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The theory of psychoanalysis represents the common matrix within which the many different aspects of our work at The Hampstead Clinic are conceived. We continually apply psychoanalytic theory as a frame of reference through which observations can be made and assessed, be it in diagnosis, therapy, education, or research. But this is far from being a one-way process, and we have learned from Freud the necessity to pause and to return, every now and then, to take stock of and to re-examine our theory in the light of experience, so that the understanding of our material can be more incisive and precise.
The work reported in this paper is in part the outcome of such a pause for taking stock, and it has been prompted by a specific and practical problem connected with the handling of analytic data which have accumulated over a number of years in therapists' regular reports and in the Index.
The Index project was begun several years ago with the aim of categorizing and classifying on index cards the abundant clinical