psychoanalysis

psychoanalysis,

name given by Sigmund FreudFreud, Sigmund
, 1856–1939, Austrian psychiatrist, founder of psychoanalysis. Born in Moravia, he lived most of his life in Vienna, receiving his medical degree from the Univ. of Vienna in 1881.

His medical career began with an apprenticeship (1885–86) under J.
..... Click the link for more information. to a system of interpretation and therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders. Psychoanalysis began after Freud studied (1885–86) with the French neurologist J. M. Charcot in Paris and became convinced that hysteriahysteria
, in psychology, a disorder commonly known today as conversion disorder, in which a psychological conflict is converted into a bodily disturbance. It is distinguished from hypochondria by the fact that its sufferers do not generally confuse their condition with real,
..... Click the link for more information. was caused not by organic symptoms in the nervous system but by emotional disturbance. Later, in collaboration with Viennese physician Josef BreuerBreuer, Josef
, 1842–1925, Austrian physician. He was the first to use (1880–82) the cathartic method to cure hysteria. His therapy and theory, when developed by Freud, became psychoanalysis. Together they wrote Studies in Hysteria (1895).
..... Click the link for more information. , Freud wrote two papers on hysteria (1893, 1895) that were the precursors of his vast body of psychoanalytic theory. Freud used his psychoanalytic method primarily to treat clients suffering from a variety of mild mental disorders classified until recently as neuroses (see neurosisneurosis,
in psychiatry, a broad category of psychological disturbance, encompassing various mild forms of mental disorder. Until fairly recently, the term neurosis was broadly employed in contrast with psychosis, which denoted much more severe, debilitating mental disturbances.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Freud was joined by an increasing number of students and physicians, among whom were C. G. JungJung, Carl Gustav
, 1875–1961, Swiss psychiatrist, founder of analytical psychology. The son of a country pastor, he studied at Basel (1895–1900) and Zürich (M.D., 1902).
..... Click the link for more information. and Alfred AdlerAdler, Alfred
, 1870–1937, Austrian psychologist, founder of the school of individual psychology. Although one of Sigmund Freud's earlier associates, he rejected the Freudian emphasis upon sex as the root of neurosis.
..... Click the link for more information. . Both made significant contributions, but by 1913 ceased to be identified with the main body of psychoanalysts because of theoretical disagreements with Freud's strong emphasis on sexual motivation. Other analysts, including Melanie KleinKlein, Melanie,
1882–1960, British psychoanalyst, b. Vienna. She became a psychoanalyst after seeking therapy from Sandor Ferenczi, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who encouraged her to pursue her own studies with young children.
..... Click the link for more information. and Jacques LacanLacan, Jacques
, 1901–81, French psychoanalyst. After receiving a medical degree, he became a psychoanalyst in Paris. Lacan was infamous for his unorthodox methods of treatment, such as the truncated therapy session, which often lasted only several minutes.
..... Click the link for more information. , also have contributed greatly to the field. Psychoanalysis and its theoretical underpinnings have had an enormous influence on modern psychology and psychiatry and in fields as diverse as literary theory, anthropology, and film criticism.

Psychoanalytic Therapy and Theory

The basic postulate of psychoanalysis, the concept of a dynamic unconsciousunconscious,
in psychology, that aspect of mental life that is separate from immediate consciousness and is not subject to recall at will. Sigmund Freud regarded the unconscious as a submerged but vast portion of the mind.
..... Click the link for more information. mind, grew out of Freud's observation that the physical symptoms of hysterical patients tended to disappear after apparently forgotten material was made conscious (see hysteriahysteria
, in psychology, a disorder commonly known today as conversion disorder, in which a psychological conflict is converted into a bodily disturbance. It is distinguished from hypochondria by the fact that its sufferers do not generally confuse their condition with real,
..... Click the link for more information. ). He saw the unconscious as an area of great psychic activity, which influenced personality and behavior but operated with material not subject to recall through normal mental processes. Freud postulated that there were a number of defense mechanismsdefense mechanism,
in psychoanalysis, any of a variety of unconscious personality reactions which the ego uses to protect the conscious mind from threatening feelings and perceptions.
..... Click the link for more information. —including repression, reaction-formation, regression, displacement, and rationalization—that protect the conscious mind from those aspects of reality it may find difficult to accept. The major defense mechanism is repression, which induced a "forgetfulness" for harsh realities. Observing the relationship between psychoneurosis and repressed memories, Freud made conscious recognition of these forgotten experiences the foundation of psychoanalytic therapy. Hypnosis was the earliest method used to probe the unconscious, but due to its limited effectiveness, it was soon discarded in favor of free associationassociation,
in psychology, a connection between different sensations, feelings, or ideas by virtue of their previous occurrence together in experience. The concept of association entered contemporary psychology through the empiricist philosophers John Locke, George Berkeley,
..... Click the link for more information. (see also hypnotismhypnotism
[Gr.,=putting to sleep], to induce an altered state of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and heightened suggestibility. The term was originally coined by James Braid in 1842 to describe a phenomenon previously known as animal magnetism or mesmerism (see
..... Click the link for more information. ). Dreamsdream,
mental activity associated with the rapid-eye-movement (REM) period of sleep. It is commonly made up of a number of visual images, scenes or thoughts expressed in terms of seeing rather than in those of the other senses or in words.
..... Click the link for more information. , which Freud interpreted as symbolic wish fulfillments, were considered a primary key to the unconscious, and their analysis was an important part of Freudian therapy.

