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What are the beliefs and aims of contemporary psychoanalysts? How do they see themselves and their profession? How have older analysts changed their theoretical thinking and psychoanalytic practice? How do younger analysts view their life's work? Who are the most influential psychoanalysts past and present? Where is the profession headed? In short, how has psychoanalysis, the “impossible profession,” changed over the last century? Responses to these crucial questions appear in the aptly titled Psychoanalytic Credos: Personal and Professional Journeys of Psychoanalysts, edited by Jill Salberg, a clinical associate professor, consultant, and supervisor at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
Years ago, Salberg began assigning her students articles focusing on psychoanalysts' personal credos. She credits the idea to Emmanuel Ghent's “Credo: The Dialectics of One-Person and Two-Person Psychologies” (1989). The exercise worked so well that Salberg conceived of the present volume, comprising reprints of noteworthy articles and newly commisioned essays. Salberg wanted to include a broad theoretical spectrum of views that may be called the American counterpart to the British “middle school” or “independent tradition,” with most analysts identifying themselves as relational, object relational, contemporary Freudian, or Kleinian/Bionian—and a few who defy any affiliation. The contributors include both psychoanalytic superstars and rising stars. Twenty-seven essays appear, spanning five decades: 1960s (Sheldon Bach and Haydée Faimberg); 1970s (Ricardo Bernardi, Christopher Bollas, Stephen Mitchell, Jay Greenberg, Nancy McWilliams, and Michael Parsons); 1980s (Lewis Aron, Jessica Benjamin, Steven Cooper, Adrienne Harris, Thomas Ogden, Donna Orange, Jill Salberg, and Joyce Slochower); 1990s (Mary Brady, Ken Corbett, Elizabeth Corpt, Dianne Elise, Bruce Reis, Stephen Seligman, and Melanie Suchet); and 2000s (Stephen Hartman, Ilana Laor, Avgi Saketopoul