The largely unread India-period writings of Emilio Servadio (1904-1995), an Italian psychoanalyst, include courses on psychoanalysis, short stories, essays on art, and the experience of internment, and several India-themed papers that pushed at the boundaries of early psychoanalysis' intellectual territory. This essay, based on his archive, is the first reading of his India period to be written, and it is divided into three parts. Part I tells the story of Servadio in India based on the archived correspondence between Servadio and Girindrasekhar Bose, the first president of the Indian Psychoanalytical Society (IPS). Part II uses psychoanalytic theorizing on colonialism from Klein (1937), Mannoni (1950) and Eng (2016) to consider whether the affective stakes of studying psychoanalysis in India during the colonial period might relate to Servadio's historical neglect. This section also describes my subject position with respect to this research. Part III reproduces a text from an essay by Servadio about which Bose was enthusiastic: "Notes on oral and phallic elements in a single hour". The essay ?cuál closes by suggesting that Servadio's case presentation of his Indian patient may have given further energy to Bose's well-documented argument with Freud on the subject of cultural factors in the castration complex. Re-forging the missing link between Servadio and India, I conclude, may give a fuller picture of the history of psychoanalysis and India.
Martin Buber's philosophy of dialogue has significant resonances with relational-intersubjective psychoanalysis, yet the communication between these two fields has not been sufficiently explored. Broadly speaking, the concept of the "I-Thou" relationship is akin to mutual recognition, manifesting primarily in two ways: (1) During smooth interactions, both parties can fully engage in the ongoing dialogue, achieving attunement and responsiveness through both nonverbal and verbal communication; (2) During less smooth interactions, both parties remain open to dialogue, negotiate areas of disagreement, and even attempt to repair the relationship after a breakdown. Relational-intersubjective psychoanalysis and related research extends Buber's philosophy of dialogue by emphasizing nonverbal communication in infancy, focusing on intersubjective interactions at the micro level, providing evidence for Buber's concept of "healing through encounter," and considering the complementarity of encounter (interactive regulation) and insight (self regulation).
This article examines contemporary discourses within French psychoanalysis through the lens of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's concept of the minor. Against the backdrop of anti-trans positions advanced by influential psychoanalytic figures, it analyzes alternative theoretical and clinical perspectives that challenge the discipline's dominant and often normative assumptions. More specifically, the article focuses on the work of two psychoanalysts, Thamy Ayouch and Fabrice Bourlez, both of whom mobilize the concept of the minor to develop queer, trans, and decolonial approaches to psychoanalytic theory and practice. Without overlooking certain tensions, I argue that the minor functions less as a fixed method than as a critical horizon. In this light, the minor challenges claims of universality, foregrounds minoritized forms of experience, and reimagines the unconscious in relation to social, historical, and political powers. The article concludes by considering both the transformative potential and the conceptual limits of this framework for rethinking psychoanalysis in the twenty-first century.
This paper explores the relational approach in psychoanalysis not merely as a theoretical model but as a clinical sensibility that has fundamentally altered therapeutic practice across theoretical boundaries. Unlike classical psychoanalytic innovations that emerged from clinical observations, the relational approach represents a new type of innovation-one that challenges epistemological assumptions rather than proposing new psychic facts. Drawing on clinical vignettes and training experiences, this paper examines how relational sensibilities have infiltrated contemporary practice, creating new therapeutic possibilities while generating novel clinical dilemmas. The paper argues that understanding innovation in terms of "sensibilities" rather than just theoretical systems provides crucial insights into how psychoanalytic knowledge develops and spreads in the contemporary era.
The paper makes a detailed argument for retaining as central the importance of intensive immersive in-person analysis for personal analysis and for control cases in psychoanalytic training. Fundamental is personal analysis and evaluation of the capacities of the analyst-in-training including, importantly, a capacity for analytic listening and intervention. A concern is discussed that recent International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) rule changes to propose a less intensive and immersive training may undermine this foundational base. In-person analysis allows simultaneous different perspectives, the rawness of immediate experience including the bodily, the sexual or the aggressive to emerge and be felt, and for the emergence of different types of transference that may include enactments by the patient or by the analyst. These lead to a fuller psychoanalytic understanding and are intrinsic to a capacity for growth needed to become a psychoanalyst. Brief vignettes from complex cases of adult, adolescent and child analysis illustrate this view of the centrality of in-person psychoanalysis.
