Shuttle Analysis, Shuttle Supervision, and Shuttle Life-Some Facts, Experiences, and Questions1 Gábor Szőnyi Tamara Štajner-Popović 2
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1 Shuttle Analysis, Shuttle Supervision, and Shuttle Life-Some Facts, 1 Experiences, and Questions Gábor Szőnyi Tamara Štajner-Popović 2 Tremendous effort supported the spreading of psychoanalysis in what was formerly known as "Eastern Europe." Since 2002, the Han Groen Prakken Psychoanalytic Institute of Eastern Europe has integrated this work. In many cases, training components had to be provided in "shuttle format." Shuttle analysis can be considered as an experimental domain in psychoanalytical education. The discussions on shuttle analysis have brought into the foreground some of the aspects of the process: high variation of setting; handling of unavoidable cultural c1ash; special shaping of defenses; the repetitive separation; shuttle life as a consequence-periodically interrupted practice, combination with shuttle supervision; high investment. Training with shuttle components is always a project, never a routine, because of the demand on extra organizational investment. We discuss shuttling from the point of the analyst, of the candidate, of the supervisor, and of the developing organization. Questions include special defense mechanisms, observations on transference- countertransference, "shuttle reality" of ten resembling a "dream-like reality," and special problems of supervision. The question of evaluation is an especially difficult one. The evaluation is as traditional as in regular education. At the end, we face the question: What makes shuttle analysis/shuttle training work? HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In 1987, a handful of potential candidates from different parts of Eastern Europe (Prague, Belgrade, Warsaw, and Zagreb) under the auspices of the new/old Hungarian Society met with the Executive of the European Psychoanalytical Federation (EPF) in Hungary. For years, there have bee n sporadic contacts, but the analy tic community was, so to say, just more or less aware of Eastern Europe. The fact that there were no institutes su ch those in developed societies of the West were taken as the proof that there was also no expertise whatsoever, no basis for fostering the development of analysis. The Budapest meeting was, at some points, quite a temperamental one. The Easterners argued that, before reaching a decision, it would make sense at least to visit, to investigate, and to see. Obviously, to have su ch a meeting in the first place took courage from both sides. The EPF Executive, especiaIly its president at the time-Han Groen- Prakken, the initiator of the meeting-was in a way chaIlenging the set principles of the establishment. The situation was not too simple for the Eastern Europeans, either. It was, in' a way, a test of narcissistic vulnerability, but there was also the external reality as most were coming from behind the iron curtain, and chose a ri sky adventure, as analysis in their countries only existed underground. For both sides, years of waiting and hoping lay ahead. Yet with the deci sion that was initiated in Budapest, to go East and see, the so-caIled "Project Eastern Europe" was about to begin. The goal was to attempt to integrate the split-off part of the European continent into the European analytical community. Much was to change in a few years. Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia soon were no longer countries behind the Iron Curtain; the most prosperous and liberal communist country, the forrner Yugoslavia-the only one not belonging to the Warsaw Pact and open to the West-was to be, for years, ravaged by a bestial civil war. However, even before the major changes in the external reality happened, it was evident from the very beginning that "Eastern Europe" was a generalization and an abstraction. That is even truer today, as each East European established or nonestablished group has a character of its own. There are vast differences, the same as there would be in the West between, lets say, Greece and Norway. De facto, Eastern Europe encompasses countries with different cultural and historical 1 The final, corrected version was published: Szőnyi, G., Stájner-Popovič, T. (2008): Shuttle analysis, shuttle supervision, and shuttle life – some Facts, Experiences, and Questions. Psychanal. Inq. 28:309-328. 2 Gábor Szönyi, M.D., is a training analyst at the Hungarian Psychoanalytical Society, as weil as being Associate Director for Research, Han Groen-Prakken Psychoanalytic Institute for Eastern Europe. Tamara Štajner-Popović is a Medical Psychologist, a Training Analyst at Belgrade Psychoanalytical Society, and Associate Director for Outreach, Han Groen-Prakken Psychoanalytic Institute for Eastern Europe. 