ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the related issue of relevance. Elitism gave way to insularity and then to a sense of irrelevance, as the formal presence of psychoanalytic thinking has been all but drained from universities and public settings where mental health services are provided. Recognizing the potential value of psychodynamically oriented supervision or consultation for public sector settings requires an appreciation of the present nature of the mental health system and the conditions under which clinicians in that system work. Psychoanalytic theory was being taught and given credence in undergraduate programs, its principles and orientation to clinical work were being provided through seminars, grand rounds presentations, and supervisions in a variety of public sector settings. Business and clinical orientations can clash at times, and most clinicians do not enter practice with business-oriented objectives. It is to the clinicians that a psychodynamic approach to supervision and consultation can be of great benefit and for whom psychoanalytic principles are remarkably relevant.
