ABSTRACT
The articulation of such questions requires first of all, retracing the history of psychoanalysis from its birth. Today, there is very little agreement on what psychoanalysis is, even among psychoanalysts. This chapter will explore the context in which psychoanalysis emerged in Europe, and then how it later spread to different countries and cultures, and what this meant for its growth, development, and use. This brief retrospective of psychoanalysis will describe a psychoanalytic attitude and examine the core of what psychoanalysis is, and what psychoanalysis is not. Not only will this help to refine the research questions, it will also help to critically reanalyze some issues emerging from cross-cultural studies, for example, indigenization.
