Ilene Philipson: Have We Lost Our Love of Psychoanalysis?

Currently, the world of psychoanalysis has taken a turn to the social and the political, something that has benefited us in many ways. But all too frequently, rather than utilizing our psychoanalytic minds to understand the social, we have directed the vitriol, binary thinking, and certitude that dominate our current political landscape toward our institutes, our associations, and each other. This article encourages us to rekindle our love of psychoanalysis, a love that was on full display in 1981 at Heinz Kohut’s last address. Ilene Philipson holds doctorates in sociology, clinical psychology, and psychoanalysis.  She is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, a Supervising Analyst at the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis, and is in the private practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Her books include On the Shoulders of Women:  The Feminization of Psychotherapy; Married to the Job:  Why We Live to Work and What We Can Do About It, and Ethel Rosenberg:  Beyond the Myths, and the forthcoming anthology, Have We Lost Our Love for Psychoanalysis?