The role of the psychoanalyst in community mental health.

The orthodox psychoanalyst is needed in community mental health work. He brings a viewpoint different than, yet related to other professionals concerned with mental functioning and behavior. Attempts to provide better health for an entire population obscure intrapsychic dynamics. The emphasis shifts to interpersonal, or more broadly speaking, environmental factors. Psychoanalytic training affords an important balance; the analytic role makes one most aware of the unconscious as an ever-persistent force, contributing to perception of reality, thinking, and behavior.