The Prague Psychoanalytic Study Group 1933-1938: Frances Deri, Annie Reich, Theodor Dosužkov, and Heinrich Löwenfeld, and their contributions to psychoanalysis.

Evidently Working Parties are not exclusively research projects. There is, firstly, the experience of the participants and, secondly, the ongoing project. As David Tuckett put it: “Taking part is so incredibly useful when you get back home to your analyst’s chair!” Regarding the research aspect Working Parties differ in aim and methodology. One cannot say that one method is inherently superior to any other. But every Working Party should make propositions and give reasons and evidence for them. Then the propositions should be made available to the psychoanalytic community by means of public presentations and papers. Public debating and discussing of findings are essential although they seem to be relatively new for psychoanalysis. The final discussion with the floor mainly centred on the question of whether candidates could or should be included in the activity of the Working Parties. Unanimously all the discussants confirmed their encouraging experience with actively participating candidates. Candidates seemed to be especially sensitive to the potential of new developments inherent in the Working Parties. Working Parties offer a challenging opportunity for participating in genuinely psychoanalytic research and developing new perspectives and frames of thought in psychoanalysis. This panel convincingly demonstrated that there is still enough space in psychoanalysis to look for new horizons. Working Parties play a major role and are a powerful driving force in developing and revitalizing psychoanalysis.