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The Concept “welfare state” implies a social structure in which a state not only concerns itself with but assumes responsibility for the general welfare of its participant members, their health being one of the foci of attention. I shall discuss four aspects of the place of psychoanalysis in a welfare state: 1) the nature of psychoanalysis and the person who is the psychoanalyst, in order to demonstrate the contribution of psychoanalysis to mental health; 2) the effects of shifting responsibility for health from the individual to the state; 3) the need for maintaining valuable institutions as a society goes through revolutions in its organization, the present being such a time; and 4) focusing the importance of individuality at all times and particularly when a state enters into a partnership with individuals in areas which have hitherto been private concerns.
Psychoanalysts—whatever their theoretical persuasions—share certain premises about human nature. These are 1) that there is a plasticity in personality throughout most of the life span of an individual and, therefore, people are capable of changes in character structure; 2) that two people in relationship to each other can affect each other towards entirely new ways which differ in principle and detail from prior ways of relating; 3) that each person has integrative capacities towards health; 4) that integrative capacities can be identified, aroused, experienced, and can grow strong enough to be a central force in a person's living; 5) that many principles behind feeling, action, relating, evaluating self and others are out of awareness but can come into awareness; and 6) that integrative forces can be aroused to cause movement towards self-awareness, growth and change towards healthier living.
Although there has been little success in arriving at a precise definition of psychoanalysis, psychoanalysts share certain opinions and observations about the psychoanalytic process and its effects. These ar