International Federation Of Psychoanalytic Societies Research Articles

Harry Stack Sullivan and Stephen Mitchell in Italy – A historical and a personal account

Having introduced readers to the history of the reception of psychoanalysis in Italy, the author reconstructs the history of the Italian reception of the work of Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949) and Stephen A. Mitchell (1946–2000). Sullivan’s work played a fundamental role in adding to the “new Italian psychiatry,” founded by Franco Basaglia (1824–1980), the psychodynamic dimension it lacked, creating a new convergence between the social and psychological dimensions of psychiatry. Mitchell’s work played a fundamental role in the development of the Italian tradition of psychoanalytic psychotherapy originally articulated by Gaetano Benedetti (1920–2013) and Pier Francesco Galli, following their reception of Sullivan’s work. This phenomenon coincided, from an institutional point of view, with the emergence of a network of Italian institutes and societies affiliated to the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, which had been originally cofounded by the William Alanson White Institute – the institute founded by Sullivan in 1943, where Mitchell himself trained as a psychoanalyst at the end of the 1970s. Interpersonal and relational psychoanalysis also ended up finding a place in the work of several colleagues of the Italian Psychoanalytic Society, as well as allowing the foundation of several institutes and societies affiliated to the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. The author reconstructs this chapter of Italian psychoanalysis from both a historiographical and a personal point of view.

The inception of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS)

In this article the history and process of the founding of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) will be addressed. After World War II, the IFPS was the first international association of psychoanalysts established outside the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). Particular to the IFPS was the inclusion of psychoanalytic institutes and groups that were not members of the IPA; a liberal and open approach to new psychoanalytic methods and developments; and the waiver of imposed regulation – within a certain framework – on the terms of psychoanalytic training. In the received history of the psychoanalytic movement, non-IPA psychoanalysts have been neglected. This article intends to shed light on the organization of those so-called psychoanalytic dissidents, who identified as psychoanalysts, but were deemed by the IPA establishment “only” psychotherapists. The history of the IFPS provides material for the analysis of this important but difficult controversy, still markedly perceptible within the psychoanalytic community today.

The Intersubjective Revolution. Implications for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

On the occasion of our 30th anniversary, the Association of Psychoanalytic Studies would like to open a scientific debate on what has been considered a deep paradigmatic transformation, "the intersubjective revolution". We will host the leading exponents of two different disciplines, Otto Kernberg and Vittorio Gallese. They will evaluate the reciprocal implications of the role of the psychoanalyst in the psychotherapeutic relationships and give us a better understanding of the neurosci-entific basis of neurotic and psychotic disorders. Modern day research has allowed us to make a significant improvement in psychoanalytic techniques and to update the traditional different psychotherapeutic methods. For 30 years, the Association of Psychoanalytic Studies has been carrying out an original approach in the treatment of psychoses and neuroses according to the Gaetano Benedetti's framework. The Congress will collect and develop the constructive views which have been discussed within the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS). The aim is to highlight the issues that might be raised. The Congress will also make use of the in-sights and progress made by applied research of the participating individual Institu-tions and Schools, of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Massimo Ammaniti will deliver a Lectio Magistralis to conclude the Congress.

The Intersubjective Revolution. Implications for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

On the occasion of our 30th anniversary, the Association of Psychoanalytic Studies would like to open a scientific debate on what has been considered a deep paradigmatic transformation, the intersubjective revolution. We will host the leading exponents of two different disciplines, Otto Kernberg and Vittorio Gallese. They will evaluate the reciprocal implications of the role of the psychoanalyst in the psychotherapeutic relationships and give us a better understanding of the neuroscientific basis of neurotic and psychotic disorders. Modern day research has allowed us to make a significant improvement in psychoanalytic techniques and to update the traditional different psychotherapeutic methods. For 30 years, the Association of Psychoanalytic Studies has been carrying out an original approach in the treatment of psychoses and neuroses according to the framework of Gaetano Benedetti. The Congress will collect and develop the constructive views which have been discussed within the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies. The aim is to highlight the issues that might be raised. The Congress will also make use of the insights and progress made by applied research of the participating individual institutions and schools, of psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. Massimo Ammaniti will deliver a Lectio Magistralis to conclude the Congress.

IFPS 1960–1985: A new home for international and German psychoanalysis?

The International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) was established in 1962. The first 20 years of the Federation were a time when psychoanalysis was divided into so-called liberal and orthodox factions. The (then orthodox) International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) did not admit all psychoanalytic societies, and some societies did not want to join it. In the IFPS, non-IPA-psychoanalysts from Europe, the USA, and South and Middle America came together to discuss their new approaches to psychoanalysis and to find ways to better cope with their patients’ problems. At the beginning an informal organization of autonomous societies, the IFPS persisted for 12 years without a charter. The first three secretary generals came from the German Psychoanalytical Society and greatly influenced the first few years of the IFPS. The IFPS held several international conferences, and new psychoanalytic societies became members. In 1977, after the VIth Forum in Berlin, the IFPS fell into an identity crisis. The conflicts centered on the assumption of responsibility, the authority of the members, and how to understand the aim and sense of the organization. This article deals with the theoretical background of the early IFPS and the development of its self-concept.

