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Be ready to question yourself as well as others. It is essential if you are to enjoy the privilege of doubt. If you leave no room for doubt you will have no room to grow.
KINGMAN BREWSTER, 1973
When I accepted the Editor's invitation to write about the current status and future of psychoanalysis in academic psychiatry, I did not realize how difficult (even painful) a task it would be, especially for someone deeply involved in and dedicated to both.
My paper starts with bad news. Psychoanalysis is in trouble in United States medical schools. With few exceptions, the role of psychoanalysts as educators and the central position that psychoanalytic concepts formerly enjoyed in departments of psychiatry have steadily diminished. The number of bright and caring graduates of psychiatric residencies applying to our Institutes has been declining (Michels, 1988). For both of these reasons, prospects are dim for developing a new generation of medically educated psychoanalytic scholars who would be qualified and welcome to participate in medical and psychiatric education—and