In Exile from the Self: National Belonging and Psychoanalysis in Buenos Aires

It has been estimated that Buenos Aires has more psychoanalysts per capita than any other city in the world. Middle-class porteos (as inhabitants of Buenos Aires are known) typically do not associate involvement with psychoanalytic therapy with depression or mental illness but, rather, often view it as a type of healthy self-exploration. This article explores how painful issues surrounding national belonging and Argentine identity often emerge as central topics of discussion during psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the consulting room. Additionally, this article also examines some of the historical, social, and cultural conditions since the 1950s that have promoted the massive popularization of psychoanalysis among middle-class porteños. I argue that psychoanalysis has been a particularly attractive practice and ideology for many porteos who have maintained a European transnational identity and particularly for those during the 1960s and 1970s who were alienated from Argentina's growing political authoritarianism.