Psychoanalysis in a changing Cuba: A note from the field

In 2015 and 2016, the author and four other psychoanalysts from New York City visited Havana and met with the Psychoanalytic Association of Cuba (APDECU), a study group of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS). These meetings provided an important opportunity to learn about psychoanalysis in Cuba, a little known topic. The author discusses the APDECU’s history and its members’ interest in psychoanalysis, describes the trajectory of psychoanalysis since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and observes how economic, political, and social change has affected this trajectory. Psychoanalytic private practice, as we know it in capitalist countries, ended with the revolution, and psychoanalytically-oriented clinicians are employed by state-run public health institutions. Cuba’s leaders have introduced unprecedented economic change since 2008, resulting in an increasing marketization and privatization of the economy, which they refer to as “updating” or “reforming” socialism. The author explores the impact that economic reform may have on the future development of psychoanalysis and on the professional identity of psychotherapists.

50 years of IFPS societies in Switzerland: Psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed patients and philosophical contributions to the international psychoanalytic discussion

The Swiss member societies of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, namely the two existential analytic societies and the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Kreuzlingen, have always stressed the philosophical foundation of psychoanalysis as psychoanalytic approaches with severely disturbed and psychotic patients. The colleagues working in these institutes have often cooperated very closely with analysts from the International Psychoanalytical Association. This paper stresses the important contributions for inpatient psychoanalytic approaches.

The changing face of psychoanalysis and the development of the IFPS

The foundation of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) in 1962 was – from the author's point of view – a reaction to the exclusive politics of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) in the postwar years. It was a political act of self-assertion, and only secondarily a science-related initiative. But meanwhile, the field of international psychoanalysis has changed fundamentally, and the former identity of the IFPS, which was defined from its differences from the IPA, has come under increasing pressure. Meeting this challenge, the question arises: what is the contribution of the Federation to psychoanalysis in the contemporary world? The author believes that the future lies in the exploration of identity-creating relations in all areas and periods of life. To deal with this huge challenge would be a shared task for the whole psychoanalytic community.

Gaetano Benedetti, Johannes Cremerius, the Milan ASP, and the future of the IFPS

The aim of this paper is to show how the life, personality, and scientific work of Gaetano Benedetti and Johannes Cremerius shaped the original form and structure of the Milan Associazione di Studi Psicoanalitici (ASP), which they founded together with their pupils in 1971 and which became a member society of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) in 1989. The training analysis was substituted by a personal analysis to be finished before the beginning of the training proper; group supervision had and still has as much importance as individual supervision; transference and countertransference analysis are fundamental dimensions of both psychoanalysis and psychotherapy; and psychoanalysis can survive only in a context of interdisciplinary dialogue, empirical research, and social commitment. The author thinks that all these ingredients, which Benedetti and Cremerius contributed to the life of the Milan Scuola di Psicoterapia Psicoanalitica and ASP, could represent important resources, as far as the future of the IFPS is concerned.

Igor Caruso's presence in Brazil

The author traces the profile of psychoanalyst Igor Caruso, one of the founders of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, an alternative institution to the dogmatic International Psychoanalytic Association. She comments on his first visit to Brazil in 1956, and his longer stay in 1968/69 in Belo Horizonte, where he helped to consolidate the then newborn Círculo Psicanalítico de Minas Gerais, as well as taking part in the foundation of Círculo Brasileiro de Psicanálise. Caruso was also important in the creation of other circles of psychoanalysis in Latin America. The article presents his psychoanalytic ideas, especially about personalization and the permanent dialectic influence of socialization, still emphasizing his human qualities.

Igor A. Caruso's development of a psychosocial understanding of the unconscious and its cultural transformation and alienation

In his approach, Igor A. Caruso, one of the founders of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies, started with a traditional Christian anthropological view on human development. His early conception of psychosocial disturbances described the loss of cognitive and social ability as a loss of orientation on the objective values of human responsibility and attachment. Caruso later transformed his views on neurosis into a concept of individual alienation of transcendence. In the 1960s, he conceived psychosocial development as an ongoing individual dealing with the social and collective alienation of human nature, life, and work. The process of becoming a cultural person obliges the ego to face its individual unconscious drive demands, as well as the unconscious demands of society. Caruso's stays in Latin America – especially in Brazil and Mexico – caused him to reinforce the interference of materialistic theories on socialization with the psychoanalytic knowledge of individual unconscious dynamics. He understood the psychoanalytic situation as a ‘micro-social model’ that symbolizes the collective and the individual alienated conditions. In the 1970s, Caruso's conception was understood as a Freudo-Marxist point of view on alienated psychosocial reality. With his view on psychoanalytic treatment as a dialectic and relational process, Caruso demanded a psychoanalytical responsibility within collective changes.

