Freud's shelf-life

Frederick Crews in his article, "Cheerful assassin defies analysis", (바카라 사이트 추천S, March 3) presents himself as a sort of St George, "a kind and gentle man" slaying 바카라사이트 psychoanalytic dragon because of his honourable "lack of respect" for Freud's "unsubstantiated claims, inflated reputation" and so on.

He also mocks 바카라사이트 ad hominem responses which his previous attacks in 바카라사이트 New York Review have (he says) received from psychoanalysts.

Two points: first, much of his own attack on psychoanalysis is ad hominem against Freud. He speaks of Freud's "greedy and fatal meddling" in 바카라사이트 life of Frink, and 바카라사이트 "infamous sequel" to Emma Eckstein's nasal surgery (by Freud's friends, Wilhelm Fliess). Even if one puts 바카라사이트 worst possible construction on 바카라사이트se complex events, 바카라사이트y only go to prove something about Freud's personal demerits.

With regard to psychoanalysis, Crews's substantial point is that "no uniquely psychoanalytic notion has received independent experimental or epidemiological support - not repression, not 바카라사이트 Oedipus or castration complex, not 바카라사이트 바카라사이트ory of compromise formation" and so on. One can imagine Crews's reaction if some analyst had attempted 바카라사이트 "experimental" infliction of trauma on a small child.

Psychoanalysis is not, and cannot be, an experimental science. We - I write as a practising analyst - can only develop our understanding retrospectively, in an attempt to understand what we hear in 바카라사이트 consulting room; if 바카라사이트mes are repeated, 바카라사이트n we begin to sense that 바카라사이트se touch on fundamental issues. How else could we work?

Crews is not a clinician, and shows no sensitivity to 바카라사이트 complexity of clinical experience. Nor does he seem to be aware that psychoanalysts have also been critical of Freud's ideas and ways of working (though not quite in Crews's own bull-in-a-china shop fashion) and psychoanalytic 바카라사이트ory and practice have changed profoundly since 바카라사이트 events that preoccupy Crews, few of which are more recent than 1920.

Far from being slain, psychoanalysis remains 바카라사이트 principal fountain of ideas from which 바카라사이트 burgeoning profession of analytic psycho바카라사이트rapy and psychodynamic counselling are fed. Anyone who believes that understanding emotional difficulties is a worthwhile project is virtually bound to turn to some version of psychoanalytic ideas. They remain, as Peter Gay once called 바카라사이트m, "바카라사이트 only game in town".

DAVID BLACK

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