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Dear SPPP/Division 39 Folks,
I've been struggling with what to say to you in response to this historic and horrific week in which the very nature of the world in which we live in is being transformed on a daily basis. I feel an obligation to speak, not because my voice, or even that of our Society, is especially important, but because I believe that each of us needs to do what we can to say "no," if only to counter the feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, anxiety, and despair that many of us feel.
I have been thinking this week of all those under concerted attack by those who now have power, including among our members and among those we serve. In particular, I've been thinking of Trans and other LGBTQ+ folks who face a government attempting to wipe them out of existence. I think of the immigrants terrified of the knock at the door and of the foreign students not sure if they will be able to finish their education. I think of the BIPOC folks and of women, who know that the attack on DEI is an attack on their attempts to become equal participants in US society. I've thought of Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims who have experienced treatment as outsiders who don't belong in a "Christian" America. I've thought of the Jews facing the sight of the richest man in the world, and a major influence on our government, proudly making a Nazi salute on national TV and knowing that when authoritarians come for others, they usually go after Jews as well. And I've thought of the academics and scientists who are being told that they are the among enemy, no longer to be allowed to use their expertise to improve society. And tomorrow I will think of new targets of the wave of hate sweeping through our country while continually thinking of all the children who are in danger of having their future robbed if those in power fail to reverse our climate catastrophe.
And I haven't forgotten those conservatives who have seen their movement abandon the values of rule-of-law, the importance of social order and support for international institutions while seeing it turned into a vehicle of chaos, revenge, and destruction premised on an ever-expanding claim of victimization. While we may not all agree about political ideology, as helping professionals we all believe in the sanctity of all people, including those different than us, and an ethic of helping and understanding.
The new forces taking over our country emphasize the differences among us while seeking to extrude those viewed as different from the social community. Many of those now being extruded have fought long and hard to be included in our society and have only recently achieved some success. We must not let the new authoritarians stop or reverse this tentative progress. Like other authoritarian movements, they seek a homogenous "us" as opposed to the multitude of dangerous "others." They command us to bend our knees, and our minds to whatever the powerful proclaim. This is antithetical to our values as psychoanalysts. Our beloved psychoanalysis is premised on the opposite: love of truth even if it’s painful, celebration of difference even if it’s foreign, and the aspiration to unite these through love.
I'm also thinking of the dangers to our work as psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists from the currents sweeping the country. We know that our therapy requires a degree of calm so that we, patients and therapists, can listen to the quiet whisperings from the unconscious and nurture our introspective capacities. We know that self-understanding helps us and those with whom we work control our destructive tendencies and channel them, imperfectly of course, in constructive directions. What we offer has long been under threat from those emphasizing behavior and conscious cognitions over unconscious mental processes, often in the name of cost savings and efficiency. Now we are witnessing our leaders deliberately unleashing violent impulses to terrorize the population and suppress dissent, the opposite of the introspection, self-knowledge, and constructive engagement we promote.
I know that the psychoanalytic community in general, and our Society in particular, has many tensions, even fissures. I don't want to minimize these differences. They are important and we need to explore and deal with them in the hope of mending or at least reducing the tensions that divide us. I know that in the new environment we are witnessing, divisions among us can reduce our ability to support and help our community and those with whom we work. But as psychoanalysts, we should remember that differences can be a strength if we so choose. I hope that we can constructively work together to protect our values, our professional community, and our patients and others with whom we work. As we do so, we must continue to make sure that the voices and bodies of traditionally marginalized people are at the table as active participants in our work. We need each other. now more than ever. I'm hoping that we can remember that psychoanalysis is committed to truth, constructive cooperation and conflict, and to the victory of love over hate.
Take care,
Stephen Soldz
Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
2025-26 President, Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology, APA Division 39
ssoldz@bgsp.edu
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