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To project what the future will bring is under all circumstances a dubious undertaking. It obligates us to examine the past and to accurately assess current trends and developments. When the issues pertain to a subject as close to our hearts and our interest as the future of psychoanalysis, it becomes essential to distinguish carefully among hope, prediction, and probability. It is with these limitations in mind that we address the invitation extended to us by the The Psychoanalytic Quarterly to consider the future of psychoanalysis.
One of the first issues to consider is whether there will be a future for psychoanalysis. This is not an idle thought. Many writers have already sounded the death knell. They are convinced that psychoanalysis will disappear as a body of theory and as a form of treatment. Regarding this issue, we feel we can make an unequivocal statement. Judged by present trends, psychoanalysis has a very definite future. To be sure, it will differ in many ways from the past. Consider that, at the present time, the number of people being trained in psychoanalysis or undergoing some form of treatment derived from psychoanalysis is greater than ever before in history. In fact, psychotherapy has been so generally identified with psychoanalysis that almost any form of psychological treatment is commonly, though inaccurately, called a form of analysis. In the light of current trends, one may add, it seems most likely that analysts will continue to be drawn increasingly from the ranks of those without a medical degree. The recent decision of the International Psycho-Analytical Association to recognize training institutes in psychoanalysis unaffiliated with the American Psychoanalytic Association makes this practically a certainty.
Furthermore, as a body of knowledge, psychoanalysis has so