To clarify the operation of the human psyche, Freud and his followers introduced a vast body of psychoanalytic theory. In considering the human personality as a whole, Freud divided it into three functional parts: id, ego, and superego. He saw the id as the deepest level of the unconscious, dominated by the pleasure principle, with its object the immediate gratification of instinctual drives. The superego, originating in the child through an identification with parents, and in response to social pressures, functions as an internal censor to repress the urges of the id. The ego, on the other hand, is seen as a part of the id modified by contact with the external world. It is a mental agent mediating among three contending forces: the outside demands of social pressure or reality, libidinal demands for immediate satisfaction arising from the id, and the moral demands of the superego. Although considered only partly conscious, the ego constitutes the major part of what is commonly referred to as consciousnessconsciousness,
in psychology, a term commonly used to indicate a state of awareness of self and environment. In Freudian psychology, conscious behavior largely includes cognitive processes of the ego, such as thinking, perception, and planning, as well as some aspects of the
..... Click the link for more information. . Freud asserted that conflicts between these often-opposing components of the human mind are crucial factors in the development of neurosis.

Psychoanalysis focused on early childhood, postulating that many of the conflicts which arise in the human mind develop in the first years of a person's life. Freud demonstrated this in his theory of psychosexuality, in which the libido (sexual energy) of the infant progressively seeks outlet through different body zones (oral, anal, phallic, and genital) during the first five to six years of life.

Criticisms of and Changes in Freudian Psychoanalysis

Orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis was challenged in the 1920s by Otto Rank, Sandor Ferenczi, and Wilhelm Reich; later, in the 1930s, by Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, and Harry Stack Sullivan. These critics of Freud stressed the interpersonal aspect of the analyst-patient relationship (transference), and placed more emphasis on the processes of the ego. Despite a number of detractors and a lack of controlled research, Freudian psychoanalysis remained the most widely used method of psychotherapy until at least the 1950s.

Today, Freud's method is only one among many types of psychotherapy used in psychiatrypsychiatry
, branch of medicine that concerns the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, including major depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety.
..... Click the link for more information. . Many objections have been leveled against traditional psychoanalysis, both for its methodological rigidity and for its lack of theoretical rigor. A number of modern psychologists have pointed out that traditional psychoanalysis relies too much on ambiguities for its data, such as dreams and free associations. Without empirical evidence, Freudian theories often seem weak, and ultimately fail to initiate standards for treatment.

Critics have also pointed out that Freud's theoretical models arise from a homogeneous sample group—almost exclusively upper-class Austrian women living in the sexually repressed society of the late 19th cent. Such a sample, many psychologists contend, made Freud's focus on sex as a determinant of personality too emphatic. Other problems with traditional psychoanalysis are related to Freud's method of analysis. For Freudian analysis to reach its intended conclusions, the psychoanalyst required frequent sessions with a client over a period of years: today, the prohibitive costs of such methods compels most to seek other forms of psychiatric care.

Traditional psychoanalysis involved a distancing between therapist and client—the two did not even face each other during the sessions. In recent years, many clients have preferred a more interactive experience with the therapist. The subject matter of Freudian analysis has also fallen into disuse, even among those who still practice psychoanalysis: early childhood receives much less emphasis, and there is generally more focus on problems the client is currently experiencing. By the early 21st cent., various kinds of psychoanalysis continued to be practiced, but the theory and practice of psychoanalysis was increasingly overshadowed by cognitive psychologycognitive psychology,
school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. It had its foundations in the Gestalt psychology of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka, and in the work of Jean Piaget, who
..... Click the link for more information. and discoveries in neurobiology.

Bibliography

See the works of Freud; A. Bernstein and G. Warner, An Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis (1981); J. Reppen, ed., Beyond Freud (1984); C. G. Jung, The Collected Works, Vol. 4: Freud and Psychoanalysis (tr. 1985); S. Marcus, Freud and the Culture of Psychoanalysis (1984, repr. 1987); O. A. Olsen and S. Koppe, The Psychoanalysis of Freud (1988); C. Badcock, Essential Freud (1988); E. Kurzweil, The Freudian Establishments (1989); G. Makari, Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis (2008).

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis may be defined as (1) a psychological theory; (2) a form of psychotherapy, especially for the treatment of neurotic and character or personality disorders; and (3) a method for investigating psychological phenomena. Psychoanalysis was created and developed by Sigmund Freud, who presented his method, clinical observations, and theory in Interpretation of Dreams and other major works, including The Psychopathology of Everyday Life and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, as well as in many of his case studies.

