Conclusion to special issue on psychoanalysis, trauma and community: Psychoanalysts out of the office

The present special issue highlights the individual contributions, innovative research and therapeutic interventions outside the office of two generations of psychoanalysts. Taking testimony; interviewing; documentary film-making; social activism; and direct clinical interventions in communities suffering disaster and chronic social trauma: these are among the varied kinds of innovative work presented by the contributing authors. A main theme emerging from the articles has to do with the challenges analysts need to be prepared for in extending interventions beyond the office. Flexibility and willingness to modify technique, in conjunction with faithfulness to the core psychoanalytic concepts of the unconscious, transference and countertransference, are key to non-traditional clinical work.