Epilogue: The Emergence and Education of the Analytic Mind

I have tried to capture our contributors’ analytic attitudes and creativity here, not in their on the couch work with patients, but in their off the couch attitudes and actions, which are often meant to spark, ignite, re-ignite, or awaken interest in an analytic way of thinking, or impart some needed knowledge to a new trainee or to an experienced analytic colleague. The writers in this issue had not yet planned to write about the aspect of their activities that they have described here. They were continuing their projects while pursuing their many other pursuits. I asked each of them to share their work in an article, because I believed that their work should be shared with a broader audience. They were asked to write in a more personal or memoir form, if they chose, and they were enthusiastic about this prospect. Their projects are varied and go in different directions, but each seems to open avenues that could benefit other colleagues or their institutions.

Each of the articles deals with “off the couch” activities: how to engage potential students, how to work analytically in the community, how to teach about ethics or Freud’s work, how to teach case writing, or how to share teaching methods. I am left with the question that Harvey Schwartz raised about his interview with an analyst who rubbed the feet of a genitally mutilated and traumatized pregnant woman, as a way of soothing her, because touching her head would have been too stimulating. In what way could this unique action be seen as analytic? In other words, is there something that we gain from our analytic training and clinical experience, some sensitivity, some greater empathy, or some deeper awareness of another’s pain, and that we can transmit in our off the couch activities? Have we been changed to the extent that we convey, at times, a countenance, an incentive, or some particular attitude toward others?

Can we say that Janet Noonan engages potential trainees not only intellectually and emotionally, bu