NEWS , ANALYSIS , OPINION FOR THE PSYCHOANALYTIC COMMUNITY ISSUE 6 SUMMER 2011 The legacy Rethinking Economics Cinema: the of Carl Jung session and language frequency psychoanalysis of the 2 5 8 15 unconscious and researchers – were intently engaging within clinical practice. In an interview with the latest findings presented by with The Guardian in 2008, Hanna Segal leading world neuroscientists (Damasio, said: ‘for those of us who believe in some The hard Panksepp, Craig, Gallese) that together human values, it is terribly important powerfully point to a psychodynamic that we just keep this little fire burning. model of the mind. There was a palpable It is about trusting your judgement, and sense of excitement as the reality of this the power of love.’ choices that proposition began to take hold within the conference, and which will be developed Leo Rangell wrote: ‘The scientific attitude over the coming months – there is no of psychoanalysis is carried to the patient doubt a tipping point has been reached in by a caring human. The capacity to lie ahead this project. achieve the proper blend between the two is one of the most difficult but necessary Just before this, leading economists goals for training to impart.’ including the Governor of the Bank By Malcolm Allen of England joined with others in an They both too had a talent for writing enthralling discussion at the launch of perceptively on public affairs. Segal David Tuckett’s major new book Minding wrote passionately about nuclear war HE WAVE OF these decision-makers in favour of the Markets. Inside this issue, Tuckett (including her legendary 1985 essay psychotherapy service psychoanalytically-informed services. offers a summary of his ideas about ‘Silence is the real crime’), 9/11 and the closures and reorganisations how psychoanalytic insights can aid an invasion of Iraq. Rangell’s book on the that has been sweeping the Our best bet for significantly influencing understanding of how economies work. Watergate affair with his concept of the Tcountry, recently illustrated by The the present situation is through an ‘compromise of integrity’ has a particular Guardian’s portrayal of the plight of alliance with partner organisations, poignancy in the light of recent events in Camden Psychotherapy Unit (28 June), especially the mental health charities. ‘We can begin to the UK. He was a regular contributor to poses two stark questions. We are working with the We Need make out what the Huffington Post; his last piece on the to Talk Coalition, led by Mind, on a Tucson shooting, written 4 months before First, what, if anything, can now be proposal we have made to bring together a revitalised his death at 97, pays tribute to Obama’s done to limit the present damage? But information on the overall impact of psychoanalytic ‘cool’ (‘Not cold, but with his emotions then, just as importantly, what now service reorganisation and bring it to the controlled in public. Not completely.’). needs to be done to make sure that government’s attention. We believe that project starts to psychoanalytically-informed services can what is happening stands to undermine look like.’ At its best, psychoanalysis is the place survive and thrive in the future? its commitment in the recent mental health where objective and uncorrupted science, strategy, one that we all share, to building a humanity, creative insight and an ambition Kids Company’s No Bullshit conference The erosion of services has revealed the parity of esteem between mental health and for social justice meet. Are we ready for also reported on inside included major weakness of all the main psychotherapy physical health provision. the tough choices that are now needed to contributions from psychoanalytic and counselling professional bodies, ensure this unique human endeavour can practitioners. In these and other including the BPC, not just to resist the But what about the future? It is hard not hold its own in the years to come? initiatives, we can begin to make out what trend (a Herculean task), but even to to play here the sort of counterfactual a revitalised psychoanalytic project starts create some ripples around this issue. game so beloved by media historians. to look like, defined above all else by its The professional bodies are all equally Would we be facing the same level of Malcolm Allen is CEO of openness to engage with other disciplines. concerned about what has been happening; loss if the psychoanalytic community the BPC yet there has been a profound failure of had wholeheartedly embraced the value The last New Associations spoke of the collective action. The default instinct of outcome measures and evaluation urgent need for – tragically – has been to worry about thirty or forty years ago? What if we realignment to securing our own organisational positions had built up an incontestable body of begin to overcome first and the common cause second. scientific evidence that psychoanalytic the debilitating psychotherapy works? What if our fragmentation of But what has the BPC been doing? First, psychotherapy services had developed the psychoanalytic we are building as detailed a picture sophisticated outcome measures that community. as we can of the changes to service demonstrated our results were in line Discussions have provision, using a range of resources. with that scientific evidence? Might we progressed between We are working with the Royal College have been in a significantly stronger the BPC and the of Psychiatrists’ National Audit of position than we are now? Association of Child Psychological Therapies which will soon Psychotherapists provide the most detailed overview to The point here is not to indulge in self- (ACP) to this end and date on these services in the UK. regret for the failures of the past – though similar discussions are these need to be properly understood beginning with the We are also working with the Association – but to make sure that we now put in APP in the NHS. of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the place solid building blocks for the future NHS (APP in the NHS) on a survey – above all not to shrink from the hard In the last two to find out what is happening within choices that need to be made. months, we have lost such services. We will be mapping all two psychoanalytic this information against the emerging There are compelling reasons to retain a titans, Hanna Segal in the UK, and Leo commissioning structure in the NHS, positive outlook for psychoanalytically- Rangell in the US. They had important and identifying the key decision-makers informed work in the future. At the things in common apart from the for mental health and psychotherapy recent International Neuropsychoanalytic immense contributions they each made services within these structures. We Congress in Berlin over 400 people to the development of psychoanalytic will be developing over the coming – including large numbers of young thought. They both emphasised the equal months a focused strategy for influencing neuroscientists, clinical psychologists importance of science and humanity 2 NEW ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE 6 SUMMER 2 0 1 1 NEW ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE 6 SUMMER 2 0 1 1 The legacy of Jung By Warren Colman, Helen Morgan and Jan Wiener 6 June marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Carl Gustav Jung example, unconscious communications conscious and unconscious effects two (1975-1961). To commemorate his legacy, three Jungian analysts, such as dreams might be understood as people have on one another. He knew registrants of the BPC and members of the IAAP, have written this ‘compensating’ for one-sided conscious in his bones about transference and collaborative piece. Besides their work as clinicians, each author holds attitudes, rather than being merely countertransference, the archetypal linking roles within the profession, and the following thoughts come from defensive compromise formations derived nature of unconscious processes alive their combined understanding of the legacy we have inherited, as well as from instinctual wishes. He anticipated between patient and analyst, the how it is perceived from outside the Jungian community. the modern view of dreams as indicating emotional impact of analysis and its the psychic state of the dreamer. He also potential for making meaning. As he says insisted on a more extensive view of the in an oft-quoted remark: libido than Freud’s. For two personalities to meet is like mixing two different chemical substances: HE JUNGIAN community, Jung’s interest in the collective aspects if there is any combination at all, both are both within the UK and of the unconscious meant he was drawn transformed… You can exert no influence internationally, is thriving beyond the limitations of the Western, if you are not susceptible to influence. and vibrant. Today there bourgeois frame of early twentieth- (Jung, C.G. (1929) Problems of Modern Tare over 3,000 Jungian analysts century European psychology towards Psychotherapy. Collected Works Vol. 16. throughout the world and 53 societies who other disciplines and other cultures and London: Routledge, para 163). are members of the International systems of belief. His range of interests Association of Analytical Psychology was astonishingly broad, and he drew on (IAAP). Jung’s original ideas continue to many different disciplines in formulating ‘Jung’s openness be developed and expanded to form a his theories – anthropology, philosophy, remains of central robust, lively and growing tradition of sociology, theology, mythology and theoretical and clinical concepts.