Psychoanalysis and political economy

Abstract The authors examine the influence that psychoanalysts’ economic situation has on the current state of psychoanalysis, particularly focusing on the situation in Germany and employing a perspective afforded by Marxian commodity analysis. Their analysis brings them to conclude that, in psychoanalysis, the suspension of truth value, the tolerance shown towards contradictory concepts, the lack of conceptual criticism, and the exclusion of sociocritical issues seem to be effects of psychoanalysts’ interest in realizing the exchange value of their psychoanalytic treatment and their accompanying lesser interest towards its use value.