Peasant in the Analyst's Chair: Reflections, Personal and Otherwise, on Class and the Forming of an Analytic Identity

The Phenomenology and Dynamics of Wealth Shame: Between Moral Responsibility and Moral Masochism

“…Acknowledging and discussing the shame and guilt that may accompany wealth and upward mobility risks shattering another aspect of the dream: that upward mobility is a conflict-free, albeit hard, journey with an invariably happy ending. The clinical observations I will present suggest the contrary and seem to echo clinical reports by others (Corpt 2013; Holmes 2006; Josephs 2004; Layton 2014; Ryan 2006). Layton (2006) has proposed that “the psychic cost of class mobility might be chronic low-grade depression or manic denial of need” (p. 63).…”

“…My experience echoed those described in many works “on the psychic demands of social mobility, and the resulting senses of displacement, mixed identities and lack of confidence” of lower-class individuals when they find themselves in “middle-class milieux” (Ryan 2006, p. 60). Middle-class mores and values are considered the norm in most societies, causing feelings of inferiority in those not born into that class (Corpt 2013; Ryan 2006; Whitson 1996). My medical education and professional career as a child and adult psychiatrist and, later, as a psychoanalyst led to my upward mobility.…”

Psychotherapy for the people: Toward a progressive psychoanalysis

“…Or can we? Some of us might be able to do so; however, as I have addressed elsewhere (Corpt, 2013), vulnerabilities with regard to classism are alive and well. As the social class of analysts and analysts-in-training broadens, the social class divide in America deepens, and the economic survival of analytic practitioners, those without deep pockets, comes into question.…”

‘You were not born here, so you are classless, you are free!’ Social class and cultural complex in analysis

“…Her research has shown that trainees from a lower class background often find it difficult to openly address their class‐related concerns and awareness within their institutes or even personal analyses. ‘Class‐related anxieties are made up of the deepest, most shame sensitive vulnerabilities regarding belonging, wanting, and worries about being found wanting’, she writes (Corpt , p. 8). She refers to the American sociologists, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb (1972) and their notion of the ‘hidden injuries of class’.…”

“…I am grateful to Andrew Samuels for drawing my attention to the paper by the American psychoanalyst Elizabeth Corpt (): ‘Peasant in the analyst's chair’. The author explores the impact of her own lower class family background of Polish emigrants on the development of her analytic identity and gives examples of colleagues and patients who like her secretly felt ashamed of their social backgrounds.…”