TY - JOUR A1 - Eckardt Horney, Marianne T1 - The Impossible Ideal: A Patient‑Oriented Therapy T2 - International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Oslo (Scandinavian University Press) Vol. 11 (No. 1, March 2002), pp. 45-48. N2 - Our profession is being challenged theoretically and by practical realities. Many of its basic premises are being questioned and a hostile managed care bureaucracy has been curtailing treatment opportunities. These challenges force a latent issue into full view: Is psychoanalytic wisdom tied to its dogma and technical rituals or can much of its wisdom be integrated into a more inclusive interdisciplinary perspective? Psychoanalysis has a history of resisting change. It defined too early what was and what was not to be considered psychoanalysis. Dogmatization made idols out of theories and the rituals of techniques. Theories are valuable tools only and not scientific truth. While in-stitutes and official sanctions have lacked in open-mindedness, the unofficial practicing psychoanalyst has been far more creative in adapting psychoanaly-sis to the patient's needs and embracing the freedom to develop his or her idio-syncratic ways, wisdom, and skills. We need to increase our therapeutic reper-toire beyond those that carry the label of psychoanalysis. I present some con-siderations that derive from my experience as a psychoanalytically trained dy-namic psychotherapist. Y1 - 2002 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-Fromm/frontdoor/index/index/docId/8450 ER -