Psychoanalysis

The words Die Psychoanalyse in Sigmund Freud's handwriting, 1938
ICD-9-CM94.31
MeSHD011572

Psychoanalysis[i] is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques[ii] that deal in part with the unconscious mind.[iii] Together they form a method of treatment for mental disorders based on dream interpretation. The discipline was established in the early 1890s by Sigmund Freud,[1] whose work stemmed partly from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others. Freud developed and refined theory and practice of psychoanalysis until his death in 1939. In an encyclopedic article, he identified the cornerstones of psychoanalysis as "the assumption that there are unconscious mental processes, the recognition of the theory of repression and resistance, the appreciation of the importance of sexuality and of the Oedipus complex."[2]

Freud's earlyer colleagues Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav Jung soon developed own methods, calling them individual - and analytical psychology, whereby Freud wrote a number of criticisms emphatically denying that they were forms of psychoanalysis.[3] After 2nd world war it was developed in different directions by neo-Freudian thinkers, such as Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Harry Stack Sullivan.[4] Jacques Lacan described Freud's metapsychology as a technical elaboration of the three-instance model of the psyche, and primarily examined the language-like logical structure of the unconscious. This may explain following interpretations: Some thinkers called his work as Return to Freud, others point out significant differences.[5][6]

Psychoanalysis has been a controversial discipline from the outset and its effectiveness as a treatment remains contested, although its influence on psychology and psychiatry is undisputed.[iv][v] Critics tried to prove that the theory was conceived as pseudoscience, arguing, for example, that its central subdivision of the organism into three complementary functions (id instinct; ego consciousness; superego imprinting)[7] is unfounded.[8] Psychoanalytical concepts are also widely used outside the therapeutic field, for example in film and literary criticism, analysis of fairy tales, philosophical perspectives such as Freudo-Marxism and other cultural phenomena.


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  1. ^ Mitchell, Juliet. 2000. Psychoanalysis and Feminism: A Radical Reassessment of Freudian Psychoanalysis. London: Penguin Books. p. 341.
  2. ^ Mitchell J (1975). Psychoanalysis and Feminism. Pelican Books. p. 343.
  3. ^ Freud S (1966). On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement. New York: W.W. Norton and Co. p. 5.
  4. ^ Birnbach, Martin. 1961. Neo-Freudian Social Philosophy. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 3.
  5. ^ Julien P (2021). Jacques Lacan's Return to Freud. New York University Press. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814743232.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-8147-4323-2. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
  6. ^ Lacan J. Freud's Papers on Technique (Seminar of Jacques Lacan). Jacques Alain.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference HP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Popper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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