This paper offers a psychoanalytic reflection on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, prompted by Shmuel Erlich's recent contribution to The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. While Erlich argues that psychoanalysis is relevant only to the study of contemporary antisemitism and not to the conflict itself, the author contends that psychoanalytic thought remains essential for understanding the unconscious group dynamics that sustain war and collective violence. Drawing on Klein, Bion, Segal and Fornari, the paper explores the oscillation between paranoid-schizoid and depressive modes of functioning, the activation of psychotic defences in situations of catastrophe, and the failure to contain guilt and mourning. These dynamics, although shared by both sides of the conflict, have produced tragically disproportionate consequences, particularly for the Palestinian population. The paper also reconsiders Erlich's reading of antisemitism, its moral implications, and the ethical responsibility of psychoanalysts to resist collective denial and illuminate the unconscious forces that underpin violence and silence. In the spirit of Hanna Segal's call to speak out, it argues that silence in the face of human suffering constitutes a moral failure that psychoanalysis cannot afford.
Several Norwegian analysts trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute established a Norwegian psychoanalytic society (IPA-membership 1934). Due to the emergence of Nazism, Wilhelm Reich and Otto Fenichel ended up in Oslo in 1933/4. Their importance for the development of Norwegian psychoanalysis became immense and dramatic. The IPA Congress in 1949 was a disaster for Norwegian psychoanalysis: exclusion from the IPA. Only after many years did the Norwegian society regain its IPA membership in 1975. Norway's first Professor of psychology, Harald Schjelderup, entering his professorship in 1928, was a psychoanalyst, trained in Vienna. Establishing the depth psychological method as a specific scientific method, Schjelderup's main academic project was the integration of psychoanalysis with general psychological science. Ever since, the Norwegian Psychoanalytical Society has maintained a close relationship with the university. During the last twenty years, Norwegian analysts have developed a most successful programme for psychoanalytic psychotherapy in China and participated in training the first Chinese analysts approved by IPA. Thus, they have made a substantial contribution to the IPA-psychoanalytic training in China, resulting in the establishment of the IPA study group in 2022. The inner life of the Norwegian Society has also renewed an enthusiasm through its development of a new training analyst system.
The aim pursued by Freud and Ferenczi in 1910, when they founded the International Psychoanalytical Association-to establish a regulatory body for the safeguarding of psychoanalysis-was supported by the international 'Guidelines for Psychoanalytic Training' developed by Max Eitingon and adopted in 1925. However, resistance to this centralised conception of psychoanalytic training soon emerged. This resistance grew as psychoanalysis spread worldwide across different cultures. The fact that differing approaches and regional autonomy in psychoanalytic training were able to gain a foothold under the umbrella of the IPA was demonstrated by the 2007 decision-still in force today-to grant equal recognition to the three training models: the Eitingon model, the French model and the Uruguayan model. A tension has arisen between central and local authorities regarding the organisation of psychoanalytic training within the IPA, which, depending on its intensity, can be either paralysing or creative for the further development of psychoanalysis. In the author's view, different translations into English of the German term 'Gleichgesinnte' used by Ferenczi highlight these contrasts. "Gleichgesinnte", who form the IPA as "people who think in the same way" (Haynal's translation), may leave less room for cultural differences than "Gleichgesinnte", who form the IPA as "like-minded people" (the author's translation). The author emphasises the value of a democratically legitimised, central authority, which must, however, remain in dialogue with local authorities within the IPA.
When Freud invented/discovered psychoanalysis, he devised not just a theory of mind but also a tool that enabled him to observe the "mind." And with the tool of psychoanalysis, he was able to observe the workings of the default mode network (DMN) some hundred years before anyone knew of its existence. Since then, various operations of the DMN have been identified. One is the integration of perception into memory through the process of functional connectivity. In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) there is significant pathology in functional connectivity involving multiple brain networks-especially the DMN and the intrinsic alarm system. This article addresses the causes and consequences of this pathophysiology as it relates to the sense of time, safety, and story in PTSD.
This paper explores the psychoanalytic thought of Eugenio Gaddini, one of the most original and influential figures in Italian psychoanalysis. A detailed analysis of his writings and the cultural context in which his thought developed reconstructs his reflections on the early phases of mental development, the mind-body relationship, and the clinical implications of his theories. Particular attention is devoted to the concepts of primitive imitation, fantasies in the body, basic mental organisation, and acting out, with which Gaddini contributed to the understanding of the genesis of the Self and the birth of the psyche from the soma. The paper also sheds light on the relationship of Gaddini's thinking with the psychoanalytic tradition, in particular with Freud, Winnicott, and the anglophone schools, and his innovative approach to psychoanalytic theory and practice. Lastly, the relevance of his ideas to contemporary psychoanalysis is highlighted, especially in the treatment of pathologies characterised by non-represented mental states and psychosomatic disturbances.
