However, the unconscious is now a popular topic of study in the fields of experimental and social psychology (e.g., implicit attitude measures, fMRI, and PET scans, and other indirect tests). Some scientists regard psychoanalysis as a pseudoscience. Some critics have an appreciation for Freud’s interpretation because of the popularity of his psychoanalytical theories. Other feminist scholars have argued that Freud opened up society to female sexuality, with French feminism based on psychoanalysis. The theory significantly influenced literary critics as they apply the approach of a tripartite model for analyzing the literary characters and its actions. Psychoanalytic Criticism is the theory that relates the author to the text. For example, if a client’s reaction was not consistent with the psychosexual theory then an alternate explanation would be given (e.g. Although Freud's writings are the most influential, some interpretations employ the concepts of heretical psychoanalysts, notably Adler, Jung, and Klein. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. in order to illuminate aspects of literature in its … TS: "Psychoanalysis was born of a basic lie: There was no therapy, only an intimate conversation between two persons." But is this fair? One of the criticism is that analytical psychotherapy is like a religion worship, according to McGowan(1974), in What’s Wrong With Jung, examines the lack of proof and scientific research in Jungian psychology. The purpose of Derrida’s analysis is not to refute Freud, which would only reaffirm traditional metaphysics, but to reveal an undecidability at the heart of his project. Criticisms come from those who object to the notion that there are mechanisms, thoughts or feelings in the mind that could be unconscious. Psychoanalysis grew in its influence over the course of the early twentieth century, but it was not without its critics. However, there is no clean break between the theories of Freud and Jung. Some even feel derision for Freud's school of thought. Psychoanalysis is rarely used now in its original form but it is still used in a shorter version in some cases. How to Build Trust in a Relationship Using CBT? Freud’s insistence, in the first chapter of The Ego and the Id, that philosophers will recoil from his theory of the unconscious is clearly a forbear to Derrida’s understanding of metaphysical ‘self-presence’. Many authors have attempted to integrate the various theories, with limited success. Other schools of psychology have produced alternative methods for psychotherapy, including behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, Gestalt therapy and person-centered psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis arose from an appreciation of the power of people talking directly to one another about questions that matter and issues that are difficult to understand. Other commentators, such as Edward Timms, author of Karl Kraus – Apocalyptic Satirist, have argued that Kraus respected Freud, though with reservations about the application of some of his theories, and that his views were far less black-and-white than Szasz suggests. The beginnings of this modern tradition are found in Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), which provides a method of interpreting apparently unimportant details of narratives as ‘displacements’ of repressed wishes or anxieties. Exchanges between critics and defenders of psychoanalysis have often been so heated that they have come to be characterized as the Freud Wars. Early critics of psychoanalysis believed that its theories were based too little on quantitative and experimental research, and too much on the clinical case study method. The greatest criticism of the psychodynamic approach is that it is unscientific in its analysis of human behavior. Some post-colonialists argue that psychoanalysis imposes a white, European model of human development on those without European heritage, hence they will argue Freud’s theories are a form or instrument of intellectual imperialism. One response to this state of affairs is to argue that psychoanalytic theory itself has evolved since Freud, and that it is therefore unfair to bind psychoanalysis so tightly to the Freudian vision of repressed infantile sexual and aggressive urges, symbolically represented in dreams, errors, and symptoms, and revealed on the couch through free association. Jacques Derrida incorporated aspects of psychoanalytic theory into deconstruction in order to question what he called the ‘metaphysics of presence’. This deconstruction of Freud casts doubt upon the possibility of delimiting psychoanalysis as a rigorous science. The idea of “unconscious” is contested because human behavior can be observed while human mental activity has to be inferred. Supporting criticism regarding the validity of psychoanalytic therapeutic technique, numerous outcome studies have shown that its efficacy is related to the quality of the therapist, rather than the psychoanalytic school or technique or training, while a French 2004 report from INSERM (Study removed by decision of the French Health Minister Douste-Blazy), says instead, that psychoanalysis therapy is far less effective than other psychotherapies (among which Cognitive behavioral therapy). Which of the following is a criticism of evolutionary psychology? Psychoanalysis, in this regard, greatly depends upon these three parts to analyze someone’s personality or the way someone behaves. Psychoanalysis is the used in medical knowledge to cure people from mental disorders while psychoanalytic criticism use as a technique of psychoanalysis to describe literary work. Popper did not object to the idea that some mental processes could be unconscious but to investigations of the mind that were not falsifiable. For example, although Freud defines religion and metaphysics as displacements of the identification with the father in the resolution of the Oedipal complex, Derrida insists in The Postcard: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond that the prominence of the father in Freud’s own analysis is itself indebted to the prominence given to the father in Western metaphysics and theology since Plato. Freud's development of psychoanalysis laid the groundwork for many other forms of psychotherapy. The book Anti-Freud: Karl Kraus’s Criticism of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry, originally published under the name Karl Kraus and the Soul Doctors, portrayed Kraus as a harsh critic of Sigmund Freud and of psychoanalysis in general. