On the Nature of Hope in Psychoanalysis and Group Analysis

The title of my article is ‘On the Nature of Hope’. ‘On’ involves an eighteenth-century English conceit. It implies that the phenomenon is really too big and too complex for any one author, and, therefore, that he is allowed to be selective. ‘Nature’ implies, somewhat ironically, that the phenomenon does not belong to religion or magic, but to a realm or domain that permits rational, systematic and sceptical study. Thus my title implies that, in my opinion, the phenomenon of hope is finite and contingent, and is a matter for science, to include the psychological and the social sciences. However, I am certain that Hamlet was right when he admonished Horatio that ‘There are more things in heaven and earth … than are dreamt of in your philosophy’ (Shakespeare, Hamlet, I. iii. 166).

After a brief indication of the scope of the topic, I will define ‘hope’ as it is ordinarily used in English. I will then make several conceptual distinctions that are necessary in order to discuss hope and its vicissitudes. My third task will be to define hope from my own point of view, which is that ultimately hope refers to the ability and willingness to exercise the transcendent imagination within the context of the traumatogenic process. I will focus on the development and maintenance of this human virtue within the context of life trajectories constrained by social, cultural and political factors. Finally, I will discuss some aspects of my view of hope in clinical work. I will not provide a systematic review of the literature, but in future publications I will trace the emergence of my understanding of hope in the context of the development of contemporary object relations theory, and illustrate my argument with clinical vignettes from my practice as a psychoanalyst and group analyst.1

Although they did not always agree with one another, and certainly did not always use the word ‘hope’, in one way or another all the classical analysts discussed the phenomenon of hope, includi