Thirty methods to destroy the creativity of psychoanalytic candidates

Journal title PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE
Author/s Otto F. Kernberg
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2026/3
Language Italian Pages 14 P. 543-556 File size 350 KB
DOI 10.3280/PU2026-003012
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Some formal aspects of psychoanalytic education relevant to fostering or inhibiting creativity in the work of candidates are explored. Thirty features of psychoanalytic institutes that inhibit candidates’ creativity and, by implication, illustrate problems in psychoanalytic education are discussed. These features include the following: systematic slowing down of institutional progression of candidates, repetitive and unquestioning teaching of papers by Freud, monolithic tendencies regarding theoretical approaches, isolation of candidates from the professional and scientific activities of the psychoanalytic society, accentuation of the hieratical relations among the psychoanalytic faculty, graduation rituals, discouragement of original contributions by candidates, intellectual isolation of institutes, lack of full presentation of clinical work by senior members of the faculty, neglect of studies of controversies regarding psychoanalytic technique, “paranoiagenic” features of the relationship among faculty and regarding requirements for candidates, neglect of exploration of the scientific and cultural boundaries and applications of psychoanalysis, and the effects of institutional conflicts around the appointment of training analysts.

Keywords: Psychoanalytic training; Problems of psychoanalytic training; Training analysis; Inhibition of creativity of psychoanalytic candidates; Psychoanalytic institution

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Otto F. Kernberg, Trenta modi per distruggere la creatività degli allievi degli istituti di psicoanalisi (1996) in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 3/2026, pp 543-556, DOI: 10.3280/PU2026-003012