You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The American Academy of Psychoanalysis held an Erich Fromm Anniversary Symposium at its midwinter meeting in San Antonio. Miltiades Zaphiropoulos, M.D., presided at the morning and afternoon sessions where a total of eight papers plus an introduction were presented.
The morning session addressed itself mainly To Frommian constructs and themes that had relevance to the psychoanalytic process in spite of Fromm's style
of writing, which rarely conformed with the customary psychoanalytic point of view. In his humanistic frame of reference Fromm offered an antidote to determinism, biologism, and behaviorism. Fromm believed that humans are endowed with self-determination either genuinely to say yes to life, love, and reason or fall victim to destructiveness.
The afternoon session focused predominantly on Fromm's contributions to social psychology. Fromm studied sociology and wrote his dissertation on Jewish law. He attempted to bridge sociological and psychoanalytic constructs. There were four papers on the topic of sociology that will not be discussed here.
The clinical presentations started with an introduction by Mario Bacciagaluppi, M.D., who emphasized that the clinical use of Frommian themes should not be mistaken for founding a Frommian school of psychoanalysis, an endeavor that Fromm himself opposed in clear terms.
Bacciagaluppi suggested that there already existed an alternate approach to psychoanalysis that started with Ferenczi and proceeded in two directions: the British “Middle Group” and the American interpersonal-cultural school. He suggested that this alternative approach had already been partly shaped by Fromm. It was Bacciagaluppi's opinion that important contributions in this direction may come to the fore by calling attention to neglected aspects of Fromm's published works as well as by drawing on his unpublished writings.
The case presentation pertained to a 30-year old creative writer who was in analysis with Romano Biancoli, Ph.D., for a total of eight