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Psychoanalytic identity: psychoanalysis as an internal object.

Robbert S G Wille¹

¹Nederlandse Psychoanalytische Groep, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. rsg@wille.demon.nl

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly

|October 24, 2008

Summary

The psychoanalytic identity, central to analysts, is often weakened by ambivalence and fewer patient cases. This instability contributes to the current crisis in psychoanalysis, necessitating measures to strengthen the analyst's internal psychoanalytic identity.

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Psychoanalysis

Background:

The psychoanalytic identity is conceptualized as the internal object representation of psychoanalysis within the analyst.
Psychoanalytic training is fundamental for developing this identity.

Purpose of the Study:

To describe the psychoanalytic identity and its development.
To explore factors contributing to the dilution and instability of the psychoanalytic identity.
To address the perceived crisis in psychoanalysis as a crisis of psychoanalytic identity.

Main Methods:

Conceptual analysis of psychoanalytic identity.
Exploration of factors influencing identity stability during and after training.
Presentation of examples and causes of unstable psychoanalytic identity.

Main Results:

Psychoanalytic identity is susceptible to dilution due to ambivalence and reduced case analysis.
A worldwide trend of fewer analyzed cases exacerbates identity instability.
The crisis in psychoanalysis is fundamentally a crisis of the psychoanalytic identity.

Conclusions:

Instability in psychoanalytic identity poses a significant challenge to the field.
Ameliorative measures are necessary to strengthen the psychoanalytic identity.
Addressing the crisis requires focusing on the internal world and identity of the analyst.