Second SCIPA Intra-Regional Meeting for Europe

Second SCIPA Intra-Regional Meeting for Europe
Confirmed

The IPA Scientific Committee (SCIPA)


Second SCIPA Intra-regional Meeting for Europe 


Sunday 28th June 2026 from 2.30 to 4.30 pm (London time) 

What makes a psychoanalytic paper scientific? 


A psychoanalytic scientific paper could be defined as a scholarly publication which explores theories, clinical applications, and/or research-based empirical evidence of psychoanalysis. However, as Ogden emphasised, analytic writing “constitutes a literary genre of its own. It involves the linking of an analytic idea - developed in a scholarly manner - with an analytic experience created in the medium of language. What makes this literary genre so demanding is that experience - including analytic experience - does not come to us in words.” (Ogden, 2005). 

So, writing a psychoanalytic scientific paper requires a careful balance between empirical conceptual grounding and subjective clinical experience. The challenge for analysts is the translation of emotional realities of treatment into formal prose. Broadly speaking, a scientific paper could fit into one of four core formats: 1) clinical case study, 2) conceptual/theoretical paper, 3) empirical/quantitative study, or 4) interdisciplinary studies. To summarise these: 

Clinical Case Studies are detailed, anonymised narratives of individual patients, and explore particular therapeutic encounters and their trajectories of change. Consequently, the papers illustrate how specific psychoanalytic techniques are applied, or they propose new clinical and theoretical frameworks based on therapeutic discoveries and/or outcomes. Conceptual and theoretical papers are philosophical or theoretical discussions which analyse, expand, synthesise, or critique classical and contemporary paradigms, and offer new psychoanalytic perspectives on mental functioning. Empirical research concerns quantitative or qualitative studies which test psychoanalytic concepts. They may use statistical data and interviews and combine qualitative narratives with quantitative data or standardised outcome tools. Interdisciplinary studies are papers which bridge psychoanalysis with other scientific and/or humanistic fields. 

All psychoanalytic scientific papers should be structured to capture both the science and the art of the psychoanalytic process. Other challenges and tasks await writers. Authors have to choose their format, decide on their methodology, shape the relevant discussion and conclusions, and follow standard scientific structures as required by the journals or books, in which they seek to publish their papers. Of course, in all this, they need to take into account ethical considerations in relation to their papers. Furthermore, as Leuzinger-Bohleber highlighted, psychoanalysis is a science of the Unconscious?and has "its own criteria of quality and truth which it has to represent with transparency and self-confidence in scientific dialogue, in order, as any science, to be criticized from outside". 

References 
Ogden, T (2005). On psychoanalytic writing. IJP. Vol. 86 (Pt 1):15-29. 
Leuzinger-Bohleber, M. (2010). Psychoanalysis as a science?of the unconscious. Paper given at the IPA Centenary?Conference). 

The IPA Scientific Committee (SCIPA)
In this panel, four psychoanalysts, each with a substantial and rich experience of clinical and writing work, present their brief thoughts on what makes a psychoanalytic paper scientific. Following this, members of the audience will be invited to engage in a dialogue with the presenters and amongst themselves.  

Members of the panel 

 

Neal Vorus – Editor-in-Chief, Psychoanalytic Quarterly 

 

Pushpa Misra – Author, ‘The Scientific Validity of Psychoanalysis’ 

       

David Holub - Past Editor-in-Chief/Co-founder - Review of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Journal (Czech) 



Steven Groarke - Author and Editorial Board Member – International Journal of Psychoanalysis  



Kannan Navaratnem - Panel Chair and Co-Chair (Europe) – IPA Scientific Committee  

REGISTRATION


This event is open to all IPA Members and Candidates.

To receive the Zoom link, please PRE-REGISTER at this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/H8qgk2RsQm-0v3UJFsH58w
When
28/06/2026
Where
ONLINE VIA ZOOM