The Beginning

For at least fifteen years, the desire for formal psychoanalytic training has been a quiet, persistent hum beneath the surface of my academic and clinical life. It was a goal that felt both profoundly necessary and, for a long time, geographically out of reach while I was in South Korea. Yet, through a journey I can only describe as a dialogue between the conscious and unconscious, I find myself here, at the beginning of my candidacy in Adult Psychoanalysis at Columbia. The feeling is not one of fleeting excitement, but something more solid and firm — the deep satisfaction of arriving at a place you have long been traveling toward.

This website, and this first post, marks the beginning of an attempt to chronicle that journey of inquiry in real time.

The foundation of this new chapter is, fittingly, an immersion into the ‘Psychoanalytic Core Concepts.’ It is a return to the source, a re-examination of the principles that underpin a discipline that has evolved dramatically over more than a century. While Sigmund Freud is its unequivocal founder, modern psychoanalysis is not a monolith; it is a rich, multifaceted tradition shaped by countless thinkers across the globe.

What binds these diverse schools of thought, however, is a set of foundational principles that feel as relevant today as ever. My early reflections keep circling back to these core tenets: the understanding that we are all motivated by wishes and fantasies that lie partially outside our awareness; that bringing these motivations into the light expands our very freedom to choose; and that the therapeutic relationship itself becomes a crucial vessel for change, a space to explore the very patterns that keep us stuck.

One of the most compelling aspects of contemporary psychoanalysis, particularly in the United States, is its departure from the rigid orthodoxy of its past. It is crucial not to equate Freud’s personal ideas — written in a specific cultural moment, some of which were flawed from the start — with the validity of the entire psychoanalytic project today. The influx of psychologists into what was once a medically dominated field has infused American psychoanalysis with a renewed emphasis on critical thinking, empirical research, and an appreciation for the mutuality of the therapeutic relationship.

This evolution also brings to light a fascinating paradox within the history of psychoanalysis: the tension between its revolutionary origins and its later reputation as a conservative, elitist establishment. The early analysts were often progressive, even subversive thinkers, critical of societal repression and dedicated to social justice. Freud himself advocated for free clinics and treatment for all, seeing psychoanalysis not just as medicine, but as a tool for cultural critique. It is this spirit of critical, compassionate inquiry — a spirit that challenges assumptions rather than reinforcing them — that I hope to connect with in my own work.

This is just the beginning. My desk is already covered with the foundational papers of different analysts who mainly worked with children/adolescents or adults, and I look forward to sharing my thoughts on their profound contributions in the coming weeks.

Thank you for joining me on the first step of this inquiry. I look forward to the conversation.