2 backgrounds, and the so-called common denominator of the totalitarian regime tremendously varied among its different parts. Economically, there are those countries still tottering in poverty and those with a much more Western standard ofliving. The so-called 'societies in transition ' denoted states with no demoeratic tradition whatsoever, as weIl as those with developed demoeratic institutions prior to the outbreak of World War 2. Yet, when it carne to development of psychoanalysis, there were common denominators. Hungary was an exception, as it was the only Eastern Europe country in which a society existed before the War. The first Hungarian Society was founded in 1913, and, although it was forced to dissolve in 1949, the special political circumstances allowed the reestablishment of a study group in 1975, of an International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA) provisional society in 1981, and of an IPA component society in 1989. Except for the established Hungarian Society, it seemed as if there were two East Europes in the analytic sen se. On one side, there were group s in Prague, Belgrade, and Warsaw where analysis began to develop before World War 2 and continued afterwards. The training was very much along the lines of the tripartite model including standard training analysis. During the first decade of "Project Eastern Europe," except for Hungary, three more IPA established groups were to be recognized. In other parts of so-called Eastern Europe, spreading from Moldavia to Armenia, psychoanalysis had no tradition whatsoever, or was virtually extinguished by the communist regime. Developing analysis in these groups (spreading over half of the European continent, encompassing some 15 countries and 28 groups) was the challenge. As we write this article, there are two IPA component societies (Hungarian, Czech), two provisional societies (Belgrade, Polish), four study groups (Romanian, Croatian, and two in Moscow) in Eastern Europe, and quite a few groupings are close to apply for study group status. TRAINING IN SHUTTLE FORMAT Extending psychoanalytic training to areas where psychoanalytic traditions are poor, where no training analysts can be found, and where financial tools to support people in living in another country for several years are lacking asks for new solutions. The political "Eastern Europe"-countries that until1990 mostly belonged to the Soviet empire-were such a part of Europe during and after the deep social- political-economical changes around 1990. Analytic training, especially personal analysis, requires the candidate to visit the analyst almost day by day. In cities and countries where no training analyst is located, the candidate has to move for several years to aplace where training analysts are settled. This form demands that the candidate give up his or her life and professional embeddedness for the training years, and to set up another life and professional circumstances. One may hope that, after having finished analytic training, the candidate goes back to his or her city/country of origin. Obviously, it often does not happen; instead the new analyst settles down where he or she underwent training. Another option is that the candidate moves regularly for shorter periods to the place of the training analysts, which varies with periods of staying at home. That one we call shuttle analysis (supervision, training). At shorter distances, when it is also financially feasible, so-called condensed analysis might be a solution. It means that more than one session can be held on a day, and the weekly number of sessions remains unchanged. The setting used at the training of many candidates from the Baltic States in Helsinki was something between shuttle and condensed analysis. The candidates went every sec ond week to Helsinki, and had, compressed into one week, all the personal analytic sessions, seminars, and supervisions of a two weeks period in regular training. Although concentrated analysis is an accepted IPA training option, shuttle analysis-which is a form of concentrated analysis-is accepted only at the diseretion of the IPA on an individual basis. From oral tradition, we know that shuttle analysis has always existed, but usually was hidden, denied, and sporadic, and it has never been investigated. The history of German analysts after World War 2 has contacting points with shuttle analysis. The developments in Eastern Europe represented a quantitative difference. In the last fifteen years, we faced a boom in psychoanalytic training. Candidates from over ten countries looked for training simultaneously, yet at most places no training analyst was to be found. Luckily, the high interest of many 3 individuals and analy tic societies to help the development of psychoanalysis in Eastern Europe led to a temporary explosion of special solution s to train Eastern European candidates, often with the help of shuttle settings. We speak about spreading of psychoanalysis in more