The Psychoanalysis 3.0 Writing, Group

The Psychoanalysis 3.0 Writing Group is a network of writers interested in sharing the benefits of contemporary psychoanalytic thought with all those interested in the complexities of building and living a good life. Specific writers will come and go depending on whether their areas of expertise and interest allow them to write something that is timely, informative, useful, and entertaining. All of this will be coordinated by Todd Essig, Ph.D., a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute, who also writes the "Over-Simulated" blog here at Psychology Today.

Some of those contributing to "Psychoanalysis 3.0" will fit mainstream images of what psychoanalysts do: a clinical practice of protracted, intense dialogue with someone about who they are and how they got that way. But there will be other writers who are researchers, scholars, couple and family therapists, educators, experts in child and adolescent development, and consultants to organizations. In short, there will be a diverse collection of writers from a variety of practices representing the wide range of diverse theories and practice that is psychoanalysis today.

But why 3.0? The idea developed from conversations among several faculty members at the William Alanson White Institute about how to make psychoanalytic thinking more accessible, timely, and practical. Calling it "3.0" signals that this will not be the antiquated psychoanalytic caricature found in many intro textbooks. Nor will it be a defense of psychoanalysis against those caricatures. Rather, Psychoanalysis 3.0 starts with what is clear: the massive cultural changes one finds in politics, gender and sexuality, family structure, organizations, communities, emerging technologies, and globalization (including our exporting mental health problems and treatments). It continues with what is not so clear: how to understand and navigate cultural change. Psychoanalytic thought—no matter what you may think it may be—includes many interesting and useful ways of thinking about the complexity of human behavior and experience, including curiosity about what is not being felt, said, wanted, and acted upon. Psychoanalysis 3.0 is one attempt at sharing those thoughts.