Psychoanalytic theory

Generally, psychoanalysis is concerned with the causal role of wishes and beliefs in human life. More specifically, it attempts to explain mental or behavioral phenomena that do not appear to make sense as the effects of unconscious wishes and beliefs. Such phenomena include dreams, disturbances in functioning such as slips of the tongue or pen and transient forgetting, and neurotic symptoms. Typically, unconscious wishes and beliefs are constituents of conflicts.

The term unconscious in psychoanalysis does not mean simply that mental contents are out of awareness. Its psychodynamic meaning is that the person does not want to be aware of these contents, and takes active steps to avoid being aware of them. A fundamental hypothesis of psychoanalysis is that because a mental entity is dynamically unconscious it has the causal power to produce the phenomena that are of interest to psychoanalysis.

At first, the dynamic unconscious was thought to consist of traumatic memories. Later, it was believed to consist of impulses or wishes—especially sexual (and aggressive) impulses or wishes. Psychoanalysis now emphasizes that the dynamic unconscious consists of fantasies, which have a history reaching back to childhood. These fantasies are internal scenarios in which sexual (and aggressive) wishes are imagined as fulfilled.

Psychoanalysis is distinct in attributing causal powers to unconscious sexual wishes. Such attribution depends on extending the meaning of sexual to encompass the quest for sensual pleasure in childhood (so-called infantile sexuality) and choices of objects and aims. One theme that is thought to have particular importance is the Oedipus complex, in which the child rivals one parent in seeking sensual gratifications of various kinds from the other parent.

When an unconscious fantasy is activated, it manifests itself in conscious mental states or in actions—importantly, in emotions; in interpretations of the significance of events or states of affairs; in attributions of motives to others; and in daydreams, dreams, and neurotic symptoms.

Unconscious fantasies, as distinct from both conscious reality-oriented imagining and conscious day-dreaming, are constructed when imagination functions under very special conditions.

This emphasis on fantasy underscores the fact that psychoanalysis gives priority to the relation between wishes (including wishes a person knows could not conceivably be gratified in reality) and imagination (functioning under very special conditions).

Psychotherapy

Free association is the method of psychoanalysis. Patients are encouraged not to talk about some particular problem or aspect of their lives but rather to suspend any conscious purposive organization of what they say, speaking freely. Both psychoanalyst and patient follow the patient's productions: conscious purposes are replaced by unconscious purposes, which, under these conditions, can determine the direction of the patient's mental processes with less interference.

Interventions are predominantly interpretative; psychoanalysts do not seek primarily to tell their patients what to do, to educate them about the world, to influence their values, or to reassure them in one way or another that everything is or will be all right. Psychoanalysts look for patterns in what each patient says and for signs of feelings of which the patient is more or less unaware. They then engage their patients (who are increasingly aware of these patterns and able to experience and articulate these feelings) in an inquiry about the reasons for them or motives behind them. The focus is on what the patients do not know—and do not want to know—about themselves and their inner life, including strategies for avoiding such knowledge and the consequences of these strategies.

The goal of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is to extend the realm of what patients permit themselves to experience. It tries to mitigate the misery that patients with a neurotic, character, or personality disorder inflict on themselves.

The case-study method is characteristic of psychoanalytic research. The arguments that can be used in case studies are analogy (the use of familiar or homely models in which postulated causes and mechanisms can be shown to exist); consilience (the convergence of inferences from different kinds of information on a common cause); and abduction (inference to the best explanation). See Psychotherapy

psychoanalysis

the theory and method of treating MENTAL ILLNESS by investigating the UNCONSCIOUS and understanding the dynamics of the PERSONALITY. It was originally developed by FREUD at the end of the 19th-century, working particularly with patients with emotional disorders, such as hysteria. Freud particularly used the techniques of free association and dream interpretation to explore the unconscious. As well as Freud's own work and writings, a number of schools of thought within psychoanalysis (both as a therapy and as a wider theory) are also important – see NEO-FREUDIANS, OBJECT-RELATIONS SCHOOL.

As a therapy psychoanalysis is a lengthy process, taking perhaps several years, and a practitioner has to undergo a course of psychoanalysis himself or herself before being considered qualified to practise. The aim is to gain a full understanding of how one's current behaviour was developed as a result of past experiences, especially those of early childhood. These early experiences have to be brought to consciousness and confronted, leading to CATHARSIS, or a release of energy, with the result that the personality becomes freer, less restricted by having to control the energies of the ID, or operate under over-strict demands of the SUPEREGO.

In psychiatric practice, 100 years after its original development, the method is found to be most useful for neurotic disorders in patients who are highly motivated to recover and of good educational background as self-insight and an interest in the theoretical basis appear to be involved in a positive outcome. It has sometimes been criticized as having no better record for recovery than time alone (Eysenck, 1961), and is lengthy and expensive.

