Psychoanalytic identity in vivo: Permanence and change

Abstract

ABSTRACT Psychoanalytic identity “in vivo” means psychoanalysis as an authentic, lived experience, socially and historically situated. What we have inherited from the psychoanalytic tradition now needs to be collectively and individually updated and shaped as therapy, as research and as theory. The focus of this paper is on developing a more critical and realistic sense of psychoanalytic identity, grounded in our clinical experience. We need to recognise our identity in what we actually do and achieve with our patients in our daily practice and avoid idealisations or devaluations arising from theoretical speculation. The important role of the Three Level Model (3-LM) and similar working parties is discussed. Psychoanalysts need a pluralistic professional identity, which implies triangulating our clinical perspectives with those of other colleagues, as happens in 3-LM clinical discussion groups, and contextualizing our knowledge from a broad perspective, including extra-clinical research and interdisciplinary dialogue with both health sciences and hermeneutic disciplines. A psychoanalytic identity that is open to the future requires an acknowledgement of the different positions that exist within our discipline and neighbouring fields, and a willingness to critically examine and discuss these differences.