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Psychoanalytic Intersections, edited by former Erikson scholar Elise Miller, is an immersive book, reflecting the immersive nature of the Erikson Program itself. Miller has assembled a collection of essays by scholars like herself, accompanied in each case by an afterword attesting to the impact of the author's Erikson experience.1
For those unfamiliar with Austen Riggs, the book provides a series of introductions, as if one were passing through successive hallways before opening the door to the institution itself. There is some overlap among these narratives, so I will condense them to focus on the essays themselves.
Jane Tillman, Director of the Erikson Institute, offers a “Foreword” where she describes the Erikson Scholar Program as an opportunity for visitors to “learn about the individual in context,” including matters of “identity, culture, ethnicity, and human development throughout the lifespan” (p. ix). Tillman observes that psychoanalysis, as studied in academic disciplines, relies on theory in the absence of clinical experience. At Riggs, a private residential psychiatric hospital, scholars participate in the life of the community, where staff, patients, and visitors come together in conversation about the causes and harms of human suffering. The Erikson Program provides living space, access to an extensive library of psychoanalytic literature, and a stipend for two scholars each fall and spring.
Former Director Gerald Fromm expands on Tillman's description of Riggs in his “Preface” by focusing on the interdisciplinary nature of the Erikson Scholar Program, as well as the Treatment Center. Erik Erikson, he notes, “spent ten years
on the staff of Austen Riggs as a full-time clinician, but also as an intellectual wanderer” (p. xxiii). Fromm observes that Erikson's seminal book Young Man Luther, which draws from his wide reading in the disciplines of history, anthropology, and sociology, was also inspired by the treatment of a patient at Riggs. Subsequent wo