Professional work in the fields of psychoanalysis as well as psychoanalysis and education is based on the fundamental assumption of a dynamic unconscious in the human being (Freud 1915), so that the subject carries diverse, even contradictory parts within itself. The subject is a divided one, in this sense diversity is internal to the subject.

The planned contribution deals with the significance of theories on internal diversity of the subject and other psychoanalytic theories for practice in the field of psychoanalysis as well as psychoanalysis and education from the perspective of persons who are professionally occupied in these fields.

Even if the reference to scientific theories can sometimes grant professionals a certain degree of security, relevant publications from a psychoanalytical perspective (Zwiebel, 2013; Datler, 2016) and in accordance with literature on pedagogical professionalism (Helsper, Hörster & Kade, 2003; Rottländer & Roters, 2008) point to the conviction that it would be illusory to think that the orientation to theories or concepts could lead to the fundamental elimination of the moment of uncertainty in processes of psychosocial practice. Based on brief reflections on the theory-practice debate, the special nature of psychoanalytic theories is discussed as they take into account moments of complexity and instability or dynamics of psychosocial processes and help professionals to understand that and why the experience of uncertainty in various situations is unavoidable in different intensities and colours.

In my planned contribution, results from an ongoing research project TheoPrax of the Research Unit Psychoanalysis and Education at the University of Vienna will be presented. Within the research project, persons working in different educational and psychotherapeutic fields were interviewed with the help of a specific interview instrument. In the course of these interviews, professionals were asked to give self-selected examples of the ways in which they are guided by theories or concepts in their daily practice. In the course of the evaluation of these interviews, (a) we identify which theories or concepts are mentioned, and (b) using a rating system, we determine with what precision the interviewed persons are able to explain the practice-guiding significance of the theory or concepts they have mentioned (Strobl & Datler, 2020, p. 210).

In the context of the conference topic, of particular interest are those interviews that were conducted with people who, in their practical work, are guided by theories and concepts that assume a divided subject.

The following research question will be addressed:

With what precision the interviewees who mention psychoanalytic theories and concepts are able to explain their practice-guiding significance, by example of their daily practice?

The study uses the specially developed "Vienna Interview to Identify the Mental Representation of Theories Guiding Practice". In the first part of the interview, professionals are asked to name a theory or concept that has practice-guiding significance for the interviewee and to describe this theory in its main features or core statements. Subsequently, the interviewees are asked to explain, with reference to a self-selected work situation, in which respect this theory or concept was helpful for their understanding, decision-making or further action in the situation described. In a rating procedure developed on the basis of the scaling structuring of qualitative content analysis, the quality of the explanations is rated with regard to five dimensions in the research team (Datler & Strobl, 2021, p. 91): 1. naming of a scientific theory or a scientific concept 2. quality of the presentation of the theory/concept 3. presentation of a concrete practical situation 4. establishing a link between the theory/concept and the practical situation 5. description of the significance of the theory/concept for practice. If a scientific theory or concept is named, points between 0 and 4 are given for the rated quality of the explanations with regard to dimensions 2 to 5. The evaluation of the data material was carried out in conjunction with four raters after the survey of interrater reliability as well as in phases of communicative validation with the Centre for Continuing Education of the KPH Vienna/Krems under the direction of Tamara Katschnig. The rating team achieved a satisfactory Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.926 (Katschnig & Geppert, 2017, p. 5). In the pilot and implementation phase of the research project, approximately 300 interviews have already been conducted with people working in different educational and related fields. For the planned contribution, about 80 interviews will be used in which psychoanalytical theories and concepts (e.g. the concept of the unconscious) are mentioned which, from the interviewees' point of view, have a practice-guiding significance for their work.

1. It is evident that the entire group of participants struggles (more or less) to explicate the practice-guiding significance of the theory or concepts they have mentioned in a easily comprehensible way. Here, a necessity for a more precise differentiation between different abilities becomes clear: It can be stated that the interviewees can only give information about the reference of their practice to theories or concepts… (a) if they refer to theories or concepts at least in some work situations, (b) if they have a mental representation of which theories or concepts are important in which practice situations, and (c) if they are able to express it verbally in such a way that it can be understood by others. 2. However, there are differences between the participants in the study: The comparison of different professional groups in the study shows that those interviewees who mention psychoanalytical theories and concepts in the interview perform better on average in the rating than other interviewees. This is interesting as psychoanalytic theories and concepts do not offer concrete instructions for action, but rather require complex transfer processes to link theory and practice, dealing with the uncertainties that are inherent in psychosocial practice and addressing the internal diversity of a subject. The fact that people who have completed psychoanalytic training or further training are able to make such connections at a relatively high level in the interview using an example from their daily practice is associated with the fact that psychoanalytic training and further training are characterised by certain structures: There are indications that psychoanalytic training programmes work comparatively intensively towards such links (theory - training analysis - supervision). Concluding considerations are given to the design and modification of psychosocial training programmes especially with regard to the development of the abilities described above.

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