Learning to do Psychoanalytic Therapy with Inner City Population

Community mental health centers serve given populations residing within a stipulated catchment area. This geographic delineation of their mandated constituency fosters socioeconomic and psychopathological heterogeneity. To best serve this diverse patient population, most centers have developed innovative therapeutic concepts such as Lazare's “negotiated approach to patienthood” . Concomitant to the expansion of community psychiatry, a slow but steady interest in the role of dynamic psychotherapy as a treatment modality for different socioeconomic groups has evolved. Cole (1962), Bernstein , Siassi and Messer (1976), among others, have stressed the need to explore issues pertinent to the therapists, the patients and the technique itself if we are to understand the applicability of psychoanalytic therapy among patients belonging to different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

Presented at The American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 26th Meeting in Toronto, Canada, May 1982. Silvia W. Olarte is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, New York Medical College, and Director of the Psychiatric Adult Outpatient Department, Metropolitan Hospital, New York City. Rosa Lenz is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, New York Medical College.