The Theories in Psychoanalitic Practice

Abstract

This paper is a reflection on the diverse theoretical corpus of psychoanalysis, on the way of conceiving its practice, and on the relationship between one and the other. I favor a pluralistic stance as regards the theories; a pluralism that I prefer to call "agreed
upon". I see psychoanalytic practice as a "therapeutic interaction", following the teachings of David Liberman. I understand that, in contrast with traditional medicine, in such practice, the personality of the operator, by means of his "operating psychoanalytic self",
is the defining factor of the therapeutic action. As a result, the idea of the practice as a communicative interaction is inextricably and necessarily linked to the already mentioned agreed-upon pluralism and to the notion of the ECRO. In the second part of the paper I enumerate and loosely discuss a limited and arbitrary series of controversial theoretical-technical items which I faced and still face in my professional practice as a psychoanalyst; and which have decanted in my ECRO. I end by suggesting a general shift of our perspective on the theoretical field: instead of wearing out our desires in the search of the "true" psychoanalysis, I propose "in exchange" to distill a "lowest common denominator" which embraces the majority of the current theoretical paradigms. In my opinion, the most embracing characteristic of psychoanalysis would be to define it as an "inquiring" method.