party .. . then inevitably psychoanalysts may be exposing themselves to viable breach of confidence claims if they do disclose any information generated in the course of the treatment process, even on an anonymised basis" (Proops, 2017, pp. 15-16). One practical suggestion relating to confidentiality of clinical presentations would be to encourage authors presenting clinical material in scientific presentations or publishing clinical material to make a statement of the kind illustrated by the imaginary examples above (see 3.1). This might be thought of as analogous to the disclosure of conflicts of interest that has become mandatory in medical reporting. The purpose would be twofold: on the one hand, such statements might motivate their authors to make a more thorough assessment of the balance between confidentiality and scientific sharing, and, on the other hand, they might provide patients who find out that their confidentiality has been breached with an explanation of the reason and a possible occasion for further analytic work. Since internet search by author's name is the easiest and most common access patients and others have to publications which may contain private information, one way to protect confidentiality is to publish or present anonymously or with a pseudonym. An example of the community-of-concern approach would be to encourage consultation with one or more colleagues before including any material in a presentation. 3.3 At the institutional level: teaching Not all institutes currently include in-depth discussions of confidentiality issues in training. The importance of confidentiality in psychoanalytic treatment requires that candidates be made aware of this issue early in their training, by identifying it as a key point in our practice. The following proposals could help to place confidentiality as a central aspect in psychoanalysis from the first steps of the training: ● Include a seminar about confidentiality as part of the training which would have the following goals: (a) to make candidates aware of this issue early in their training; (b) to keep the issue alive in our minds whenever we talk about analysands; (c) to promote the presentation and discussion of clinical material in which the protection of confidentiality would be challenging; (d) to facilitate discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of different ways in which confidentiality might be protected in the sharing of clinical material (disguise, informed consent from a psychoanalytic point of view, amalgamated case material, multiple or anonymous authorship, etc.); (e) to facilitate discussion of the local legal and professional regulatory environment with scenarios about how to proceed when there is or could be a conflict with psychoanalytic confidentiality. ● Make the protection of confidentiality an issue of regular and collective concern each time members or candidates present clinical material in society meetings, seminars, working groups, supervisions, etc. Analysts’ personal analyses will remain
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