ABSTRACT
Psychoanalytic treatment typically occurs in private settings. This chapter is intended as an invitation to think about psychoanalytic practice and the clinical therapeutic professions in the context of public policy. It argues that the analytic profession can benefit by deepening its interest in the set of problems that undergird healthcare reform in the United States. The chapter suggests that parties in conflict stand the best chance of creating options when they engage attitudes and actions that may not come naturally in the heat of difference. The etymology of the word conflict is strikingly psychoanalytic, in the sense that it speaks to more than one reality at a time. Without new influence and innovation, psychoanalysts' profession is at risk in the unfolding healthcare policy environment, which is likely to continue to include the turn to population-based health and value-based care. Population-based healthcare requires algorithms that are able to search vast quantities of data in search of meaningful patterns.
