MYTHS about Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Myth: Psychoanalysis is largely the work of one man.
Fact: Freud’s incredible genius and dominant leadership impeded divergent views in the
field. Following his death in 1939, psychoanalytic thought has evolved and flowed
naturally. A number of people, most especially women therapists and analysts with a
feminist leaning, have made highly creative theoretical and clinical contributions that
constitute paradigm shifts. Contemporary psychoanalysis is not a footnote to Freud.
Myth: Contemporary psychoanalysis in both theory and clinical practice is virtually the
same as it was in Freud’s day.
Fact: Very little of the way Freud understood and practiced psychoanalysis has
remained intact. Freud’s oeuvre is an impressive personal achievement of Western
intellectual history and culture like the work of Newton in physics and Darwin in biology,
but understanding Freud is not equivalent to understanding contemporary
psychoanalysis.
Myth: Psychoanalysis has gone out of fashion.
Fact: The dominant concerns within the contemporary psychoanalytic literature and
current analytic practice – the problems of living, the nature of subjectivity, the
generation of personal meaning and creativity, the embeddedness of the subject in
cultural, linguistic, and historical contexts – are the major concerns of our time.
Myth: Psychoanalysis is an esoteric cult, requiring both conversion and years of study.
Fact: Psychoanalysis is no longer a highly technical medical specialty in the United
States. This has helped markedly decrease previous attitudes of professional elitism
and exclusivity. Universities and institutes now train psychologists and social workers
and they in turn have proliferated and flourished in cities across the United States.
Multiple theoretical orientations and practices are taught.
Myth: Psychoanalysis is not supported by research.
Fact: An enormous body of research in cognitive, social, developmental, and
personality psychology now supports many propositions of contemporary
psychodynamic theory. This includes unconscious cognitive, affective and motivational
processes, the origins of many personality and social dispositions in childhood, and
mental representations of self, others, and relationships. There is also considerable
evidence for the clinical utility of psychoanalysis.
Below is a bibliography of sources of information pulled from a presentation titled "Psychoanalysis in our times: The case of the missing evidence base". By Linda Michaels, PsyD MBA
Myth: Psychoanalysis is largely the work of one man.
Fact: Freud’s incredible genius and dominant leadership impeded divergent views in the
field. Following his death in 1939, psychoanalytic thought has evolved and flowed
naturally. A number of people, most especially women therapists and analysts with a
feminist leaning, have made highly creative theoretical and clinical contributions that
constitute paradigm shifts. Contemporary psychoanalysis is not a footnote to Freud.
Myth: Contemporary psychoanalysis in both theory and clinical practice is virtually the
same as it was in Freud’s day.
Fact: Very little of the way Freud understood and practiced psychoanalysis has
remained intact. Freud’s oeuvre is an impressive personal achievement of Western
intellectual history and culture like the work of Newton in physics and Darwin in biology,
but understanding Freud is not equivalent to understanding contemporary
psychoanalysis.
Myth: Psychoanalysis has gone out of fashion.
Fact: The dominant concerns within the contemporary psychoanalytic literature and
current analytic practice – the problems of living, the nature of subjectivity, the
generation of personal meaning and creativity, the embeddedness of the subject in
cultural, linguistic, and historical contexts – are the major concerns of our time.
Myth: Psychoanalysis is an esoteric cult, requiring both conversion and years of study.
Fact: Psychoanalysis is no longer a highly technical medical specialty in the United
States. This has helped markedly decrease previous attitudes of professional elitism
and exclusivity. Universities and institutes now train psychologists and social workers
and they in turn have proliferated and flourished in cities across the United States.
Multiple theoretical orientations and practices are taught.
Myth: Psychoanalysis is not supported by research.
Fact: An enormous body of research in cognitive, social, developmental, and
personality psychology now supports many propositions of contemporary
psychodynamic theory. This includes unconscious cognitive, affective and motivational
processes, the origins of many personality and social dispositions in childhood, and
mental representations of self, others, and relationships. There is also considerable
evidence for the clinical utility of psychoanalysis.
Below is a bibliography of sources of information pulled from a presentation titled "Psychoanalysis in our times: The case of the missing evidence base". By Linda Michaels, PsyD MBA
| bibliography.pdf |
Myth: Psychoanalysis is a clinical process that takes years and years and is never over.
Fact: Despite popular belief, Woody Allen is not any psychoanalyst’s idea about how
long an analysis should take. The length of an analysis depends on the goals of the
patient and an understanding that there is no Holy Grail of mental health that makes it possible to live happily ever after.
Fact: Despite popular belief, Woody Allen is not any psychoanalyst’s idea about how
long an analysis should take. The length of an analysis depends on the goals of the
patient and an understanding that there is no Holy Grail of mental health that makes it possible to live happily ever after.