Visual images of Freud abound in popular and psychoanalytic culture, though they have been largely bypassed without scrutiny in the literature. This neglect obscures a proper understanding of this important part of psychoanalytic iconography and in particular the genesis of Freud's drive (and that of early colleagues and other key stakeholders) to promote "brand-Freud" and psychoanalysis locally, nationally, and internationally. Offering the first in-depth exploration of this topic, the present article considers Freud's relation to his imaging, the functions of this in promoting recognition and affiliation, and the key curated "official" forms this took during the period from 1906 to 1939. In doing so, close scrutiny is paid to Freud's imaging in three domains: the 1906 medal by Carl Schwerdtner, Max Halberstadt's photographs, and selected portraits and sculptures, noting in each case how these images were disseminated in the psychoanalytic literature and as material objects. In the process of doing this, the paper reveals an underappreciated mechanism in the propagation of psychoanalysis and some of the vital functions such imaging served.
This article examines Brazil's free psychoanalytic clinics as radical experiments in what I call sanitary emancipation-a mode of mental health care production that links wellbeing to liberation from colonial oppression. Based on ethnographic research with clinical collectives in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and beyond, I argue that these grassroots initiatives mobilise a "corruptive" form of emancipation: an imperfect, materially entangled refusal of purity that emerges from a discipline (psychoanalysis) marked by elitist and patriarchal histories. Through practices of territorial listening-offering sessions in breadlines, public squares and sites of racist police violence-these clinics reimagine care in ways that directly challenge the coloniality of power, knowledge and being embedded in Global Mental Health paradigms. Situated within Brazil's post-Psychiatric Reform landscape, clinics like Coletivo Pontes da Psicanálise (with its Afro-Brazilian escuta de gira approach) and Margens Clínicas (working in territories scarred by state violence) and several others confront DSM-driven diagnostic logic as a neo-colonising discourse under financial capitalism. Their work critically fulfils the promise of the medical humanities by, first, politicising care as a commons rather than a commodified service; second, fostering situated knowledges grounded in relational and territorial forms of alienation; and third, resisting the de-politicised metrics of global health epidemiology. These unfinished, situated experiments in street psychoanalysis and anti-racist care ethics reveal both radical potential and inevitable capitalist contamination. Ultimately, they offer a compelling model for rethinking mental health through insurgent, place-based and decolonial frameworks.
In this manuscript, I describe my experience of the evolving place of teleanalysis in psychoanalytic practice and education, focusing on the central role of the analyst's internal frame in sustaining analytic work across settings. Drawing on clinical, supervisory, teaching, and personal analytic experience, I argue that the usefulness of psychoanalysis depends less on the external setting than on the analyst's capacity to function analytically in the face of absence, uncertainty, and loss. I suggest that a priori views of teleanalysis as "less real" or "less effective" often reflect defensive efforts to avoid these anxieties, foreclosing analytic inquiry. Rather than treating differences between in-office and teleanalytic work as indicators of equivalence or inferiority, I propose that we view each setting as mobilising distinct transference-countertransference configurations that require symbolic elaboration. I consider the educational implications of these observations, arguing that teleanalytic treatment and supervision during training can provide a vital context for engaging, testing, and strengthening candidates' internal analytic frame and psychoanalytic identity. I contend that given the worldwide and widespread adoption of the teleanalytic frame, teaching candidates how to practise analysis while working teleanalytically during their training has become an existential issue for psychoanalysis.
The author addresses "primitive states of mind", a significant point of current development in contemporary psychoanalysis, with the aim of recognising and elaborating such configurations in the analytic relationship. The article revisits the views of Loewald (1980), who saw minds as organising experiences gradually over the course of development according to different principles and changeable organisational structures which continue to operate simultaneously in adult experience on a continuum that runs from consciousness to unconsciousness. The author uses a clinical example to describe various modalities that succeed in approaching these pre-conditions of thinkability so that as the analysis progresses it can set up the conditions for an affective tolerability, which may in turn lead to a potentially effective recognition of meanings. The article hypothesises that in these circumstances it may be possible to recreate the experience of a phase of development in which the patient "uses" the analyst (Winnicott 1967) as the infant does the mother, in such a way as to put the analyst in the state of feeling "destroyed" (Ogden 2016b). An analyst who survives while "feeling they have been destroyed" in fact enables the patient to live as a subject distinct from an object.
