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The Panel, which gave voice to a widespread, if not universal, concern about the future of psychoanalytic practice, was well-attended, despite its inconvenient position during the very final hours of the Congress. There was a remarkable uniformity in the depiction of a significant decline in the stature and acceptance of psychoanalysis among both educated colleagues and the public at large, producing what Marvin Margolis termed ‘a grim picture’. Moreover, among the multitude of factors causing this state of affairs, internal structural and organisational problems within psychoanalysis were emphasised by each participant. In general, the panellists were also in agreement about remedial steps that should be undertaken.
The first speaker, Samuel Arbiser, outlined the current Argentinian situation in which the collapse of a bubble of enthusiasm for psychoanalysis has left an over-abundance of ‘analysts’, many ill-trained outside accredited institutes, while the demand for treatment has waned. He devoted many of his remarks to outlining his proposal for re-establishment of the essential values of psychoanalysis by ‘desacralising’ its quasi-religious or esoteric features, in favour of a more open and scientific approach. He proposed that a broader psychoanalytic perspective would break down barriers to dialogue with the academic and psychotherapy communities, opening access to a ‘potential demand’ for help not confined to patients presenting classical indications for psychoanalysis.
Carlos Amaral Dias likewise emphasised the historical isolation of psychoanalysts, which has had the dual effects of creating a dynamic of idealisation by outsiders, with all its inevitable and unfortunate consequences, and a bureaucratic rigidification within. Here, he stressed the continuing necessity for greater openness and democratisation as responses to the crisis. An example of one analytic community's attempt to work collaboratively with other institutions was provided by Ekkehard