As a wider psychosocial theory, psychoanalysis has been influential (if controversial) in sociology and, more generally, in social theory (e.g. MARCUSE, structuralist theorists such as LACAN, PSYCHOHISTORY). Psychoanalytic theories have been especially influential recently in FEMINISM, FEMINIST THEORY and FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY, although these theories constitute a major reworking of Freudian theory, especially in questioning the centrality of the symbolism of the phallus within Freud's writing and the problem that this presents for a genuinely feminist psychoanalytic theory (see CHODOROW, CIXOUS, KRISTEVA).

Psychoanalysis

a method of psychotherapy and a psychological theory that focuses on unconscious mental processes and motivations. Psychoanalysis was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the Austrian physician S. Freud. As a specific theory and method of psychotherapy, it should be distinguished from Freudianism, which elevates the tenets of psychoanalysis to the level of philosophical and anthropological principles.

Some of the tenets of psychoanalysis are encountered in the work of J.-M. Charcot and P. Janet (the psychological theory of neuroses). As early as 1882, the Viennese psychiatrist J. Breuer showed that a severe form of hysteria can be cured if the patient is hypnotized and compelled to recall and abreact the forgotten traumatic situation that caused the neurosis. Subsequently, Freud replaced hypnosis with the method of free association, which became the basis of the psychoanalytic technique. It was found that traumatic events, affective experiences, unfulfilled desires, and so on do not disappear from the mind but are repressed—that is, actively displaced from the conscious to the unconscious, where, often masked or “coded” in neurotic symptoms, they continue to have an active influence on the mind. In psychoanalysis, neurotic symptoms are regarded as compromises arising from the conflict between repressed desires and an internal “censor,” which acts as the conscious ego’s defense mechanism against dangerous desires and impulses. Psychoanalysis views dreams, mistakes (slips of the tongue and pen), and jokes as similar types of compromises. These observations drew psychoanalysis beyond the framework of psychiatry and made it possible to establish the connection between normal and pathological phenomena of the psyche. Psychoanalysis uncovered such psychological mechanisms as symbolization, displacement, and condensation in both normal and pathological phenomena.

From the standpoint of psychoanalysis, three aspects of every psychological phenomenon must be examined: the dynamic, the energetic, and the structural. The dynamic aspect is uncovered as a result of the interaction and conflict between different psychological forces. The energetic aspect of a psychological phenomenon means the distribution of bound and free energy in a given process. (By analogy with physical energy, psychoanalysis introduced the concept of a quantum of mental energy and its “charges”—cathexes, and modes of distributing and transferring mental energy.)

The theory of different forms and manifestations of mental energy, with an emphasis on sexual desires (the libido), was elaborated during the first stage of the development of psychoanalysis (the 1890’s and the early 20th century). The theory of the structure of the psyche was developed later (S. Freud, The Ego and the Id, 1921). The most archaic, impersonal, and entirely unconscious part of the psyche was called the id—a reservoir of mental energy, a “seething cauldron” of desires pressing for immediate satisfaction. This part of the psyche is associated with the somatic area, which serves as the source of energy for the desires. The id has no contact with the external world and does not know the difference between external reality and the subjective sphere.

The second structure of the psyche, the conscious ego, is formed as an “impression” of external reality on the initial mass of desires and impulses. Psychoanalysis attaches special importance to identification as a factor in shaping the ego, which is an intermediary between the external world and the id, between desire and satisfaction. The ego is guided not by the principle of satisfaction but by the demands of reality. It restrains the irrational impulses of the id, using a variety of defense mechanisms based on repression, including projection, reaction formation, and reversal. In reaction formation, a phenomenon based on ambivalent desires, a desire is replaced in the conscious by its opposite but retains its initial character in the unconscious (for example, unconscious love is manifested as conscious hatred, and cruelty as extreme kindness). In reversal, desire is directed initially at an external object and then turned against the self, under the influence of fear.

The third structure of the psyche, the superego, develops as a result of the introjection of social norms and educational prohibitions and reinforcement. It is the source of the individual’s moral attitudes. The superego usually functions unconsciously, but it is manifested in the conscious as the conscience. The stresses caused by the superego in the psyche are perceived as feelings of fear, guilt, depression, and inferiority. The psyche functions as a whole as soon as the superego is formed.

Psychoanalysis became increasingly well-known in Europe after the founding of the International Psychoanalytical Association in 1910. (The journal Imago was first published in 1912, and the Internationale Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse, in 1913.) After World War I (1914–18), psychoanalysis became very popular in Europe. Founded in 1920 in Berlin, the Institute of Psychoanalysis trained physicians to be analysts. When the fascists took power in 1933, psychoanalysis was banned in Germany. In 1938 it was banned in Austria. Subsequently, psychoanalysis developed rapidly in Great Britain and especially in the USA, where most of the European psychoanalysts emigrated. About three-fourths of all the literature on psychoanalysis is published in the USA, where there are more than 20 teaching and research institutes.

