Dispelling the myths
As you can see, psychoanalysi s is alive but certainly not well in the acade my. Some have
suggested, essentiall y, that we accept the declin ing status of psychoanalyti c tho ught as
irremediable, but assume that postgra duate clinicians will gradually reali ze their
limitations, hunger for something more and thu s find their way into good
psychodynamic super vision, or perhaps pursue a postgradu ate training course at a
psychoanalytic institu te. This is certainly a possibility, and is a pattern that, doubtle ss,
has occurred many times before. As a particul arly illus trative example , one might argue
that, for those who liv e and practice there, the vast clinical resou rces and rich
traditions, and virtually unlimited postgraduate training opportunities of New York
city are compensa tory for the inadequacies of graduate social work trainin g. Of course,
it is also true that New York is rather unre presentative of most other cities and regions
in this country. But, even there, in the geograp hic ce nter of Nor th American
psychoanalysi s, I believe that there are genuine perils associated wit h taking such a
position.