Interview with Erik Porge

I. Becoming an analyst

As we first met at Erik Porge’s consulting room a few hundred meters southwest of Montparnasse in Paris, it felt quite natural to start with the critical situation facing psychoanalysis in France. In due course, we also talked about the situation in other countries, like Italy, which could give even more cause for concern. It is remarkable how the attention of psychoanalysts who meet is easily drawn to what might be worrying. And, certainly, there are challenges facing psychoanalysis.

One subject matter we touched upon initially in our interview with Erik Porge was how psychoanalysis relates to various forms of psychotherapy. As it puts less emphasis on symptom alleviation and healing, the situation of psychoanalysis appears more vulnerable. Jacques Lacan, who over the years was both the analyst and supervisor of Erik Porge, launched the slogan: return to Freud. To him it was urgent to uphold the momentum of Freud’s oeuvre, though not to preserve it or turn it into something untouchable. For to Lacan the menaces facing psychoanalysis come largely from within. In his book “Jacques Lacan, un psychoanalyst.” (Eres, 2000), Porge argues that the heritage after Freud remains alive, thanks to the teaching of Lacan.

In the wake of these concerns, we discussed how psychoanalysis all the time has to work upon at what makes it distinctive, in its practice as well as in its thinking. Porge reminded us of Freud’s correspondence with Pfister and about present-day tendencies of blending psychoanalysis and religion.

EP: Psychoanalysis should not be annexed by the religious. In Brazil, there are protestant churches organising a psychoanalytic training. And in France, there are many priests declaring themselves psychoanalysts, forging thereby a sort of mixture.

TF: And as regards psychology, it was also important there to draw a line of distinction …

EP: Yes, in 1956, when Lacan wrote his text La situation de la psychanalyse, he distanced himself from psychoanalysis