Converting Psychotherapy Into Psychoanalysis

THERE ARE VARIOUS WAYS in which the topic, the conversion of psychotherapy into psychoanalysis, could be approached.1 One would be to assume that we have some general agreement about the difference between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, even if we differ in details, and to proceed without specifying the nature of the difference. We could then discuss various matters such as what are the indications for change, whether to continue with the same therapist or not, and what are the problems likely to be encountered. If on the other hand one takes, as I do, a view of the difference between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis which is different from the generally accepted one, then one will have to deal first with the question of the difference between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. I realize that to embark on this latter course may be considered to plunge into a morass, so that the question of how to convert a psychotherapy into a psychoanalysis will be lost in the dispute over defining psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Nevertheless, because my definitions of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis do differ in some important respects from those which I believe are generally accepted I must take the course of defining them and only then proceeding to the stated topic of the panel.

I will begin however by giving you my conclusions on the subject of the panel. The question of converting psychotherapy into psychoanalysis should rarely arise in the practice of a psychoanalyst because almost always he should be practicing psychoanalysis. That statement may make sense to you only after I define psychoanalysis because I will argue that psychoanalysis or at least psychoanalytic