The Psychoanalytic Quarterly 1989/1. [antikvár]

THE FUTURE OF P S YC H O A N A L YSIS by vann spruiell, m.d. Ideas without facts are empty; facts without ideas are blind. Róbert Waelder (1967, p. 26) INTRODUCTION It is known that what will happen within complex systems cannot be predicted far in advance. Psychoanalysis is such a complex system. But thinking about the future of psychoanalysis can be a useful game. There are times for speculation. We need our imaginations about the future, if only because they add to our sense of vigor and life in the present. When we examine our field in terms of its coherence, its existence as an entity, we can compare it to other entities. For example, a house has an "inner identity," composed of all its interior structure and all the humán happenings that have occurred within it-constancy in the midst of change. And a house has an "exteriőr identity," its Street address and all the things that have taken place in relation to other buildings and the larger surround and its history (Greenacre, 1958, p 613). Only after we have examined every one of its components, keeping in mind that each inf luences and is inf luenced by every other, should we go on to think about not one, but a number- a rangé-of possible futures, whether of a house or of an entity like psychoanalysis. Somé futures are more possible than others. Somé are beyond our capacities to affect. Others can be inf luenced one way or another. As professionals in a discipline editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of invited papers on this topic. For previous papers, see our January, April, and July issues for 1988.