In all the shorter papers, panels and poster presentations, the focus was on affect in each of its manifold possible forms. Since so many interesting things were going on simultaneously, I do not wish to single out the ones I was able to attend, but I should like to mention that some of the German analysts met with a friendly and interested response when they introduced themselves and their work. The fact that Chile now has a democratic self-understanding, which affords an excellent soil for the growth of psychoanalysis, was revealed, in particular, by a number of observations. For example, President Eduardo Frei devoted part of his address of welcome to a detailed account of Chile s history, looking back critically and at the same time expressing hope for the future. He not only paid tribute to the two prominent psychoanalysts of Chilean origin, Ignacio Matte-Blanco and Otto Kernberg, but also saw the psychoanalytic community as playing an important part in facilitating the assimilation both of individual suffering and of adverse social conditions.
Psychoanalysis appears to meet with great interest among Chile s student population.
The address by the President of the IPA, Otto Kernberg, turned into a passionate plea in favour of the international psychoanalytic movement s claim to contemporary society to take up a scientifically based position on fundamental social questions. Despite battling against a head wind , our hosts, the Chilean Psychoanalytical Association, excelled themselves with their outstanding organization and generous hospitality.