136th Bulletin of the International Psycho-Analytical Association

The 30th Congress of Romance Languages was held in Paris, 15–18 May 1970. It was organized under the auspices of the Société Psychanalytique de Paris in cooperation with the Association Psychanalytique de France, and the Psycho-Analytical Societies of Belgium, Canada, Spain, Switzerland and the Portuguese Study Group. Each Society was represented and a total of approximately 400 in number attended, including members of all categories and students.

Two topics were discussed over the four-day period, two days being devoted to each topic. The first, 'Some Elements of a Theory of Interpretation', was presented by Didier Anzieu of the Association Psychanalytique de France. The second, 'Theory of Affect', was by André Green of the Société Psychanalytique de Paris. Each two-day period began with the author reading a highly condensed, abbreviated version of his paper (the fuller text had been precirculated) at a plenary session which was then followed by a period devoted to the reading of prepared papers on the same topic, each focused on some aspect of the main theme. With the reading of the major contributions completed the members then formed small discussion groups which provided an opportunity to exchange ideas, stimulated by the papers, in a freer and more spontaneous setting. Finally, at the closing session, after a period of more free discussion of the topic from the floor, the author responded with his final remarks.

Both papers were abstracts of much longer works. Anzieu, in a rich treatise, attempted to describe metapsychologically the setting or climate at the moment of interpretation examining, especially, the process of elaboration of the interpretation by the analyst. He explored the role of regression, anxiety, symbolization, restitution, reparation and identification within the analyst who is making the interpretation, recognizing at the same time that the presentation of an interpretation can also serve a defensive funct