Issues of power and authority in relation to psychoanalytic training: Tensions between international and local aims

The author describes current tensions within the international psychoanalytic collective regarding changes in training standards that reflect a long history of professional conflict about the aims of training. Conflicts are reflected in issues of power and authority that tend to usurp collaborative definition of the essentials of analytic formation. The importance of moving away from polarization and both recognizing and respecting the inevitable differences of opinion that characterize educational discord is emphasized as vital to the future of the profession in a sociopolitical era in which psychoanalytic values of humane interpersonal relationships and dialogic problem-solving are increasingly threatened and sorely needed.