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The theme of our Pre-Congress was 'Dependency and Autonomy in the Student Situation'. We began with a plenary session in which four candidates from four different countries presented short discussions. One defined what he called 'real' and 'regressive' dependency and 'real' and 'regressive' autonomy. He also enumerated both external factors—aspects of the training situation—and internal, intrapsychic factors that foster or inhibit one or another state of dependency or autonomy. Another discussed these factors in the context of the training analysis. He discussed the problem of the analyst being both a transference figure and a very real person affecting the candidate's professional life. He discussed attempts to solve this dilemma by isolating the analyst from the rest of the student's training. He wondered, however, if there was a price for such splitting, and discussed its possible effects. Two candidates told of specific experiences of the candidates in their institutes: one in relation to administration, the other in relation to setting up a student organization.
The Pre-Congress then divided into 20 small workshops for the remainder of the day. The discussions made little explicit reference to the papers, though they centred on several of the points raised at the panel. They dealt mainly with external factors in the training situation that favour 'regressive dependency' in the candidate. Many of us spent considerable time in simply getting acquainted with the facts of each other's training: how many controls were required, number of analytic hours, economic problems, etc. We felt this acquaintance was necessary to enable the development of further discussion.
Though all groups went beyond mere enumeration of facts, several insisted that the discussion be confined to external conditions only; that is, the elements of the training situation that did not stress or consider the role of intrapsychic conflict. These groups feared the danger of our ideas