aleksandar Dimitrijević, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. He works as a lecturer at the International Psychoanalytic University and in private practice in Berlin, Germany. He has given lectures, seminars, university courses, and conference presentations throughout Europe and in the USA. He is the author of many conceptual and empirical papers about attachment theory and research, psychoanalytic education, and psychoanalysis and the arts, some of which have been translated into German, Hungarian, Italian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Turkish. He has also edited or coedited 12 books or special journal issues, the most recent of which are Ferenczi’s influence on contemporary psychoanalytic traditions (with Gabriele Cassullo and Jay Frankel; Routledge, 2018), Silence and silencing in psychoanalysis (with Michael B. Buchholz; Routledge, 2020), and From loneliness to solitude (with Michael B. Buchholz; Phoenix Publishing House, 2022).

Paolo Migone

Paolo Migone, MD, was trained in psychiatry and psychoanalysis both in Italy and in the USA, where he became a Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. He is the editor of the Italian quarterly journal Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane (Psychotherapy and the Human Sciences; www.psicoterapiaescienzeumane.it). He founded the Italian chapters of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) and the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI), is co-chair of the Rapaport-Klein Study Group, a member of the editorial board of Psychological Issues, and research associate of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He is the author of various publications, among them the books Terapia psicoanalitica [Psychoanalytic therapy] (FrancoAngeli, 1995, new edition 2010) and La terapia psicodinamica è efficace? Il dibattito e le evidenze empiriche [Is psychodynamic therapy effective? Discussion and empirical evidence] (FrancoAngeli, 2021).

Cesare Albasi

Cesare Albasi, PhD, is professor of attachment relational clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Turin, and director of the Mitchell Institute psychotherapy training centre, Turin, Italy.