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Unfree Associations is a book that has been twenty years in the making. The author, a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and History of Ideas at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, has undertaken the study of the inner workings of the four major United States psychoanalytic institutes - New York, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles - to include detailed accounts and dramatic insights about historical aspects. Each of the institutions suffered major schisms, and in every case the author has interviewed protagonists on both sides.
Each of the institutes has a unique and fascinating history. Having just published a history of the Jungian movement, I was surprised by Kirsner's candour; intimate details were described, and I wondered how individuals responded to the exposure. One could imagine an irate analyst suing Kirsner, the publisher, or a fellow analyst.
A constant theme in each institute was the issue of the ‘training analyst’, who determines not only the next generation of analysts, but what attitudes, theories, and clinical techniques will be passed on. In each institute, two tiers of analysts exist, the regular analysts and the training analysts. Kirsner discusses the process of ‘anointment’, the process by which a person becomes a part of the élite of the institute. He also studied the conflicts that develop within the training analyst group. Under the guise of theoretical differences, personal antipathies among training analysts were exposed through candidate evaluation and advancement. The power struggles which ensued were vicious. In Boston this caused a split into two societies, and in Los Angeles, the Kleinians split off from their original institutes. The role of the American Psychoanalytic Association was crucial in many instances. For example, in Los Angeles, the ‘American’, as it is called, tried to stem the influence of the Kleinians who were a vocal minority from the early 1970s on. While forming their own institute in Los Angeles, the Kleinians have ret