Editorial: A Mini Textbook of Community Psychoanalysis: I: Basic First Steps

This special issue of our journal suggests a way to conceptualize community-based psychoanalysis as part of what psychoanalysts can do, without arguing about whether this work is or is not “truly” psychoanalysis. Excluded here, for our current purposes, are the application of psychoanalysis to understanding film, art, theater and humanities. Instead, we focus on the use of psychoanalytic theory and technique in treatment endeavors within a community context, aptly summarized by Gourguechon's introduction to this volume. We recognize that there are several different ways to classify the subdivisions of psychoanalytic activity within communities. In her brief paper, Gourguechon outlines a way of looking at applied psychoanalysis in a world that is characterized by rapid global communication, by increasingly expensive and dehumanized medical care, by many varieties of competing brief psychotherapies and psychopharmacological approaches to mental health difficulties, and by the unwillingness of insurers, governments, and even some patients to support long-term therapies, despite their proven efficacy. This volume is written for any analyst who has an interest in working psychoanalytically within a community context, but especially for the younger analyst who may be starting his or her training and wishes to look for more “strings to her bow.” Working within a community context often proves a source of new referrals for psychoanalysts, as patients who would be unlikely to seek out treatment or to value analytic treatment become exposed to its value. It also can provide a welcome break and source of colleagial support for solo practitioners who spend the bulk of their days within their private offices. Finally, it pushes psychoanalysts to read more widely, to consider different types of interventions that still aim at unconscious processes, and to learn more about different theoretical ideas that may affect their technique within their work with individuals.

Gourguechon's