ABSTRACT

The point of mentioning Adolf Grunbaum's effect on the field is to establish context for a series of events that took place in the spring of 2015, when the often-embattled field of psychoanalysis again fell under attack, this time from a different group of doubters. An emphasis on "hard science" was beginning to catch up with the lead psychoanalysis had earlier established through the better part of the 20th century. Particularly encouraging studies that address the twin needs for empirical research to employ manualized treatment approaches applied to like-diagnosed patients are presently underway, conducted by teams led by Otto Kernberg and Peter Fonagy. The power of the wish to know can be likened to a magic trick or sleight of hand, whereby attention is drawn to one stimulus and, hence, away from another – namely, the trick that's presently underway.