It is a pleasure to introduce this special section of The American Psychoanalyst devoted to the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary. From the early work of Franz Alexander through Heinz Kohut's self psychology, psychoanalytic inquiry in Chicago has been open, questioning, and, above all, controversial. This pattern, which continues today, has been referred to by many, at times unkindly, as “the Chicago Syndrome.” Nevertheless, it may be said that the strength of the Chicago Institute has been its enduring capacity to stand united as a significant force in psychoanalysis in the wake of major theoretical and political disputes.
When Alexander tried to shorten treatment and introduced the concept of the corrective emotional experience, there was an outcry from the more traditional group that had organized around Blitzsten. Despite mounting tension, however, the two groups continued to meet at training analyst seminars and staff luncheons, thereby allowing dialogue to prevail over the forces of divisiveness and withdrawal. Similarly, controversy raged when Kohut's exploration of the vicissitudes of discrete narcissistic structures in the transference led him first to declare the primacy of the selfobject and then to advance a general psychology of the self; once again, be it noted, discourse prevailed, and the Institute ultimately was strengthened.
Remarkably, it was 35 years ago, on the occasion of the Institute's twenty-fifth anniversary, that Kohut presented his classic “Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis,” the forerunner of all his later work. It was also at about that time that major changes began occurring in the structure of the Institute. In 1956, Alexander's 24-year tenure over, Gerhart Piers became Director of the Chicago Institute. Broadly cultured and with a fine sense of humor, Piers began to broaden the Institute's influence in the community. He was deeply concerned that psychoanalysis be useful to neighboring professions such as education and social work. His wife Maria founded and directed the Institute for Early Childhood Education, which was named for Erik Erikson and eventually found a home at Loyola University.
Under Piers's directorship, greater responsibilities were spread among Institute staff. Graduate workshops were organized, and a graduate clinic providing low-cost analysis was established. All during this time, candidates were coming in for weekend training from Colorado, Missouri, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Texas, and Ohio. Louis Shapiro, then Geographic Liaison Coordinator, held regular meetings with faculty members in those regions, helping many of them to develop their own institutes.
In 1971, after a 15-year tenure, Piers was succeeded as Director by George Pollock. Innovative from the very beginning, Pollock moved quickly to end the dominance of staff, who were appointed for life, and replaced that institution with a Psychoanalytic Education Council of 17 to be elected for three-year terms by a faculty now formally organized for the first time. The office of Director was changed to President and its holder limited to a five-year term, once renewable (a provision later waived for Pollock himself). In addition, every graduate was automatically considered for training analyst status, and younger analysts and candidates sat on committees and became involved in administrative duties.
Pollock, who has served as president of both the American Psychoanalytic Association and the American Psychiatric Association, was also a tireless innovator of programs and research. Under his leadership, the Child Therapy Program expanded, and the Center for Psychosocial Studies, the Doctor of Psychotherapy program, and the Barr-Harris Center for Separation and Loss in Childhood were established. He founded The Annual of Psychoanalysis, which in 1973 began a successful run now entering its third decade, established the Chicago Psychoanalytic Index, and initiated and edited a number of monograph series published jointly by the Institute and International Universities Press. During his tenure the number of training and supervising analysts in the Institute grew from about 10 to 60, and he encouraged The American's adoption of the “Chicago Plan” for the training of nonmedical psychoanalysts. His own research has concentrated on loss and preventive intervention.
It was during these years that the controversies surrounding self psychology were at their
Thomas Pappadis, M.D., is Director of the Institute for Psychoanalysts in Chicago.
height, and political factions formed on both sides of the debate. Through it all, Pollock held the Institute together, despite increasing tensions in the faculty. The Institute's core educational program remained successful, as did its many outreach programs in the community. Other new theories also emerged at this time, as interest deepened in object relations theory and the “British School.” Psychoanalysis was now understood as a two-body system, an open system.
Ten years ago, at the conference celebrating the Institute's fiftieth anniversary, the theme was “The Vital Issues.” Analysts were now aware of the broadening scope of psychoanalysis, infant observation studies, clinical work in pregenital disorders, and John Gedo's hierarchical organization of the mind and his earlier work with Arnold Goldberg (Models of the Mind). Today, as newer theories involving hermeneutics, Gill and Hoffman's social constructivist, and Basch's ideas on affect and development are explored, the Chicago Institute maintains its Freudian base and a focus on intrapsychic conflict, fantasy, and inner mentation.
Paralleling these theoretical developments was a political push toward greater democracy within the Institute. As reorganization got under way in 1988, Henry Seidenberg became Acting Director. Over the course of 16 months, regulations were rewritten to redistribute power to the Education Council, the Dean, and the faculty at large. The participation of all faculty members on Institute committees, on a rotational basis, was encouraged.
Finally, in October 1989, Arnold Goldberg took office as Director, having been elected to a three-year term under the new regulations. His term has been one of consolidation. He established a sound administrative base that has allowed the Institute and its many programs to thrive. Under his able leadership the Library has been equipped with a new computerized catalogue, insuring its position as one of the finest psychoanalytic libraries in the country. The Teacher Education Program has become affiliated with DePaul University, resulting in a new program in Human Development and Learning, and a quarterly Institute bulletin has made its appearance. Perhaps most important, the local candidate base has been broadened to include talented and committed professionals from nonmedical backgrounds. Throughout Goldberg's tenure, the core education program remained successful, attracting increasing numbers of psychiatry residents, psychologists, social workers, and academics to undertake analytic training.
Having this October begun my own tenure as Director, I remain committed to the Chicago tradition of an institute unified but not incapable of growth and enrichment in the face of theoretical diversity. It is my hope that through ongoing dialogue we may further define the essentials of a psychoanalytic education. It is my great privilege to serve as Director at this special time in the Institute's history. Today we stand revitalized, on a broad democratic base of faculty involvement, as we proceed through the decade of the nineties. Our renewed enthusiasm and an uncompromising vision of the future are sure to preserve and to enhance, well into the next century, the rich heritage of Chicago psychoanalysis.