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One of the most important effects of a Congress like this is that it jolts us out of our complacency. It exposes us to different points of view and raises innumerable questions that we might otherwise all too easily avoid. Therefore in the short time available I will limit myself to mentioning just a few of many ideas which stimulated my thinking when listening to the presentations and discussions. Being the European member of the panel I will comment principally on contributions made by European analysts.
León Grinberg, in his introduction to the Congress topic, spoke of the expansion of our psychoanalytic universe. One of the most exciting results of this Congress has been the opening of so many doors to our ways of understanding that complex, mysterious yet familiar aspect of our daily and professional lives which we call psychic reality. I was struck by the fact that so many speakers emphasised the dynamic nature and complexity of psychic reality, accepting the impossibility of defining it exactly or of setting precise limits to it. A concept such as psychic reality seems to me to be indispensable to a realistic assessment of the enormity of the task that we undertake in offering a psychoanalytic treatment. It obliges us to recognise how little we can hope to comprehend of the totality of the psychic functioning and reality of a given person. It also permits us to appreciate the effects of what we do understand and communicate to patients in our efforts to help them change those automatic habits of thinking and behaving that cause them suffering.
It was clear from the papers that one of the confusions that plagues all of us when we try to define psychic reality is the fact that the word ‘reality’ is commonly taken to mean that which is demonstrably true. Thus it is usually applied to what has substance and can be directly perceived. I noticed that the temptation to refer to psychic reality in terms more applicable to concrete, physical reality was nearly irresisti