How participating in an international community of psychoanalysts can offset local psychoanalytic institutes'...

In this article the author attempts to show how participating in an international community of psychoanalysts can have a transformative effect on a psychoanalyst's training and practice. The article focuses on the beneficial consequences for candidates of being involved in the International Psychoanalytical Studies Organization (IPSO), due to certain felicitous specificities of this organization, though much of what is discussed can be applied to being involved in other organizations. At the level of training, insular tendencies and local institutional dynamics can limit candidates to a restricted range of thinking, combined with emotional entanglements, which may curtail their intellectual freedom. The breadth of differences in approaches to training that IPSO exposes candidates to, and the fact that this takes place outside of their home institute and its hierarchies, is potentially an antidote to this. At the level of practice, psychoanalysis is a rewarding but also arduous profession that exposes its practitioners to many hardships, the extent of which is sometimes minimized or denied. IPSO embodies a spirit that marries intense intellectual interest for psychoanalysis with an enthusiastic attitude towards sharing good times with colleagues. The author posits that this libidinal investment is paramount to surviving and enjoying our work.