Our article discussion this month concludes a brief exploration of “how psychoanalysis works” and why it matters for understanding organizations. Our reading selection this month is – Strachey, J. (1969). The nature of the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 50, 275-292.

Excerpt: “If we could arrive at a more detailed understanding of the workings of the therapeutic process we should be less prone to those occasional feelings of utter disorientation which few analysts are fortunate enough to escape; and the analytic movement itself might be less at the mercy of proposals for abrupt alterations in the ordinary technical procedure-proposals which derive much of their strength from the prevailing uncertainty as to the exact nature of the analytic therapy. My present paper is a tentative attack upon this problem; and even though it should turn out that its very doubtful conclusions cannot be maintained, I shall be satisfied if I have drawn attention to the urgency of the problem itself.”