Psychoanalysis was the point of departure for the development of diverse trends in depth psychology. The internal contradictions in the thinking of Freud and his followers gave rise to new schools and approaches, including A. Adler’s individual psychology and C. G. Jung’s analytical psychology. Ego psychology (H. Hartmann), which asserts the relative autonomy of the conscious ego, developed as a counterweight to the one-sided orientation toward the unconscious processes. After World War II (1939–45) the development of European psychoanalysis was substantially influenced by the idealist philosophy of existentialism, phenomenology, neo-Thomism, and neo-Freudianism (in the USA). Attempts to use the psychoanalytic method are characteristic of several modernistic trends in 20th-century art and literature, including the stream-of-consciousness school and surrealism.

Soviet psychology acknowledges that psychoanalysis has introduced into science a number of important phenomena of the human psyche, such as unconscious processes and motives and the influence of early childhood experiences on the formation and pathological deformation of character. Nevertheless, Soviet psychology criticizes psychoanalysis for reducing diverse, changeable relations between unconscious higher nervous activity and the activity of the consciousness to a primitive antagonism between the conscious and the unconscious. In addition, psychoanalysis is criticized by Soviet psychology for universalizing psychoanalytic concepts and mechanically transferring them to the sphere of social phenomena, thus contributing to the psychologization of human society, the personality, and culture.

REFERENCES

Freud, S. Lektsiipo vvedeniiu v psikhoanaliz [vols. 1–2]. Moscow-Petrograd,1922.
Freud, S. Osnovnye psikhologicheskie teorii v psikhoanalize. Moscow Petrograd, 1923.
Psikhoanaliz detskogo vozrasta (collection of articles). Moscow, 1924.
Bassin, F. V. Problema “bessoznatel’nogo. “Moscow, 1968.
Grinstein, A. The Index of Psychoanalytic Writings, vols. 1–10. New York, 1956–72.
Pumpian-Mindlin, E. Psychoanalysis as Science [2nd ed.]. New York [1956].
Art and Psychoanalysis. New York, 1963.
Psychoanalysis and Current Biological Thought. Madison-Milwaukee, Wis., 1965.
Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis. New York-London, 1968.D. N. LIALIKOVIn literary theory and criticism. In literary theory and criticism psychoanalysis is a mode of interpreting literary works from the standpoint of the psychological theory of the unconscious. Psychoanalysis regards artistic creation as a sublimated, symbolic expression of primordial psychic impulses and desires (fundamentally sexual and infantile), which are rejected in real life but which find compensatory satisfaction in the realm of fantasy. In the history of literature psychoanalysis has discovered several recurrent plots in which the author identifies with the hero and depicts either the fulfillment ofhis subconscious desires or their tragic collision with the forces of social and moral prohibition. Thus, psychoanalysis views Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov as variations on the motif of patricide associated with a repressed Oedipus complex.
Freud provided the first models for the application of psychoanalysis to literature and art in “The Relation of the Poet to Day-dreaming” and “Dostoyevsky and Parricide,” but he warned against confusing the tasks of psychoanalysis with those of literary criticism. Psychoanalysis, which approaches literature only as a source of illustrative plots, cannot explain the difference between a masterpiece and a paraphrase or reproduction, or between a great writer and an ordinary neurotic or dreamer. Psychoanalysis is best applied to the study of products of mythology and mass culture, where the conscious ego of the individual dissolves into the unconscious id, and purely aesthetic criteria are eliminated. In addition to crude psychoanalytic theories denouncing art as illusion and reducing it to biological instincts, in the 1920’s and 1930’s there were serious attempts to use the tenets of psychoanalysis in the struggle against formalistic and vulgar sociological methodology (L. Vygotskii and V. Voloshinov [M. Bakhtin]). During this period the psychoanalytic approach was used to attain an understanding of the latest artistic trends (Dadaism, surrealism, expressionism, and “mythologism”) and to explain puzzling literary phenomena of the past (studies by S. Zweig on Dostoevsky and H. von Kleist, by M. Bonaparte on Poe, and by V. W. Brooks on Twain). There were also attempts to combine psychoanalysis with the theory of artistic form and with the theory of the social role of literature (H. Read, N. Frye, E. Bjork, C. Caudwell).
In the postwar period two versions of psychoanalysis were very popular in the West: existential psychoanalysis (J.-P. Sartre, A. Malraux, and J. S. Doubrovsky, for example) and structural psychoanalysis (J. Lacan, C. Mauron, R. Barthes, and J. Derrida). Existential psychoanalysis seeks in literature evidence of genuine human existence, rooted not in biological nature but in ethical freedom and achieving complete personal self-discovery in the world of artistic invention, where the spiritual “self overcomes the yoke of historical fate and liberates itself. Structural psychoanalysis emphasizes the dependence of the artist on supraindividual cultural mechanisms (language and other sign systems) that act in the sphere of the unconscious and that are responsible for the structure of a work of art, regardless of “conscious” intent and meaning.
The psychoanalytic approach in Western literary criticism is criticized by Marxists, who counter the immanent, static structures of the subconscious with the dynamics of society and history, the true source of the creative process. The doctrine of psychoanalysis is also disputed by adherents of the school of cultural history and proponents of mathematical and cybernetic methods.

