Enduring the chaos. Psychoanalytical psychotherapy in Poland

Abstract

The article describes the place of psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the public health care system and private practice in Poland today. Because no systematic research has been previously conducted on this topic, and as a result, we lack sufficient data for a comprehensive overview, the authors have chosen to focus their attention on the conditions under which psychoanalytic psychotherapists conduct their work. In order to provide the reader with a better understanding of the contextual issues involved, we begin by describing key moments in the history of Poland that were of significance for psychoanalysis and the functioning of the country’s health care system, taking into special consideration the effects of successive reforms of this system. Based on the authors’ observations, theoretical reflection and practices rooted in psychoanalysis are experiencing a Renaissance in the Polish psychotherapeutic community, despite the fact that the Polish health care system does little to promote the practice of long-term psychotherapy.