ON THE ORGANIZATION OF PSYCHOANALYTIC INS TITUTIONS - ARE THEY INDISPENSABLE, DISASTROUS - OR NEITHER

Recently there as been much heated debate on the question of the effec ts of the institutionalisation of psychoanalysis on analysis itself an d the significance and consequences of the decision of psychoanalysts to organise themselves in professional organisations. The author ident ifies two errors analysts are prone to make when dealing with institut ions/organisations. One is to confuse psychodynamics with the dynamics of institutions, the other to look upon an organised professional gro uping as a species of family to which one can turn for assistance and encouragement. To rectify this misunderstanding, the author calls for a strict distinction between two very different levels of reality. >>N on-trivial machines<< such as psychoanalytic institutes, characterised by a high degree of complexity, obey a logic of their own which canno t be grasped in psychodynamic terms or in analogy to family relations. Buchinger sees it as essential to learn to think and act in terms of structures as opposed to persons and relations. Such a learning proces s can only be successful if specifically psychoanalytic self-reflectio n is complemented by an appropriate form of organisational self-reflec tion.