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The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of a complex problem which is generally neglected by psychoanalysts: the way psychoanalysis influences its social and cultural environment and is, in turn, affected by it in its theorectical, clinical and institutional functioning. Because this issue has been left out by many official definitions of the boundaries of the psychoanalytic field since Freud, and also because it is simply regarded as a domain to be explored by social scientists or approached by ‘applied psychoanalysis’, psychoanalysis itself ended up being rather unprepared to meet certain challenges of the world we live in. Psychoanalysts in different parts of the world do not possess, for instance, truly psychoanalytic means for understanding (and dealing with) environmental phenomena which not only affect them as professionals, but also have an impact on important aspects of the development of their scientific knowledge and technical skills (see Figueira, 1984, 1988a, 1988b).
This limitation of psychoanalysis, which is perhaps less noticeable in certain European countries and in the United States, can easily become a crucial issue in countries which have not produced