Book description
Some sixty years after the "Controversial Discussions" in the
early 40s, this passionate book resurrects their spirit on a global
scale. Under Andre Green's generous, tactful yet strong leadership, a
small discussion group of noteworthy analysts of the International
Psychoanalytical Association, coming from all the theoretical and
geographical regions in today's psychoanalytic Babel, met several times
over three years in order to deal, by way of the detailed discussion of
their clinical experiences, with what to many of those involved was and
still is a polemical concept: that of the borderline patient. Such a
concept, widely accepted in the United States, remains controversial in
many parts of the psychoanalytic universe, mainly in what concerns the
multifaceted relationship between psychoanalytic and psychiatric
categories. To be remarked upon is the sincerity put to play by the
participants in expressing their doubts, their agreements and their
disagreements in the heady process of developing a grasp on the others'
viewpoint. In this they set a model for future interchanges between
analysts. The end result is likely to constitute a landmark in the
already protracted discussion of the borderline as a diagnosis, as well
as of its transference and countertransference implications. - Manuel J.
Galvez
