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now a Cincinnati psychiatrist and Freudian, pursued the question
by wondering how an analyst in a totalitarian society can possibly
analyze his patient's problems with authority while this same author–
ity is looking over his own shoulder. After a few lively exchanges
among the Hungarians, who talked of the personal ways in which
anxiety and reality are experienced in the social and political realm,
Helen Meyers observed that, basically, there are three levels of
responses to fears . The first level is exemplified by the therapists in
the Goring Institute who claimed to do analysis but did not - in
direct reaction to their fear. On the second level , the fear is more
subtle and is bound to influence the conduct of the analysis , what
things you deal with, the way you analyze and approach them. On
the third level, some things, such as a patient's wish to leave the
country, might seem natural due to a shared value system, and this
would provide an even subtler reason for keeping it out of the
analysis.
The Hungarian visitors answered many questions about their
own links to their country's history, to literary and cultural events .
Then Otto Kernberg, of the Columbia Center and the foremost pro–
ponent of object-relations theory, wanted to know whether our visi–
tors were in touch with the ideas of, for instance, the American Mar–
garet Mahler and the Parisian analyst Bela Grunberger - who took
seriously Ferenczi's concepts about the importance of the womb and
of narcissism - rather than only with those of Michael Balint of Lon–
don, whom they had mentioned . Judith Szekacs responded that, in
essence, she and her colleagues focus on continuity of identity rather
than narcissism, at least for the moment - to better understand in–
ternal conflict. Although Grunberger was in Hungary and talked
about narcissism, said Hidas, he is not considered as close as Robert
Bak and Balint are to the Hungarian School of Psychoanalysis .
More questions followed about the psychoanalysts' relations to the
medical profession, their insertion in hospitals and residency pro–
grams where they work with biologically disturbed patients , and the
connections to the bureaucracy. "Most of our work is in hospitals ,"
stated Ivan Lust, "so we normally start with official support ." The
last questions during this session had to do with the low rates of
analysts' fees, and their location in the social , professional and
political realms .
During the afternoon, when Helen Meyers chaired and the
Americans led the dialogue, the focus was on psychoanalytic issues
alone . The night before the meeting, Meyers had presented the
