A mirror to analysis

Three books written by psychiatrists for a lay audience are examined. Two are novels, and the third is a psychiatrist's account of the years of his psychiatric residency training. In all three books psychoanalysts are portrayed in negative roles, as arrogant, cold, uncaring, and even venal. The reasons why psychiatrists would portray analysis in this light are examined, and some ways in which psychoanalysts will need to re-examine their role in education and in their relationships with psychiatric colleagues in order to counteract this negative "mirror" are suggested.