History of the unconscious in Soviet Russia: from its origins to the fall of the Soviet Union

Russia accepted the notion of the unconscious and psychoanalysis before many Western countries. The first Russian Psychoanalytic Society was established in 1911. After World War I and the Russian Revolution, for a short happy period, the following psychoanalysts were active: Sabina Spielrein, Tatiana Rosenthal, Moshe Wulff, Nikolai Osipov and Ivan Ermakov. Scholars associated with Soviet ideas participated too, including Aleksandr Luria, Michail Rejsner and Pavel Blonskij. Lev Vygotskij himself dealt with the unconscious. A second psychoanalytical society was set up in Kazan. Unfortunately, at the end of the 1920s, repression dissolved the psychoanalytic movement. Even the word 'psychoanalysis' was banned for decades. Nonetheless, interest in the unconscious, as distinct from psychoanalytic theory, survived in the work of the Georgian leader D. Uznadze. His followers organized the 1979 International Symposium on the Unconscious, in Tbilisi, Georgia, which marked the breaking of an ideological barrier. Since then, many medical, psychological, philosophical and sociological scholars have taken an interest in the unconscious, a subject both feared, for its ideological implications, and desired.Since the 1980s, psychoanalytic ideas have been published in the scientific press and have spread in society. The fall of the USSR in 1991 liberalized the scientific and institutional development of psychoanalysis.     

Psychoanalysis in a changing world

The author reflects, in this opening speech of the IPA Berlin Congress, on some changes in the world, in Germany and in psychoanalysis in the 85 years that have elapsed since the previous congress in Berlin, in 1922. He emphasizes important developments in psychoanalytic theory and practice, research and applications to understand several wider realms. He also stresses the importance of psychoanalysis for the current discussion on the transgenerational effects of traumatic events, and connects all these aspects with the theme of the Congress-remembering, repeating and working through.     

From Psychical treatment to psychoanalysis: considerations on the misdating of an early Freud text and on a hitherto overlooked addition to it (here reproduced)

Freud's early paper Psychical (or mental) treatment, first published in a family reference book for educated lay persons, was reproduced in the Gesammelte Werke with a stated publication date of 1905. This date was subsequently called into question owing to certain parts of the subject-matter (the use of hypnosis and suggestion in 'mental treatment'), and the contribution was erroneously assigned, for instance by James Strachey, to the year 1890. This error is corrected in the present paper. Furthermore, the existence of a second edition of this reference book, which contains an addition to Freud's text and appeared in 1918-19, has previously gone unnoticed. The first edition had been published in 1905-6. Freud's contribution must, however, have been written at an appreciably earlier date. The probable time of its genesis is discussed. Freud's new text is reproduced (in English translation) for the first time in an appendix to this paper.     

From psychosocial equilibrium to catastrophic breakdown: Cyprus 1955–1974

The recent history of Cyprus presents an example of a society in which a centuries-long peaceful coexistence of diverse populations gave way to violence and murderous hate, with devastating end results. This paper tries to understand and describe the process by which Cypriot society slid from a position of psychosocial equilibrium and integration towards one of disintegration, fragmentation and catastrophic breakdown. This paper draws from work by social anthropologists, sociologists, historians and others, and from my own personal experience. To these I applied insights afforded by psychoanalysis to identify and explore the psychic processes and states of mind that characterized a psychosocial disintegrative process. I came to see external political events and internal psychological processes as inseparably intertwined and dynamically interdependent, each emanating from and catalysing the other. The factual details of the process described are of course unique in their local specificity, but the psychic phenomena that characterized it are not: at both the individual and group levels they are replicated in other societies undergoing similar processes of self-destruction.     

Off the beaten track: Freud,sound and music.Statement of a problem and some historico‐critical notes1

The authors note that the element of sound and music has no place in the model of mental functioning bequeathed to us by Freud, which is dominated by the visual and the representational. They consider the reasons for this exclusion and its consequences, and ask whether the simple biographical explanation offered by Freud himself is acceptable. This contribution reconstructs the historical and cultural background to that exclusion, cites some relevant emblematic passages, and discusses Freud’s position on music and on the aesthetic experience in general. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between Freud and Lipps, which is important both for the originality of Lipps’s thinking in the turn‐of‐the‐century debate and for his ideas on the musical aspects of the foundations of psychic life, at which Freud ‘stopped’, as he himself wrote. Moreover, the shade of Lipps accompanied Freud throughout his scientific career from 1898 to 1938. Like all foundations, that of psychoanalysis was shaped by a system of inclusions and exclusions. The exclusion of the element of sound and music is understandable in view of the cultural background to the development of the concepts of the representational unconscious and infantile sexuality. While the consequences have been far reaching, the knowledge accumulated since that exclusion enables us to resume, albeit on a different basis, the composition of the ‘unfinished symphony’ of the relationship between psychoanalysis and music.     

IUSAM-APdeBA: A higher education institute for psychoanalytic training

The history of the last century shows the almost constant presence of psychoanalysis in the academic setting and, simultaneously, the incredible absence of analytic training at the universities. This paper outlines the project of the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytic Association (APdeBA) to create a higher education institution of its own (IUSAM) specifically aimed at lodging psychoanalytic training within a university setting. The project was approved by the Argentine educational authorities in 2005 and received the economic support of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). The academic structure of the university is described, whose goal is broadened to the interdisciplinary field of mental health with psychoanalysis as an integrating axis. Some of the characteristics of the traditional 'university model' as well as its relationship with psychoanalysis are pointed out. With the IUSAM, psychoanalytic training is not included as a part of an already established university, it rather creates a new one, with the support of a well-known psychoanalytical association (APdeBA) which endorses its activities and guarantees its identity. IPA's requirements for analytic training (didactic analysis, supervisions and seminars) have been fully preserved in this new context. Finally, some of the advantages and disadvantages of including analytic training into an academic environment are listed .     

The session of the two dreams

Abstract :  Through the discussion of the clinical material the author tries to show how numerous aspects of traditional Jungian analysis are close to several theoretical and clinical developments of Relational Psychoanalysis. A short introduction about relational psychoanalysis is given. The relational aspects of Jungian theory and praxis are underlined. If we refer to these theoretical constructs, it becomes possible to work in an original way and think of the clinical setting as different from the classical Freudian one, without abandoning Jungian tradition.     

On Being Wanted to Exist: A Spiritual Dimension in Pastoral Counseling and Psychoanalysis

Patients who feel not wanted to exist as persons in their own right require that pastoral counseling or psychoanalysis address their need to be wanted. Drawing on case material, it is argued that the pastoral counselor has a particular responsibility to address adequately patients’ need to have their existence affirmed. Connecting psychoanalytic theory and technique with spiritual exploration of the notion of creation, this paper calls attention in clinical practice to patients’ need to be wanted to exist.     

Books received

Books received:
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Bateman, Anthony, Brown, Dennis & Pedder, Jonathan. Introduction to Psychotherapy. An Outline of Psychodynamic Principles and Practice.
Psychological Medicine
Campling, Frankie & Sharpe, Michael. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME). The Facts.
Curwen, Bernie, Palmer, Stephen & Ruddell, Peter. Brief Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
Childs, Hal. The Myth of the Historical Jesus and the Evolution of Consciousness.
Falzeder, Ernst & Brabant, Eva (eds.). The Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi.
Genova, Paul. The Thaw. 24 Essays in Psychotherapy.
Keve, Tom. Triad: the Physicists, the Analysts, the Kabbalists.
Sidoli, Mara. When the Body Speaks. The Archetypes in the Body.