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. An increasing amount of empirical research from academic psychologists and psychiatrists has begun to address this criticism. Grünbaum argues that psychoanalytic based theories are falsifiable, but that the causal claims of psychoanalysis are unsupported by the available clinical evidence. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). Jung’s analytical psychology is an elaborate explanation of human nature that combines ideas from history, mythology, anthropology and religion (Schultz & … Freud maintained a narrow focus on innate biological drives as the primary motivating force b… defense mechanisms, reaction formation). Given these many valid criticisms of psychoanalytic theory, it is probably wise to approach Freud and his theories with a grain of salt. Both Freud and psychoanalysis have been criticized in very extreme terms. Psychoanalytic Criticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. The works of noted practitioners Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are particularly influential in this field, but other approaches to psychology may be integrated as well. Thus Derrida thinks that even though Freud remains within a theologico-metaphysical tradition of “phallogocentrism”, Freud nonetheless criticizes that tradition. Peter Medawar, an immunologist, said in 1975 that psychoanalysis is the “most stupendous intellectual confidence trick of the twentieth century”. Show Less. Role of CBT in Enhancement of Emotional Intelligence. A comparable exercise is Wilson's essay ‘The Ambiguity of Henry James’ (1934), which interprets the ghosts in The Turn of the Screw as imaginary projections of the governess's repressed sexual desires. Ricoeur claimed that psychoanalysis emphasizes the polyvocal or many-voiced qualities of language, focusing on utterances that mean more than one thing. And many of us are asking wh… In fact, many contemporary psychologists view psychoanalysis with skepticism. Discusses the controversy surrounding psychoanalysis. What is crucial to modern psychoanalytic theory and practice is the power of the unconscious and the transference phenomenon. Evaluating the Criticisms of Freud's Theory of Psychoanalysis Kristen M. Beystehner Northwestern University. Why embracing pain, discomfort, or suffering, is a need for happiness? Some even accused Freud of fabrication, most famously in the case of Anna O. Some significant criticisms are listed below. When reading the news, interacting on social media, or in everyday conversation, many of us seek to understand “what motivates people?”. Two later papers-"Freud and Jung: Contrasts" and the introduction to a book by W. M. Kranefeldt-together form a basis for further study of Jung's reassessment of psychoanalysis. A third possible object of analysis, after the author and the fictional protagonist, is the readership. Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology. A survey of scientific research suggested that while personality traits corresponding to Freud’s oral, anal, Oedipal, and genital phases can be observed, they do not necessarily manifest as stages in the development of children. From:  René Laforgue reported Martha Freud saying, “I must admit that if I did not realize how seriously my husband takes his treatments, I should think that psychoanalysis is a form of pornography.” To Martha there was something vulgar about psychoanalysis, and she dissociated herself from it. While we don't have the room here to discuss all of Freud's work, a general overview is necessary to explain psychoanalytic literary criticism. In other words, if it were possible to connect every conceivable experimental outcome with Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind, then no experiment could refute the theory. Gérard Mendel, had instead published La révolte contre le père (1968) and Pour décoloniser l’enfant (1971). Here the question is why certain kinds of story have such a powerful appeal to us, and numerous answers have been given in Freudian terms, usually focusing on the overcoming of fears (as in Gothic fiction) or the resolution of conflicting desires (as in comedy and romance). It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a … Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. It ignores non-genetic factors in determining human behavior. A. Some find that his psychological approach is a unique way to analyze a piece of art. The papers in this volume contain the essentials of that criticism, especially "The Theory of Psychoanalysis," a lecture series given at Fordham University in 1912. The criticisms of Freud's theory can be grouped into three general categories. These studies also have not confirmed that such traits in adults result from childhood experiences (Fisher & Greenberg, 1977, p. 399). Criticisms also have been leveled against the idea of "infantile sexuality" (the recognition that children between ages two and six imagine things about procreation). The Unconscious, the Desires, and the Defenses Key Factors Determining our Emotional Health. For example, the philosopher Paul Ricoeur argued that psychoanalysis can be considered a type of textual interpretation or hermeneutics. Ambitious interpretations of literary works as symptoms betraying the authors' neuroses are found in ‘psychobiographies’ of writers, such as Marie Bonaparte's Edgar Poe (1933), which diagnoses sadistic necrophilia as the problem underlying Poe's tales. A form of literary interpretation that employs the terms of psychoanalysis (the unconscious, repression, the Oedipus complex, etc.) Derrida also turns some of these ideas against Freud, to reveal tensions and contradictions in his work. A more sophisticated study in this vein