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When Elliot first took over as editor of Psychoanalytic Psychology and invited Jeremy to join the editorial board, we met for lunch to brainstorm about new directions for the journal. One of the schemes we hatched was the idea of developing a special issue consisting of articles by prominent figures in the field, reflecting on the future of psychoanalysis.
It has become a truism that psychoanalysis is in a state of crisis as a result of a number of factors that are not necessary to recite here. At the same time, many of us feel that despite the growing marginalization of our field, within the United States psychoanalysis is experiencing a tremendous sense of intellectual and theoretical vibrancy and renewal. Historically, the alliance of psychoanalysis with the medical profession played an important role in establishing the United States as the international center of psychoanalysis. This success came with a cost, however, as psychoanalysis became part of the establishment and developed a conservative and elitist character that contributed to its subsequent undoing. The marginalization of psychoanalysis has been further exacerbated by its tendency to isolate itself from the academic world.
These days, psychoanalytic training is no longer a sure path to prestige and financial success within psychiatry, and anyone who is going to commit the time and money necessary to complete psychoanalytic training needs to find the intrinsic motivation because extrinsic motivation is in short supply. With psychiatry's turn away from psychoanalysis, the number of medically trained psychoanalysts has decreased exponentially, and the majority of psychoanalytic candidates are psychologists and social workers. Many of the most novel and exciting intellectual contributions to American psychoanalysis within the past 2 decades have been made by psychologists, and the growing body of empirical evidence establishing the effectiveness of psychoanalytically oriented treatments has also been cond