| Synopsis: |
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 |