REFERENCES

Freud, S. “Poet i fantaziia.” In Sovr. kniga po estetike. Moscow, 1957. (Bibliography.)
Vygotskii, L. Psikhologiia iskusstva. Moscow, 1968.
Caudwell, C. Illiuziia i deistvitel’nost’. Moscow, 1969.
Morrison, C. C. Freud and the Critic. Chapel Hill, N. C, 1968.
Matt, P. von. Literaturwissenschaft und Psychoanalyse. Freiburg, 1972.

M. N. EPSHTEIN

psychoanalysis

[¦sī·kō·ə′nal·ə·səs] (psychology) A technique used in the treatment of neuroses and other emotional disorders which relies upon free associations of the patient to bring ideas and experiences from the unconscious to the conscious divisions of the psyche.

psychoanalysis

a method of studying the mind and treating mental and emotional disorders based on revealing and investigating the role of the unconscious mind
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www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis

psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis

Definition

Psychoanalysis is a form of psychotherapy used by qualified psychotherapists to treat patients who have a range of mild to moderate chronic life problems. It is related to a specific body of theories about the relationships between conscious and unconscious mental processes, and should not be used as a synonym for psychotherapy in general. Psychoanalysis is done one-on-one with the patient and the analyst; it is not appropriate for group work.

Purpose

Psychoanalysis is the most intensive form of an approach to treatment called psychodynamic therapy. Psychodynamic refers to a view of human personality that results from interactions between conscious and unconscious factors. The purpose of all forms of psychodynamic treatment is to bring unconscious mental material and processes into full consciousness so that the patient can gain more control over his or her life.Classical psychoanalysis has become the least commonly practiced form of psychodynamic therapy because of its demands on the patient's time, as well as on his or her emotional and financial resources. It is, however, the oldest form of psychodynamic treatment. The theories that underlie psychoanalysis were worked out by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), a Viennese physician, during the early years of the twentieth century. Freud's discoveries were made in the context of his research into hypnosis. The goal of psychoanalysis is the uncovering and resolution of the patient's internal conflicts. The treatment focuses on the formation of an intense relationship between the therapist and patient, which is analyzed and discussed in order to deepen the patient's insight into his or her problems.Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a modified form of psychoanalysis that is much more widely practiced. It is based on the same theoretical principles as psychoanalysis, but is less intense and less concerned with major changes in the patient's character structure. The focus in treatment is usually the patient's current life situation and the way problems relate to early conflicts and feelings, rather than an exploration of the unconscious aspects of the relationship that has been formed with the therapist.Not all patients benefit from psychoanalytic treatment. Potential patients should meet the following prerequisites:

The capacity to relate well enough to form an effective working relationship with the analyst. This relationship is called a therapeutic alliance.
At least average intelligence and a basic understanding of psychological theory.

The ability to tolerate frustration, sadness, and other painful emotions.
The capacity to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

People considered best suited to psychoanalytic treatment include those with depression, character disorders, neurotic conflicts, and chronic relationship problems. When the patient's conflicts are long-standing and deeply entrenched in his or her personality, psychoanalysis may be preferable to psychoanalytic psychotherapy, because of its greater depth.

Precautions

Psychoanalysis is not usually considered suitable for patients suffering from severe depression or such psychotic disorders as schizophrenia, although some analysts have successfully treated patients with psychoses. It is also not appropriate for people with addictions or substance dependency, disorders of aggression or impulse control, or acute crises; some of these people may benefit from psychoanalysis after the crisis has been resolved.

Description

In both psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy, the therapist does not tell the patient how to solve problems or offer moral judgments. The focus of treatment is exploration of the patient's mind and habitual thought patterns. Such therapy is termed "non-directed." It is also "insight-oriented," meaning that the goal of treatment is increased understanding of the sources of one's inner conflicts and emotional problems. The basic techniques of psychoanalytical treatment include:

Therapist neutrality

Neutrality means that the analyst does not take sides in the patient's conflicts, express feelings about the patient, or talk about his or her own life. Therapist neutrality is intended to help the patient stay focused on issues rather than be concerned with the therapist's reactions. In psychoanalysis, the patient lies on a couch facing away from the therapist. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, however, the patient and therapist usually sit in comfortable chairs facing each other.

Free association

Free association means that the patient talks about whatever comes into mind without censoring or editing the flow of ideas or memories. Free association allows the patient to return to earlier or more childlike emotional states ("regress"). Regression is sometimes necessary in the formation of the therapeutic alliance. It also helps the analyst to understand the recurrent patterns of conflict in the patient's life.

Therapeutic alliance and transference

Transference is the name that psychoanalysts use for the patient's repetition of childlike ways of relating that were learned in early life. If the therapeutic alliance has been well established, the patient will begin to transfer thoughts and feelings connected with siblings, parents, or other influential figures to the therapist. Discussing the transference helps the patient gain insight into the ways in which he or she misreads or misperceives other people in present life.

