A classic revisited: clinical and theoretical reflections on Stone's Widening scope of indications for psychoanalysis

Leo Stone's "The Widening Scope of Indications for Psychoanalysis" has had a major influence on the way almost two generations of American psychoanalysts have been taught to think about and practice psychoanalysis. Contemporary elaborations and extensions of the ideas contained in Stone's paper have, however, been used to move us steadily toward a shift in the treatment paradigm that underlies the way psychoanalysis is currently being conducted. This contemporary tendency to enlarge the scope of the mode of action of psychoanalysis, in order to accommodate the wider range of patients being treated today, blurs those aspects of psychoanalytic technique that distinguish the unique psychoanalytic perspective from the more general psychotherapeutic perspective. Several ideas contained in Stone's paper are considered as a basis for clarifying this distinction and the technical implications deriving from it. Two clinical vignettes are presented to illustrate these issues.