The institutional debates about the inclusion of teleanalysis in psychoanalytic training, as well as about session frequency in training, involve important questions grounded in psychoanalytic practice and experience. The divergent views on these matters will require close collaboration between as many members of the International Psychoanalytic Association as possible to understand their reasons. Our common ground as psychoanalysts may lie most of all in our ability to do this psychoanalytic exploratory work together. Ultimately, the authority behind institutional decisions must derive from the authority of psychoanalysis as a clinical and scientific discipline which we develop and perfect together.
Although Erik H. Erikson himself and some scholars have acknowledged the significant contributions of his wife, Joan M. Erikson, to psychological theory, her specific role in shaping this framework has remained insufficiently examined. Drawing on an analysis of Joan's educational background, her shared life with Erik, and the affective and intellectual interdependence between them, this study suggests that Joan was not merely a supporter but a collaborator who was deeply involved in conceptual construction, structural refinement, textual revision, and the publication process of the theory. In particular, her involvement in discussions surrounding the concept of basic trust, the establishment of the "generativity" stage, and her systematic articulation of the ninth stage in later life represent important moments in the historical development of life cycle theory. This study further suggests that Joan's scholarly labor was not entirely invisible but rather was rendered partially visible and simultaneously marginalized within dominant academic narratives. Revisiting Joan's role in the construction and development of the theory helps restore the actual collaborative conditions of theoretical production rather than diminish Erik's scholarly achievements. This case highlights the value of attending to collaboration, intimacy, and the division of intellectual labor in accounts of knowledge production within psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, and the history of science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Bodily awareness has become a central therapeutic factor in psychodynamic and body-oriented psychotherapies, yet its clinical effects and theoretical status remain insufficiently integrated. This paper offers a clinically grounded account of bodily awareness work in Psychodynamic Movement and Dance Therapy (PMT), conceptualising the body as the primary medium of lived experience rather than as an object of intervention. Drawing on phenomenology, developmental psychoanalysis, and clinical theory, the paper argues that therapeutic change in PMT unfolds through prereflective, embodied processes that precede verbal reflection and symbolic articulation. To integrate these perspectives, it introduces the concept of the global mode of experience, defined as an amodal, prereflective organisation of experience in which bodily sensation and affective vitality are lived as an integrated whole. Rooted in Daniel Stern's work, this mode is understood as a stable, activatable capacity rather than a regressive state, with orientation to the reality of the here-and-now fundamentally preserved. The paper positions the global mode of experience as a clinically orienting framework for understanding both the therapeutic effects and the limitations of bodily awareness work, highlighting the importance of timing, containment, and indication in psychodynamic movement and dance therapy. (Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2026; 28(3): 141-154)
The question of how the next generation of psychoanalysts can best be trained is as old as psychoanalysis itself. Currently, there is intense debate within the IPA regarding whether and how teleanalysis should be integrated into psychoanalytic training. The IPA Board has approached the Research Committee (RC) to launch a systematic research project to investigate this question. The RC proposed conducting an action research project. Action Research (AR)-in contrast to "traditional research"-emphasizes the processual nature of insights gained through a professionally facilitated exchange between polarizing groups. AR can contribute to defusing or even resolving complex institutional conflicts characterized by passionate emotions by bringing latent conflicts, fantasies and desires, personal and ideological, professional and personal beliefs, as well as prejudices and fantasies about opponents' intentions to the table, thus opening them up to individual, institutional, and public discussion and critical reflection. In the context of the IPA Congress in Lisbon in July 2025, a first action research cycle was conducted. This article reports on its findings. The course and outcomes of the discussions at this meeting were summarized in a report, which was subsequently systematically refined by all participants in several steps through a process known as expert validation.
Drawing on the psychoanalytic treatment of Blu, a trans/non-binary patient, this paper introduces the notion of the political phantasm as a metapsychological operator linking unconscious phantasy to historically situated regimes of recognition. Blu's suffering is not reducible to intrapsychic or familial dynamics; rather, it calls for an expanded metapsychology capable of accounting for the co-production of subjectivity within the collective. The analytic setting becomes a space in which historically situated excitations - traumas, exclusions, excesses - are co-constructed and symbolically reworked. Blu's non-binary experience destabilizes diagnostic categories, compelling psychoanalysis to rethink its models of gender, power, and unconscious life. Clinical sequences show how family transmissions, early fantasies, and collective pre-individual ontologies co-produce what counts as livable, sayable, and desirable. The political phantasm is the processual unconscious affective-collective matrix that schematises inclusion and exclusion and, in doing so, generates spectral residues - experiences without scene that return as shame, "too-muchness", or self-pathologisation. Clinically, the concept helps avoid both intrapsychic reductionism and identity-affirmative shortcuts, while preserving the density of the unconscious and the transformative force of collective worlds.