A CLASSIC REVISITED - EISSLER,K.R. THE EFFECT OF THE STRUCTURE OF THEEGO ON PSYCHOANALYTIC TECHNIQUE

Re-examining a classic paper by K. R. Eissler forty years after its pu blication recalled for the author his own ''origins'' in psychoanalysi s in the same period, allowing a vivid context in which to view Eissle r's contribution. Eissler's attempt to maintain a disciplined clinical position based on the structural theory as the foundation for psychoa nalysis as a science, in the face of many proposed changes in both tec hnique and theory in the decade after Freud's death, made many analyst s refer to this paper as a kind of bible for the orthodox. This revisi t attempts to explore the questions of how and why such a characteriza tion of this paper has taken place.