The article addresses the question of relevance of psychoanalysis. Its main argument is that even though the question of relevance has accompanied psychoanalysis since its early days, its contemporary implications are broader, both theoretically and institutionally. Psychoanalysis is not as relevant as it could be and the reasons for this have less to do with external constraints, as was the case in the early days of the discipline but with internal limitations linked to its ambiguous identity as a scholarly field and a common body of scientific knowledge. This is explicated by exploring contemporary trends in theory, practice and training against the background of Sigmund Freud's ideas on the relevance of psychoanalysis.