Wie heilig sind uns psychoanalytische Konzepte?

Our concepts are those linguistic tools which we use in clinical practice as well as among colleagues and in scientific communication. For a multitude of reasons the meaning and usage of concepts are subject to a continuous historically and scientifically based transition. However, occasionally a reverse trend can be observed: the meaning of concepts should be codified and are therefore quasi pronounced 'holy'. In this article a plea is made not to regard concepts as 'holy' but as adaptable and modifiable. However, this means preserving some of these characteristics of our concepts with the result that our concepts relate to a specific object, the human psyche, and that our concepts must stand the test of clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]