ABSTRACT
The working parties (WPs) originated in the European psychoanalytical federation in 2001 as a way to promote an investigative spirit into the fundamentals of our profession, in which all psychoanalysts could take an active part. From the presenter’s perspective, the group’s associations are placed on a similar ‘couch’, behind which he or she becomes freer to look at the countertransference. In this way, the analytic session is ‘copied’ into the group for further psychoanalytic investigation. These processes of interanalytic peer group work form the background to which other complementary procedures were added as the WPs developed. Institutional support has been essential in supporting the WPs through funding, space in conference programs, and, most important, the imprimatur of the host organisation. The WPs valorise and revitalise the traditional single case study method of psychoanalysis through what Marianne Leuzinger-Bohleber has called ‘expert validation’.
