The Value of “Progress” in Psychoanalysis

Anxieties about the “erosion of our profession” (Eisold, 2007) have become widespread in the past 10-15 years. While economic factors have certainly affected our sense of well-being, Paul Stepansky's 2009 cri de coeur Psychoanalysis at the Margins convincingly argued that psychoanalysis's internecine battles have contributed to our marginalization. I believe we have entered a period of serious reflection, with efforts to rethink some of our core values and concepts. I want to focus here on the idea of “progress” as foundational to our attempts to reshape our identity and self-image.

Splits and rivalries have been part of psychoanalysis since its inception. Some of the factors that have continued to fuel our divisiveness include identification with our rivalrous forbears, wishes for theoretical certainty in the face of difficult and ambiguous work, conflicted relationships to authority, and the inclination for more introverted and cerebral personality types to affiliate through ideas. Hopefully, by continuing to be curious about the underpinnings of our schisms, we will be able to better see our profession in perspective, and ultimately to better explain our unique value to the public.

Beginning to acknowledge the price we've paid for our splits and antagonisms has paved the way to better recognize the more integrative and progressive trends in our field. In this essay, I want to highlight some of these trends-in theory and technique, training, research, and applied psychoanalysis-and to explain why we should embrace the idea of progress itself.

When we discuss the advancement of psychoanalysis, we usually speak in terms of theory. We are typically attracted to the profession by the fact that it offers a theory of mind and mental functioning. Like Freud, who embarked on a quest for a grand, unified theory of mental functioning, analysts tend to be theoretical and conceptual creatures. Thus, our controversies and antagonisms are typically fought out o