The Contemporary Psychoanalysis Group

Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Action (CPIA) is a blog under the auspices of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, the official journal of the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis & Psychology (WAWI) in New York City, and published in partnership with The William Alanson White Psychoanalytic Society. WAWI was founded in 1943 as a revolutionary alternative to mainstream, orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis in the United States. Its founders included Harry Stack Sullivan, M.D., Erich Fromm, Ph.D., Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, M.D. and Clara Thompson, M.D.

WAWI is best known for the “interpersonal” perspective, a view of psychoanalysis that focuses on the interactions between people, that is, how people influence and react to one another. This approach also considers the impact of the larger world—social, cultural, political, economic—on the individual, and whatever difficulties in living he or she may encounter.

CPIA is an opportunity for WAWI psychoanalysts and psychoanalysts-in-training, as well as professionals from the larger psychoanalytic community, to share their thoughts about contemporary life. Our beat is broad: the latest in scholarly research, social issues, political controversies, pop culture, and current events. With their unique psychoanalytic mindset, our writers keep their eyes out for topics to explore, topics that inform readers with a fresh, accessible, and thoughtfully psychoanalytic angle.