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摘要

If Psychoanalysts were not so well adjusted, they would be gripped by anxiety. Although their brand remains strong-the Freudian couch is as much a cartoonists' staple as the desert island-they are steadily losing ground in the field they pioneered. Numbers of customers and practitioners are down, even at a time of burgeoning demand for the talking cures. To make matters worse, a wave of retirements looms: the 500 members of the Institute of Psychoanalysis have an average age of 65.