Development of Latin-American Societies in the IFPS

The International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) was created to achieve an open, plural spirit, not constrained by any single psychoanalytic theory, such that one of its main aims was to “avoid the bureaucratization of its theory.” The IFPS did not intend to turn its back on the statements of early psychoanalysis; instead, it sought to use them as a basis for proposing and developing the theory of psychoanalysis. These same aims and origins served as an inspiration for each of the Latin-American societies that would gain affiliation to IFPS over the years. The Sociedad Psicoanalítica Mexicana AC, under the guidance and representation of Erich Fromm, played a central role in the creation of the IFPS. A brief account of the participation, affiliation, and development of each of the six affiliated Latin-American Societies – from Mexico, Brazil, and Chile – and one Study Group in Argentina will be described.

Fifty years of the IFPS: Some personal memories and comments

Against the background of a condensed sketch of the psychotherapeutic tradition in Sweden, I indicate my own path to the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS). The 1962 Forum, held in Amsterdam, at which the IFPS was founded, is depicted through a young man's eyes. Some viewpoints are given on the importance of the IFPS's existence. The development of the journal International Forum of Psychoanalysis is also described and commented on.

The IFPS's sense of identity and Erich Fromm's legacy

Erich Fromm was one of the founders of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS). His motives and interests in establishing the federation will be presented in the context of Fromm's very specific personal situation as well as the situation of psychoanalysis in Mexico 50 years ago. Fromm personally practiced psychoanalysis in a way that still can be seen as a legacy and guideline for the identity of the IFPS 50 years later. Here, I try to describe the sense of identity of the IFPS at the time of its foundation 50 years ago. To do this, I will first portray the interests that motivated Erich Fromm to found the IFPS. I will then address the question of what meaning this former sense of identity might have for the IFPS today.

Some reflections on writing the history of the IFPS

A knowledge of the history of psychoanalysis strengthens our understanding of its concepts. A specific characteristic of psychoanalysis is that its creative development unfolds in confidential processes. One way to remedy this ‘basic fault’ is extensive and intensive interviews with analysts. In earlier times, collections of correspondence between analysts provided such information. There is very little material on the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) and its importance in the development of psychoanalysis. The first forums of the IFPS were published in Fortschritter der Psychoanalyse, whereas from 1992 onwards, significant papers have been published in the International Forum of Psychoanalysis. Although not bound to any specific school of psychoanalysis, the journal has been especially open to developments with roots in the so-called Budapest school.

Fromm's concern with feminine values.

*President, OPIFER (Organizzazione di Psicoanalisti Italiani—Federazione e Registro), Florence, Italy. This article was presented at the XI International Forum of Psychoanalysis, which was sponsored by the IFPS (International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies), took place on May 4–7, 2000, at the New York Marriott/Brooklyn, and was dedicated to the memory of Erich Fromm, to mark the centennial of his birth (March 23, 1900). It is fitting that the meeting was hosted by the William Alanson White Society, since Fromm was one of the cofounders of the WAW Institute.

Erich Fromm's Role in the Foundation of the IFPS: Evidence from the Erich Fromm Archives in T bingen

First the role is discussed that Erich Fromm played in the foundation of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) according to the documents and correspondence kept in the Fromm Archives in Tübingen (Germany). In the second part the perhaps more interesting question is discussed of what personally motivated Fromm to initiate and to establish a federation of psychoanalytic societies outside of the International Psycho-Analytical Association (IPA). Although the reasons and motivations for Fromm's initiative are in the first line historical they nevertheless have some impact on the present. Therefore, in a final section, Fromm's understanding of psychoanalysis is discussed as a challenge for the IPA as well as for the IFPS.

Erich Fromm's Role in the Foundation of the IFPS: Evidence from the Erich Fromm Archives in T bingen

First the role is discussed that Erich Fromm played in the foundation of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) according to the documents and correspondence kept in the Fromm Archives in Tübingen (Germany). In the second part the perhaps more interesting question is discussed of what personally motivated Fromm to initiate and to establish a federation of psychoanalytic societies outside of the International Psycho-Analytical Association (IPA). Although the reasons and motivations for Fromm's initiative are in the first line historical they nevertheless have some impact on the present. Therefore, in a final section, Fromm's understanding of psychoanalysis is discussed as a challenge for the IPA as well as for the IFPS.

The Quest for Freedom and Human Concern: A Subjective Perspective on the Early History of the Swedish Society for Holistic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and Its Relation to IFPS

The forming and early development of the Swedish Society for Holistic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis is described. The influence of the personal background of those who formed the society, the general zeitgeist in which the society unfolded and the specific circumstances in the field of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in Sweden at the actual time is paid attention to. The significance of Dr. Harold Kelman as a supervisor and teacher during the forming years is underlined. The forming of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS) is mentioned as an important matrix for the growth of the society.

Comments on the history of the international federation of psychoanalytic societies

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present a bird's eye view of the history of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies (IFPS).