The Analyst, Symbolization and Absence in the Analytic Setting

Every analyst knows that an essential condition in a patient’s decision to undergo analysis is the unpleasure, the increasing discomfort and ultimately the suffering he experiences. What is true of the individual patient in this connection is equally true of the psychoanalytic group. Despite its appearance of flourishing, psychoanalysis is going through a crisis. It is suffering, so to speak, from a deep malaise. The causes of this malaise are both internal and external. For a long time we have defended ourselves against the internal causes by minimizing their importance. The discomfort to which the external causes subjects us has now forced us to the point where we must attempt to analyse them. It is hoped that, as a psychoanalytic group, we carry within us what we look for in our patients: a desire for change.