Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession

186 Pages·1977·7.523 MB·English

by  Janet Malcolm

Psychoanalysis:
The Impossible Profession

PSYCHOANALYSIS:
THE IMPOSSIBLE
PROFESSION
by
Janet Malcollll
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
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A JASON ARONSON BOOK
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THE MASTER WORK SERIES
CopyriJht o 1980, 1981 by Janet Malcolm
Published by arranaement with Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Most of this book was fust published in The New Yorker.
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may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
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ISBN: 1-56821-342-S ISBN 978-1-5682-1342-2
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To my father

It almost looks as if analysis were the third of those "im
possible" professions in which one can be sure beforehand of
achieving unsatisfying results. Tho other two, which have
been known much longer, are education and government.
-SIGMUND FREUD,
"Analysis Terminable and
Interminable" (1937)
As psychoanalysts, we are only too aware that our profession
is not only impossible but also extremely difllcult.
-ADAM LIMENTANI,
International Journal of
Psycho-Analysis (1977)
If two people are repeatedly alone together, some sort of
emotional bond will develop between them.
-PHYLLIS GREENACRE,
Journal of the American
Psychoanalytic
Association (1954)
The soul God gave me isn't of the sort
That prospers in the weather of a court.
It's all too obvious that I don't possess
The virtues necessary for success.
My one great talent is for speaking plain;
I've never learned to flatter or to feign;
And anyone so stupidly sincere
Had best not seek a courtier's career.
-MOLIERE, "The
Misanthrope," translated by
Richard Wilbur

Acknowledgements
I
AM DEEPLY INDEBTED TO DANIEL SCHWARTZ, DIRECTOR. OF
the Austen Riggs Center, who encouraged-no, incited
me to write the article that forms the basis of this book, then
patiently read the manuscript to rid it of many errors, and,
above all, kept me on course in my writing and thinking
through his embodiment, in my imagination, of the ideal of
analysis. I am grateful to many other psychoanalysts who
generously gave of their time to discuss the profession and
the theory of psychoanalysis with me. Thanks also are due
to the New York Psychoanalytic Institute for placing its in
comparable library at my disposal; to the staff of the library
for kindly assisting The New Yorker's checking depart
ment; to Nancy Franklin, of the checking department,
. for her outstanding, elegant work; to Elizabeth Kramer for
her illuminations of many koans of psychoanalytic theory
and practice; to Hartvig Dahl and Virginia Teller for the
immense intellectual stimulation and personal kindness Ire
ceived from them; to Peter Gay for his astute and most val
uable criticisms and suggestions; and to Marianka Vynova
Mueller for her assistance beyond the call of duty in the base
ment of the Albrecht Mueller Rat Man Archive. Above all,
I thank and salute, "Aaron Green," the remarkable and lov
able man who opened his mind and heart to me and gave this
book its life.