No one owns psychoanalysis: a plea for ecumenical cooperation
By Categories: Editorials

An editorial by Jane S. Hall

I am dizzy, perplexed, confused, and distracted by all the debates on standards and credentials taking place in the United States. At APsaA there is something called certification after graduation that many see as unfair and archaic; at CIPS people have differing opinions about the NAAP inspired licensing bill; at NYFS there are some (not many) who disagree with the new, non-evaluatory policy about selection of training analysts; in California, a state where people have to drive sometimes long distances for therapy, some analysts in training wish that three times a week was acceptable for a training case; and surely, there are other debates I know nothing about. Instead of focusing on the facts that psychoanalysis is far from the public’s mind and that there is a dearth of candidates, too much energy is being spent on deciding just how many hoops one must jump through to call themselves an analyst and then a training analyst. My plea is for ecumenical cooperation to replace the infighting that is draining our field of the energy needed to re-build the reputation of psychoanalysis as a valid form of treatment and study. Continue reading No one owns psychoanalysis: a plea for ecumenical cooperation

*Invitation to Submit Opinion Pieces*
By Categories: Announcements, scroller

Arnie Richards, our Editor-In-Chief, has been hard at work rounding up topic and regional editors in addition to the at-large commentators. (See the Masthead page for a complete list.) As the newly appointed Op-Ed editor I hope to facilitate a lively and informative dialogue.

The typical two-page newspaper spread of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and Op-Ed essays does not translate literally to the online world of blogging, but here’s what we have in mind. In the blogosphere, Letters to the Editor are replaced by Comments, and comments can continue long after the original posting is made. Remember Yale Kramer’s April 27th “Special Report: Thirty-Three Dead”? 103 comments have been posted on that piece, the latest one on July 17th.

We want to foster more conversations on the widest possible range of subjects as they relate to our field. Because InternationalPsyhoanalysis.net is more of a group blog, “editorials” — defined simply as opinion pieces – will reflect only the opinion of the author. Editorials and op-ed pieces are therefore one in the same. This is your invitation to share your thoughts. All opinions and ideas are welcome and the process is simple — just email your editorials to me (click on the Contact Us page if you’d like to use the email form provided) and I’ll take care of posting them to the blog.