A CLASSIC REVISITED - CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS ON STONES WIDENING SCOPE OF INDICATIONS FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS

Leo Stone's ''The Widening Scope of Indications for Psychoanalysis'' h as had a major influence on the way almost two generations of American psychoanalysts have been taught to think about and practive psychoana lysis. Contemporary elaborations and extensions of the ideas contained in Stone's paper have, however, been used to move us steadily toward a shift in the treatment paradigm that underlies the way psychoanalysi s is currently being conducted. This contemporary tendency to enlarge the scope of the mode of action of psychoanalysis, in order to accommo date the wider range of patients being treated today, blurs those aspe cts of psychoanalytic technique that distinguish the unique psychoanal ytic perspective from the more general psychotherapeutic perspective. Several ideas contained in Stone's paper are considered as a basis for clarifying this distinction and the technical implications deriving f rom it. Two clinical vignettes are presented to illustrate these issue s.