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Our contributors have described their odysseys outside the american psychoanalytic association. In reading these papers, I noticed a common theme: from their disappointment in being excluded from the association, the writers found opportunities to promote their own evolution and development.
In the issue “From Ego Psychology to Pluralism and Diversity: An American Odyssey” ( Psychoanal. Inq., Vol. 22, No. 1, 2002), I noticed a similar theme: from their disappointment within the association, writers sought opportunities to promote their own evolution and development.
Perhaps my observations of a common theme in the experiences of psychoanalysts trained inside and outside the association suggest that each educational approach was incomplete and led to disappointments that were transformed into further development and creativity. In this issue, Greenberg refers to the tragic view of life embodied in the classical perspective—human life as colored by irreconcilable conflict and an inevitable helplessness. In training outside the association, emphasis is on the relational perspective. Hope, the mainstay of human life, exists within relations, yet psychoanalysis seems to reveal a truth that comes through in the papers in both issues: from the tragedy of human life arise optimism, joy, and creativity because of the emotional power of human relations. This fact of life is continually validated in the clinical situation.