Development of Psychoanalytic Thought & Theory

Fourth Year Adult Psychoanalytic Training (APT)
2020-21, 2nd Trimester — Fridays, 3:30-5:00pm
Julie Wood, MA
Melissa Stoker, MS

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March 12, 2021 — Letter to Freud

[20 pages]

When we began the course together, we said that we hoped to share with you a perspective of the dynamic development of psychoanalytic thought with a strong emphasis on historical context. We hoped it would feel alive and relevant to you as you begin your own psychoanalytic odyssey in Seattle (or Portland). We often used metaphors of a river of thought, a psychoanalytic diaspora, a family tree, or a travel to various countries and continents. The thinkers and healers we have considered were no different than all of us. They were once students; they sought self knowledge; they suffered and sought relief; they came from varied educational, vocational, and social backgrounds. Some we know because they published and created concepts and theories. Others we know more as clinicians in the trenches. Always, they were talking (or arguing) with each other.

When we started this course we asked, “How did you meet Dr. Freud?” We want to end with your own letter to Dr. Freud. Please craft a letter to Dr. Freud, with no expectation that it will be shared. Pause to reflect on: What’s it like to be the next generation of psychoanalysts? Where do you find your own resonance with analytic history? Where do you find dissonance? What are you curious about? In all families, there are ancestors we most identify with – with whom do you identify in the psychoanalytic family tree? How did you, like Gatzambide, identify with Dr. Freud’s experience as an outsider, as one oppressed by historical context? How have marginalized aspects of yourself called you to this vocation? How does your personal identity set the foundation for your analytic identity? Let your thoughts roam wild in your correspondence to Sigmund.

Mendes, D.M. (2011). Letter to Freud. Psychoanal. Rev., 98(6):755-774