Seminar for the Discussion of Therapeutic Technique

In the days when no systematic lines had as yet been laid down for the training of psycho-analysts, novices in the subject were constantly obliged to turn to the older analysts for advice. These consultations took place only irregularly and at haphazard, so that, as soon as the number of students increased, the need for some systematic organization for the purpose made itself felt. At the suggestion of Dr. Wilhelm Reich it was arranged that those who were learning analysis should at more or less regular intervals meet certain of the older analysts. Individual cases which presented difficulties were reported, especially those in the treatment of which some concrete difficulties had arisen and needed dealing with.

In 1921, when the Vienna Psycho-Analytical Clinic opened, these attempts were organized, given a regular footing and thereby encouraged to further developments, by the founding of the seminar for psycho-analytical therapy, under the direction of Dr. E. Hitschmann. The meetings, which had hitherto generally taken place privately, were now transferred to the premises of the Clinic. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss questions of technique and therapy; at the beginning the discussions followed one another in no very definite sequence and there was no special programme. The first thing to be done was to determine experimentally how reports of cases were best presented; the line taken by criticism and discussion, etc. then followed from the picture gained of the