Interpretation

In psychoanalytic treatment, the analyst is silent as much as possible, in order to encourage the patient's free association. However, the analyst offers judiciously timed interpretations, in the form of verbal comments about the material that emerges in the sessions. The therapist uses interpretations in order to uncover the patient's resistance to treatment, to discuss the patient's transference feelings, or to confront the patient with inconsistencies. Interpretations may be either focused on present issues ("dynamic") or intended to draw connections between the patient's past and the present ("genetic"). The patient is also often encouraged to describe dreams and fantasies as sources of material for interpretation.

Working through

"Working through" occupies most of the work in psychoanalytic treatment after the transference has been formed and the patient has begun to acquire insights into his or her problems. Working through is a process in which the new awareness is repeatedly tested and "tried on for size" in other areas of the patient's life. It allows the patient to understand the influence of the past on his or her present situation, to accept it emotionally as well as intellectually, and to use the new understanding to make changes in present life. Working through thus helps the patient to gain some measure of control over inner conflicts and to resolve them or minimize their power.Although psychoanalytic treatment is primarily verbal, medications are sometimes used to stabilize patients with severe anxiety, depression, or other mood disorders during the analysis.The cost of either psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is prohibitive for most patients without insurance coverage. A full course of psychoanalysis usually requires three to five weekly sessions with a psychoanalyst over a period of three to five years. A course of psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves one to three meetings per week with the therapist for two to five years. Each session or meeting typically costs between $80 and $200, depending on the locale and the experience of the therapist. The increasing reluctance of most HMOs and other managed care organizations to pay for long-term psychotherapy is one reason that these forms of treatment are losing ground to short-term methods of treatment and the use of medications to control the patient's emotional symptoms. It is also not clear as of 2003 that long-term psychoanalytically oriented approaches are more beneficial than briefer therapy methods for many patients. On the other hand, patients who can benefit from a psychoanalytic approach but cannot afford private fees may wish to contact the American Psychoanalytic Association, which maintains a list of analysts in training who offer treatment for reduced fees.

Preparation

Some patients may need evaluation for possible medical problems before entering psychoanalysis because numerous diseases—including virus infections and certain vitamin deficiencies—have emotional side effects or symptoms. The therapist will also want to know whether the patient is taking any prescription medications that may affect the patient's feelings or ability to concentrate. In addition, it is important to make sure that the patient is not abusing drugs or alcohol.

Risks

The primary risk to the patient is related to the emotional pain resulting from new insights and changes in long-standing behavior patterns. In some patients, psychoanalysis produces so much anxiety that they cannot continue with this treatment method. In other cases, the therapist's lack of skill or differences in cultural background may prevent the formation of a solid therapeutic alliance.

Normal results

Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy both have the goal of basic changes in the patient's personality structure and level of functioning, although psychoanalysis typically aims at more extensive and more profound change. In general, this approach to treatment is considered successful if the patient has shown:

reduction in intensity or number of symptoms
some resolution of basic emotional conflicts
increased independence and self-esteem
improved functioning and adaptation to life

Attempts to compare the effectiveness of psychoanalytical treatment to other modes of therapy are difficult to evaluate. Some aspects of Freudian theory have been questioned since the 1970s on the grounds of their limited applicability to women and to people from non-Western cultures. In particular, some psychiatrists with cross-cultural experience maintain that psychoanalysis presupposes a highly individualistic Western concept of human personhood that is alien to traditional Asian and African societies. There is, however, general agreement that psychoanalytic approaches work well for certain types of patients, specifically those with neurotic conflicts.

Resources

Periodicals

Blass, R. B. "On Ethical Issues at the Foundation of the Debate Over the Goals of Psychoanalysis." International Journal of Psychoanalysis 84 (August 2003): 929-943.Gabbard, G. O., and D. Westen. "Rethinking Therapeutic Action." International Journal of Psychoanalysis 84 (August 2003): 823-841.Lombardi, R. "Mental Models and Language Registers in the Psychoanalysis of Psychosis: An Overview of a Thirteen-Year Analysis." International Journal of Psychoanalysis 84 (August 2003): 843-863.Roland, A. "Psychoanalysis Across Civilizations: A Personal Journey." Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry 31 (Summer 2003): 275-295.

Organizations

American Psychoanalytic Association. 309 East 49th Street, New York, NY 10017. (212) 752-0450. http://www.apsa-co.org.

