The Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis: Controversies and Challenges

The eight papers gathered in this overview of the present-day stand regarding the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis appropriately represent the full range of contemporary psychoanalytic theories and approaches. They include the Lacanian approach as it has influenced Latin American psychoanalysis, represented by Romulo Lander's paper; the mainstream French approach, naturally also influenced by (although critical of) Lacan, represented by Marilia Aisen-stein's paper; the combined French and Kleinian influences on leading Latin American authors, represented by Cláudio Laks Eizirik's paper; the contemporary Kleinian school, dominant in Great Britain, represented by R. D. Hinshelwood's paper; the contemporary ego psychology approach, still strongly present in North America, represented by Sander M. Abend's paper; the growing influence of relational/intersubjective approaches combined with an ego psychological tradition in the United States, represented by Owen Renik's paper; the post-Kohutian self psychology approach, represented by Kenneth Newman's paper; and the American relational approach in its relatively pure form, represented by Charles Spezzano's paper.