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THOREAU WROTE: "No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields." This statement from Walden is extremely applicable to the theme of Dr. Aldrich's paper, and the falsehoods he has challenged.
While Dr. Aldrich's presentation is salutary, I would like to deal with an aspect alluded to, but not elaborated by him—namely, Psychoanalysis, Community Psychiatry, and the Black Community. Three issues are germane to this consideration:
1In what ways has psychoanalysis failed to demonstrate its relevance and applicability to the black community? How can this relevance and applicability be provided?
2How can psychoanalysis make a meaningful contribution to social issues and legislative-political considerations and decisions affecting the lives of millions of black ghetto denizens?
3How can psychoanalysis purge itself of the group-related paranoia that has resulted in the over-evaluation and acceptance of those belonging to the analytic ilk, while regarding as inadequate, sinister, and different those who are different, and eventually rejecting them?
I use the term psychoanalysis not in reference to formal psychoanalytic treatment, but instead to psychoanalysis as a method of investigating and understanding mental illness (and health), and the utilization of analytic principles in the service, prevention, and amelioration of ghetto mental illness.