Gerry Moore - Come out from behind the Couch(s)
 
This paper poses questions and possible directions about the future of psychoanalysis in the twenty-first century Ireland. It explores psychoanalysis in a place that has hitched a ride into consumerism and globalisation, exemplified in the reduction of its cultural contribution to a repetition, a River dance.  What relevance has the practice of psychoanalysis in Ireland? A practice which is more akin to the ancient form of individual Irish dance, Sean-nós, than its popular offspring, the manualised synchronised hypnotic performance of Master discourses on what constitutes therapy. This paper explores the past with an eye on the present in its consideration of psychoanalysts making their work accessible and understandable, to ensure psychoanalysis is not consigned to the margins by regulation and lack of engagement with the discourses of science, the law and the hysteric. Psychoanalysis is sufficiently plastic to infiltrate and influence the health of the nation, this could be part of our overt work if we came out from behind the couch(s). 
 
Keywords: Psychoanalysis; psychotherapy; capitalism; state regulation