THE ASIAN CONFERENCE AND THE IPA’s CENTENARY CELEBRATION
One hundred years after its foundation, the IPA continues to encourage the spread of psychoanalysis throughout the world, enriching its Members’ experiences and encouraging scientific exchanges across cultures.
One of the more fascinating aspects of this development has been the spread of psychoanalysis into areas where until a few years ago to talk about our discipline would have seemed almost science fiction.
Despite the ever-accelerating progression of psychoanalysis across the globe, the question has remained: would China, with its highly distinctive and ancient culture, be open and receptive to psychoanalysis, given the major socio-cultural changes of the last decades?
Today we know that the answer is yes.
Thanks to influential and prominent Chinese scientists committed to the development of psychoanalysis in their country, and thanks also to the enthusiasm of many psychoanalysts across the world passionately interested in the transmission of psychoanalysis, change has indeed begun.
This important meeting not only extends and places previous informal dialogues on an official footing, it also represents a historic turning-point in the long adventure of psychoanalysis. For psychoanalysts all over the world it is particularly moving that this event is occurring as we celebrate the centenary of the IPA. This confirms the soundness and usefulness of our science, which has never been simply a local cultural phenomenon, nor one influenced by fashionable trends.
The study of the unconscious and its application to the in-depth treatment of psychic disorders concerns humanity as a whole, without exception. The international psychoanalytic community has therefore reason to celebrate in 2010 a century of psychoanalysis and the beginning of a great innovative movement: psychoanalysis in China.
Being present at this meeting means taking part in one of the major transformative events of the 21st century.
Stefano Bolognini