On Self-Doubt and Self-Esteem in the Practice of Psychodiagnostics1

AN EXAMINATION OF THE SELF-IMAGE of the psychodiagnostician has to take into account the conscious and the unconscious ideas and feelings which we have about our professional activity, and requires an attempt to appraise realistically what we are doing and what we should be doing in our work. Reflecting on one's activity in this way can only be salutary and I want to express my appreciation to Dr. Rosenwald for having conceived and planned this symposium. It has been useful to me and I hope it will be of some use to all of us to review and try to clarify some of the many problems revealed by such a self-examination.

Regarding my particular topic (On Self-Doubt and Self-Esteem in the Practice of Psychodiagnostics) it soon became clear to me—and should have been clear when, rather rashly, I chose this topic—that it touches upon the whole range of human motivations and conflicts, on the many sociological factors involved in the various institutional settings and interpersonal relations in which psychodiagnosticians work, and on the historical situation of psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy. It would be impossible to review all these factors in the time at my disposal. Fortunately, some of them have been discussed and clarified in the section on "The Dynamics of Testing." Others will be taken up by my colleagues in this symposium. I think therefore that it will be more practical and useful if I limit my remarks to two relevant points, namely 1) the problem of alienation of the psychodiagnostician from his work, and, if time permits, 2) an attempt to explore the changing and insufficiently clarified relation of diagnosis to therapy in the fields of psychotherapy and psychodiagnostics. I