# Psychoanalysis and the Future of the Clinic

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6srz94IHxE8
Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/6srz94IHxE8

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## Quick Overview

Psychoanalysis is experiencing a resurgence, driven by a renewed focus on its radical, ethical, and collective roots, challenging its historical whiteness, unaffordability, and individualistic approach to become a liberatory tool accessible to all and deeply engaged with social and political realities.

**Key Points:**
- Psychoanalysis, once declining due to competition from quicker treatments like CBT and issues of whiteness and unaffordability, is now experiencing a moment of experimentation and traction with social movements.
- Hannah Bear's research reveals psychoanalysis has 'occluded spiritual roots' in Judaism, particularly Kabbalah, where concepts of a broken self needing retrieval through dialogue mirror psychoanalytic healing, hidden due to anti-Semitism and assimilation.
- Hannah Evens argues that for psychoanalysis to change, it requires 'true parity for mental health insurance' and a 'return to the social,' moving beyond individual pathology to address broader societal oppressions.
- Lara Shihab-Eldin highlights that in Palestine, clinicians demonstrate an 'ethical commitment to the care and Humanity of All Peoples while under settler Colonial condition,' viewing psychoanalysis as a political movement for 'steadfastness' (samud).
- The 'red clinic' model, which commits practitioners to seeing people for free and redistributing wealth, offers a practical path for making psychoanalysis more accessible and politically aligned.
- Speakers emphasize that psychoanalysis must disrupt its 'purest forms' and 'antiquated way of thinking about space' (e.g., 4-5 times a week in-person) to align with social movements and address current global crises like fascism and climate catastrophe.
- A radical, collectively oriented psychoanalysis involves clinicians working collaboratively and communally, integrating the material reality of oppression into the therapeutic room, and moving beyond individualistic or bureaucratic practice models.

**Context:** This discussion, hosted by Jewish Currents, explores the contemporary resurgence of psychoanalysis, examining its historical Jewish and spiritual roots, its challenges regarding accessibility and systemic oppression, and its potential as a radical, socially engaged clinical practice. Speakers Hannah Bear, Lara Shihab-Eldin, and Hannah Evens delve into how psychoanalysis can evolve beyond its traditional, often individualistic and unaffordable model to become a liberatory tool addressing broader societal issues.

## Detailed Analysis

Psychoanalysis, once declining due to competition from quicker, insurance-friendly treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and internal issues of whiteness and unaffordability, is now experiencing a moment of experimentation and traction with social movements. Hannah Bear's research reveals that psychoanalysis has 'occluded spiritual roots' in Judaism, particularly Kabbalah, where concepts of a broken self needing retrieval through dialogue mirror psychoanalytic healing, a connection hidden due to anti-Semitism and assimilation. Hannah Evens argues that for psychoanalysis to change, it requires 'true parity for mental health insurance' and a 'return to the social,' moving beyond individual pathology to address broader societal oppressions, citing historical free clinics and the 'activist generation' of psychoanalysts. Lara Shihab-Eldin highlights that in Palestine, clinicians demonstrate an 'ethical commitment to the care and Humanity of All Peoples while under settler Colonial condition,' viewing psychoanalysis as a political movement for 'steadfastness' (samud). The discussion emphasizes that psychoanalysis must disrupt its 'purest forms' and 'antiquated way of thinking about space' (e.g., 4-5 times a week in-person) to align with social movements and address current global crises like fascism and climate catastrophe. The 'red clinic' model, which commits practitioners to seeing people for free and redistributing wealth, offers a practical path for making psychoanalysis more accessible and politically aligned. A radical, collectively oriented psychoanalysis involves clinicians working collaboratively and communally, integrating the material reality of oppression into the therapeutic room, and moving beyond atomized individualistic or bureaucratic practice models, recognizing that the world's systems are failing everyone except the very few.

### The Resurgence of Psychoanalysis

- decline due to CBT and internal issues
- renewed interest in radical, accessible forms
- Jewish Currents' role in current discourse

### Occluded Roots and Ethical Practice

- Hannah Bear's findings on Judaism's influence on Freud
- Kabbalistic parallels in self-construction and healing
- ethical implications of clinician as spiritual healer vs. atomized individual

### Psychoanalysis and Social Change

- Hannah Evens on moving beyond individual pathology
- need for true mental health insurance parity
- historical examples of free clinics and the 'activist generation'

### Practice Under Occupation

- Lara Shihab-Eldin's work in Palestine
- ethical commitment to humanity and disrupting settler-colonial reality
- psychoanalysis as a political movement for 'samud' (steadfastness)

### Challenges and Future Directions

- overcoming class stratification and unaffordability
- disrupting 'purest forms' of practice (e.g., frequency, setting)
- integrating militant thought and political commitment

### The Red Clinic Model and Accessibility

- commitment to seeing people for free
- redistribution of wealth
- cooperative mental health models
- addressing the low number of analyzands in the US

### Clinical Implications of the 'Return to the Social'

- integrating material oppression into the therapeutic room
- collaborative and communal clinician work
- moving beyond private practice and medical bureaucracies