is E. Wilson's The Wound and the Bow (1941). Like cultural critics and literary scholars, Ricoeur contended, psychoanalysts spend their time interpreting the nuances of language — the language of their patients. B. Jacques Lacan criticized the emphasis of some American and British psychoanalytical traditions on what he has viewed as the suggestion of imaginary “causes” for symptoms, and recommended the return to Freud. In November 1968, disguising themselves under the pseudonym André Stéphane, they published L’univers Contestationnaire, in which they assumed that the left-wing rioters of May 68 were totalitarian stalinists, and psychoanalyzed them saying that they were affected by a sordid infantilism caught up in an Oedipal revolt against the Father. Although his work formed the basis for modern psychology, that basis was lacking in empiricism and falsifiability, and his students and followers bore the larger burden of providing evidence to back the resulting psychological theories. Psychoanalysis and the Cinema By Nasrullah Mambrol on August 5, 2017 • ( 4). While Grunberger and Chasseguet-Smirgel were still disguised under the pseudonym, Lacan remarked that for sure none of the authors belonged to his school, as none would debase themselves to such low drivel. In 1895 the Grand Café of Paris hosted the first movie event of history, while at the same time Studies in Hysteria by Joseph Breuer and Sigmund Freud hit the shelves of bookshops in Vienna. The idea of unconscious, and the transference phenomenon, have been widely researched and, it is claimed, validated in the fields of cognitive psychology and social psychology (Westen & Gabbard 2002), though a Freudian interpretation of unconscious mental activity is not held by the majority of cognitive psychologists. For example, Jung’s theories on alchemy as externalized individuation were rooted in Freud’s ideas on projection but factored in culture and spiritual teachings. In literary theory and criticism psychoanalysis is a mode of interpreting literary works from the standpoint of the psychological theory of the unconscious. Many of the concepts central to Freud's theories are subjective, and as such, difficult to test scientifically. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, in their 1972 work Anti-Œdipus, take the cases of Gérard Mendel, Bela Grunberger and Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, prominent members of the most respected associations (IPa), to suggest that, traditionally, psychoanalysis enthusiastically embraces a police state: “ As to those who refuse to be oedipalized in one form or another, at one end or the other in the treatment, the psychoanalyst is there to call the asylum or the police for help. He studied the three major aspects that are responsible for creating human reactions. ”. PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). He pigeonholed human personality into Ego, id and the superego. As withsom… (1856—1939) founder of psychoanalysis, See all related overviews in Oxford Reference Oedipus is one of those things that becomes all the more dangerous the less people believe in it; then the cops are there to replace the high priests. Psychoanalytic criticism has some distinction from psychoanalysis in interpreting behavior. Peer Commentary. », View all related items in Oxford Reference », Search for: 'psychoanalytic criticism' in Oxford Reference ». Psychological criticism is an approach to literary criticism that interprets writings, authors, and readers through a psychological lens. Ricoeur classified psychoanalysis as a hermeneutics of suspicion. It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a … The police on our side!—never did psychoanalysis better display its taste for supporting the movement of social repression, and for participating in it with enthusiasm. Each of these intellectual and socially engaged activities is based on premises (about text, psyche and culture) that undermine familiar or received wisdom. The 'parts' of the theory have been listed as: infantile or childhood sexual trauma as the cause of hysteria; the pan-sexualism of mental life which makes every trend revert to the sexual; the mechanism of repression and displacement; the unconscious; sexuo-symbolism; the curing of neuroses by psycho-(sexuo-) analysis; and so on. In so doing, however, they have set the terms of the public debate and have led many analysts, I believe mistakenly, down an indefensible path of trying to defend a 75 to 100-year-old version of a theory and therapy that has changed substantially since Freud laid its foundations at the turn of the century.” A further consideration with respect to cost is that in circumstances when lower cost treatment is provided to the patient as the analyst is funded by the government, then psychoanalytic treatment occurs at the expense other forms of more effective treatment. The subtler forms of psychoanalytic criticism make allowance for ambiguous and contradictory significances, rather than merely discovering hidden sexual symbolism in literary works. Notably Lacan, mentioned this book with great disdain. Cinema and psychoanalysis were born around the same time. A form of literary interpretation that employs the terms of psychoanalysis (the unconscious, repression, the Oedipus complex, etc.) For one, Freud's theory says that personality development occurs during childhood, but many modern psychologists say that this development is lifelong. The subtler forms of psychoanalytic criticism make allowance for ambiguous and contradictory significances, rather than merely discovering hidden sexual symbolism in literary works. Some proponents of psychoanalysis suggest that its concepts and theories are more akin to those found in the humanities than those proper to the physical and biological/medical sciences, though Freud himself tried to base his clinical formulations on a hypothetical neurophysiology of energy transformations. Criticism of analytical psychotherapy (Carl Jung) Carl Jung has develops a theory of personality that was totally different with Freud Psychoanalysis. 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