The International Journal of Int J Psychoanal (2014) 95:367–368
doi: 10.1111/1745-8315.12215
Letter to the Editor On: Reply to Joseph Schachter’s comments1
Dear Editors, I should like to thank Joseph Schachter very much for his interesting comments on my letter to the Editors on: ‘At what age should a psychoanalyst retire?’ (IJP 94:793–7, 2013). Schachter has emphasized a number of important points. He is in favour, for instance, of the idea that psychoanalytic societies should propose that elderly psychoanalysts participate in a clinical seminar of intervision in which they would have exchanges with psychoanalysts of different age groups. To this, Schachter adds an original proposal which takes account of the fact that, for some psychoanalysts, especially those who have always practised psychoanalysis privately, retirement poses financial problems and so it is important for them to continue to earn a living. Few of them venture to speak about this. Schachter puts forward a new suggestion that would allow elderly psychoanalysts to remain members of their society if they are willing to take part in a seminar of intervision: “. . .to offer them exemption from all society/institute dues if they participated in the intervision”. Schachter’s suggestion highlights a point of view that I would like to develop. I think that it is important to say that in a psychoanalytic society we appreciate the presence of elderly members who are conscious of their age, recognize their new limits, and are keen to transmit their long experience. They have a specific role to play alongside their colleagues and it would be a pity if the society were deprived of it. This perspective can change the view that younger colleagues have of their elderly colleagues, but also the view that these elderly colleagues have of themselves. Feeling useful while being oneself with the age one has, conscious of one’s losses as well as one’s gains, not only helps one to avoid feeling unwanted but also to avoid the risk of clinging to former ages and qualities that one no longer has. This would perhaps help us to view retirement differently, our own as well as that of our colleagues. What, then, is the specific contribution that elderly analysts can make? If we are conscious of the proximity of the end of our lives, without denying it, we are led to ask ourselves questions related to the finitude and meaning of our existence. This often involves the wish to reconstruct our inner history by integrating our past experiences in order to find a sense of coherence in it all. Our scale of values is often modified in the process: certain past experiences, pleasant or painful, that were once of central importance, now seem secondary, whereas other, apparently trivial ones, now seem to us to have been emotionally rich experiences, and in fact we realize that 1
Translated by Andrew Weller.
Copyright © 2014 Institute of Psychoanalysis
368
Letter to the Editor
beneath the surface they have influenced the entire course of our lives. It thus becomes easier to identify, both in our past history and in our present lives, these moments of intense emotional value (whether pleasant or painful) which escape measurable chronological time without denying it – moments I call “seconds of eternity”. By the same token, we can be increasingly sensitive to the mystery of each person and, in particular, of ourselves: we will never fully understand ourselves or the other. Naturally, these discoveries are also accessible to younger colleagues but they acquire even more value as we advance in age. How can we give up a place if we do not have one? How can we leave life peacefully without having the feeling that we have lived a life, our own? Younger analysts need the older ones to make them attentive to the need to suspend sometimes the whirlwind of their lives in order to grasp the ‘seconds of eternity’. That is also part of the transmission of psychoanalysis. Danielle Quinodoz 53A Chemin des Fourches, 1223 Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected]
Int J Psychoanal (2014) 95
Copyright © 2014 Institute of Psychoanalysis
doi: 10.1111/1745-8315.12215
Letter to the Editor On: Reply to Joseph Schachter’s comments1
Dear Editors, I should like to thank Joseph Schachter very much for his interesting comments on my letter to the Editors on: ‘At what age should a psychoanalyst retire?’ (IJP 94:793–7, 2013). Schachter has emphasized a number of important points. He is in favour, for instance, of the idea that psychoanalytic societies should propose that elderly psychoanalysts participate in a clinical seminar of intervision in which they would have exchanges with psychoanalysts of different age groups. To this, Schachter adds an original proposal which takes account of the fact that, for some psychoanalysts, especially those who have always practised psychoanalysis privately, retirement poses financial problems and so it is important for them to continue to earn a living. Few of them venture to speak about this. Schachter puts forward a new suggestion that would allow elderly psychoanalysts to remain members of their society if they are willing to take part in a seminar of intervision: “. . .to offer them exemption from all society/institute dues if they participated in the intervision”. Schachter’s suggestion highlights a point of view that I would like to develop. I think that it is important to say that in a psychoanalytic society we appreciate the presence of elderly members who are conscious of their age, recognize their new limits, and are keen to transmit their long experience. They have a specific role to play alongside their colleagues and it would be a pity if the society were deprived of it. This perspective can change the view that younger colleagues have of their elderly colleagues, but also the view that these elderly colleagues have of themselves. Feeling useful while being oneself with the age one has, conscious of one’s losses as well as one’s gains, not only helps one to avoid feeling unwanted but also to avoid the risk of clinging to former ages and qualities that one no longer has. This would perhaps help us to view retirement differently, our own as well as that of our colleagues. What, then, is the specific contribution that elderly analysts can make? If we are conscious of the proximity of the end of our lives, without denying it, we are led to ask ourselves questions related to the finitude and meaning of our existence. This often involves the wish to reconstruct our inner history by integrating our past experiences in order to find a sense of coherence in it all. Our scale of values is often modified in the process: certain past experiences, pleasant or painful, that were once of central importance, now seem secondary, whereas other, apparently trivial ones, now seem to us to have been emotionally rich experiences, and in fact we realize that 1
Translated by Andrew Weller.
Copyright © 2014 Institute of Psychoanalysis
368
Letter to the Editor
beneath the surface they have influenced the entire course of our lives. It thus becomes easier to identify, both in our past history and in our present lives, these moments of intense emotional value (whether pleasant or painful) which escape measurable chronological time without denying it – moments I call “seconds of eternity”. By the same token, we can be increasingly sensitive to the mystery of each person and, in particular, of ourselves: we will never fully understand ourselves or the other. Naturally, these discoveries are also accessible to younger colleagues but they acquire even more value as we advance in age. How can we give up a place if we do not have one? How can we leave life peacefully without having the feeling that we have lived a life, our own? Younger analysts need the older ones to make them attentive to the need to suspend sometimes the whirlwind of their lives in order to grasp the ‘seconds of eternity’. That is also part of the transmission of psychoanalysis. Danielle Quinodoz 53A Chemin des Fourches, 1223 Cologny, Geneva, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected]
Int J Psychoanal (2014) 95
Copyright © 2014 Institute of Psychoanalysis
