Sweden

The Scientific Committee of the Swedish Psychoanalytical Society for 1998 included Eva Gordon, Magnus Kihlbom, Sven Lagerlöf (chair) and Maria Yassa. Franziska Ylander has been in charge of yet another successful writing seminar. Several papers written during the seminar were presented at the XVIth Nordic congress in Bergen and some at regular scientific meetings of the society.

Mark Solms' visit and presentation in 1996 and the discussion in Journal of Clinical Psychoanalysis, vol. 5, no. 3, among other things, inspired some of us to take a closer look at the relation between brain and mind. After a few preliminary seminars in the Autumn of 1997, a “Mind-body” seminar with 17 members started regular meetings with Magnus Kihlbom as convener and Irene Matthis as supervisor. The seminars, 12 in all during the year, have dealt with reviews of the pertinent literature (Edelman, Damasio, Searle, Dennett, Penrose, and others) and discussions, most of them together with Gunnar Björnsson of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stockholm, about the accompanying philosophical and epistemological problems.

Both the paper given by Johan Beck-Friis and that by Johan Cullberg reflect intersections between psyche and soma as seen from the point of view of the psychoanalyst, while Peter Århem and Antonio Damasio represent the research frontier of neuroscience.

Another important focus has been on the investigation and development of clinical work with the intention of arranging visits by “master clinicians” giving case seminars on a regular basis.

The 4th European Congress of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis took place in Stockholm in April 1998. Several of the child- and adolescent analysts took an active part in the scientific programme and Kristina Larsson headed the Congress Committee.

The XVIIth Nordic Congress will take place in Gothenburg, 3 6 August 2000. A Congress Committee chaired by Synnöve Wallin and a Scientific Committee with Sven Lagerlöf as convener has b