Psychoanalysis in Argentina

Abstract

The interest aroused by the weight, at an international le vel, of the Argentine psychoanalytic experience, motivated my attempt to write a chronicle of the historical evolution and current status of psychoanalytical practice in Argentina from a broad perspective. In order to facilitate the exposition of these developments, I have divided them into several periods, linked to some extent
to the rather difficult evolution of the social, cultural and political context of the country. During the pre-institutional period, psychoanalysis, which had become known through the 1922 Spanish translation of Freud´s works, was the subject
of passionate debates in the intellectual and psychiatric circles. The Argentine Psychoanalytic Association, promoted by an enthusiastic local group and by two analysts trained in Europe, was created at the end of 1942; I have termed this stage the institutional period. During the subsequent period of consolidation, Argentine psychoanalysis reached a peak of creative fecundity that includes the most transcendent names and the most original ideas. The crisis of the 1970s coincided with ideological upheavals worldwide, and with the emergence of new paradigms. The current period shows an exuberant repertory of paradigms and
practices, and an abundant and disorderly number of proposals that contrasts with a decreasing demand for psychoanalytic treatment.