A noble profession

Organized psychoanalysis has now achieved an era of openness to new ideas and change, and the result has been an exciting ferment in both theory and technique. Most recently, the field has focused on "intersubjectivity," the study of how the therapist's personality acts and reacts with that of the patient. Despite the subjectivities inherent in the process of treatment, there is good justification for viewing the field as an empirical discipline, indeed a science, because the multiple inputs by practitioners contributing to the literature, debating on panels, and critically assessing new contributions result in a gradual approach to truth and validity. This hermeneutic approach is not sufficient in itself and in no way contradicts the need for other, more controlled, research approaches.