psychoanalysis

[si″ko-ah-nal´ĭ-sis] a system of theoretical psychology and psychotherapy formulated by Sigmund freud to analyze mental processes and mental disorders, based on recognition of unconscious mental processes such as resistance, repression, and transference, and of the importance of infantile experience as a determinant of adult behavior; techniques used include free association, interpretation, and dream analysis. This theory has increased our understanding of the causes of many different mental phenomena, such as neuroses and personality disorders. Called also psychoanalytic psychotherapy. adj., adj psychoanalyt´ic.
Neurotic patterns of behavior have their origin in conflicts, feelings, and attitudes that arise in childhood. Children have many desires, impulses, and thoughts that are in conflict with the expectations of their parents. In order to avoid the unbearable anxiety of direct conflict with their parents, which they fear would result in loss of affection or other forms of punishment, these conflicts are repressed; the anxiety-producing thoughts or feelings are excluded from conscious awareness. Normally, the conflict is resolved unconsciously by acting out the repressed wish in a disguised form in play, fantasy, or dreams in order to come to terms with it.
When unconscious conflicts are not resolved, the repressed wishes and fantasies may continue to be acted out in daily life, producing neurotic symptoms. A neurotic adult will tend to respond to people in terms of childhood feelings toward members of the family, even though these responses are not appropriate to the situation. Without realizing it, the person is going through adult life still acting out fantasies of childhood. The unresolved conflicts prevent the person from seeing others as they are and reacting to them in an appropriate way.Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis is an insight-oriented type of psychotherapy. Its goal is to uncover unconscious psychologic patterns and enable the patient to discover the influence of these patterns in daily life. As the patient acquires self-knowledge, the unconscious patterns are undone and areas of behavior come under conscious control. For a person who has the required maturity and intelligence and who is motivated to accomplish a thorough reconstruction of the personality, psychoanalysis is the psychotherapy of choice. The treatment is usually prolonged, such as with four or five analytic sessions a week, lasting 45 minutes to an hour, for two to five years. Many analysts also conduct less intensive treatment with two or three sessions a week with patients who might not be suitable for the more intensive treatment, such as those with severe personality disorders, or those unable to afford the time or expense for the more extensive treatment.
Key techniques include association" >free association and description of dreams by the patient and periodic interpretation by the psychoanalyst. Other concepts in psychoanalytic theory include resistance and transference on the part of the patient.

psy·cho·a·nal·y·sis

(sī'kō-ă-nal'i-sis), 1. A method of psychotherapy, originated by Freud, designed to bring preconscious and unconscious material to consciousness primarily through the analysis of transference and resistance.
See also: freudian psychoanalysis. Synonym(s): psychoanalytic therapy2. A method of investigating the human mind and psychological functioning, interpretations of resistances, and the patient's emotional reactions to the analyst plus use of free association and dream analysis in the psychoanalytic situation. 3. An integrated body of observations and theories on personality development, motivation, and behavior. 4. An institutionalized school of psychotherapy, as in jungian or freudian psychoanalysis. [psycho- + analysis]

psychoanalysis

(sī′kō-ə-năl′ĭ-sĭs)n. pl. psychoanaly·ses (-sēz′) 1. a. The method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work.b. The theory of personality developed by Freud that focuses on repression and unconscious forces and includes the concepts of infantile sexuality, resistance, transference, and division of the psyche into the id, ego, and superego.2. Psychotherapy incorporating this method and theory.

psy′cho·an′a·lyst (-ăn′ə-lĭst) n.psy′cho·an′a·lyt′ic (-ăn′ə-lĭt′ĭk), psy′cho·an′a·lyt′i·cal (-ĭ-kəl) adj.psy′cho·an′a·lyt′i·cal·ly adv.

psychoanalysis

Psychiatry A branch of psychology concerned with issues of emotional conflict and repression attributed to formative childhood experiences; through analysis of free associations and interpretation of dreams, emotions and behavior are traced to the influence of repressed instinctual drives and defenses against them in the unconscious; psychoanalysis seeks to eliminate or diminish the undesirable effects of unconscious conflicts by making the analysand aware of their existence, origin, and inappropriate expression in current emotions and behavior. See Freudian analysis, Jungian psychoanalysis. Cf Psychotherapy.

psy·cho·a·nal·y·sis

(sī'kō-ă-nal'i-sis) 1. A method of psychotherapy, originated by Sigmund Freud, designed to bring preconscious and unconscious material to consciousness primarily through the analysis of transference and resistance.
Synonym(s): psychoanalytic therapy. 2. A method of investigating the total mental life, conscious and unconscious, of a person with a mental disorder, employing interpretation of resistance and transference, free association, and dream analysis. 3. An integrated body of observations and theories on personality development, motivation, and behavior. 4. A school of psychotherapy, as in jungian or freudian psychoanalysis.
See also: freudian psychoanalysis

psychoanalysis

1. A purported treatment for psychiatric disorders in which the patient is encouraged to reminisce freely about his or her past life while the analyst silently interprets these free associations in the light of FREUDIAN THEORY. Success is said to be unlikely unless the subject falls in love with the analyst (transference). Classical psychoanalysis involves sessions of about an hour, up to six times a week, for several years. 2. A dogmatic theory of human behaviour.

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Psychoanalytic Therapy and Theory

Criticisms of and Changes in Freudian Psychoanalysis

Bibliography

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalytic theory

Psychotherapy

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Psychoanalysis

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

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Definition

Purpose

Precautions

Description

Therapist neutrality

Free association

Therapeutic alliance and transference

Interpretation

Working through

Preparation

Risks

Normal results

Resources

Periodicals

Organizations

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Synonyms for psychoanalysis

noun a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders

Synonyms

Related Words