Training Issues Faced by Both Psychoanalysis and Family Therapy: Discussion of Dr. Gottlieb’s Paper

Abstract

When Dr. Flomenhaft asked me to discuss Dr. Gottlieb’s paper, he must have anticipated my response. He must have guessed that giving this paper to me, a person trained at length in psychoanalysis, and a person, who, in his own professional identity, struggles most exclusively with psychoanalytic theory, would generate a few sparks of enthusiastic response. For I do have a deep and abiding respect for psychoanalysis and for the legacy of genius that Sigmund Freud and others gave to our field. I am not a family therapist. It is an understatement to say that what I do not know about family therapy or general systems theory would fill volumes. Hence, I am at a decided disadvantage when compared to Dr. Gottlieb, who is obviously familiar with many issues in dynamic theories and therapy—as indicated by his careful and thoughtful paper.