Posted by pseudoname on June 12, 2006, at 8:41:52
The June Prospect Magazine has an essay by a psychiatrist and the magazine's editor on the current state of psychoanalysis, comparing it to CBT. I think it vastly overstates CBT's effectiveness (see for instance Reggie's post above), but what drives me nuts about most of these "Freud at 150" pieces is the vague hand-waving about what psychoanalysis "explains".
They say Freud "sought to find a language that was commensurate to" the "inherently perverse, self-destructive drives of human nature".
No one could describe human nature or its perversities before Freud?! The language commensurate to the task was everyday speech.
After lauding him for providing "a blueprint of how the mind works", the authors then say that he got a lot wrong scientifically and misanalyzed his patients. What! How could they know? What on earth could be the standard to judge their claims against? Especially since -- as the authors admit up front -- there has never been a demonstrable outcome measure for psychoanalysis. It's just drops of consciousness from the torrent of unconscious thought.
Exasperating.
Without explicitly naming Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, DBT, or any of the other "third wave" therapies that involve mindfulness training, the authors nevertheless dismiss the trend as a "fanciful pairing" with Buddhism that "has got nothing to do with the scientific method that cognitivism relies on".
Sort of like saying breathing has nothing to do with the scientific method that pulmonology relies on. Duh! But you can look at breathing scientifically.
They criticize mindfulness in therapy because "the practice of Buddhism does not encourage talking about your problems". Okay, so Buddhists might not be engaging in this therapy -- OR IN PSYCHOANALYSIS! But can other people use these techniques? Is there some law that only Buddhists are allowed to be mindful? Arrgh!
Does the power of critical thinking utterly leave people when they become psychiatrists?
• “After Freud” by Alexander Linklater and Robert Harland. Prospect Magazine; June 2006 http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7457
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thread:655857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060604/msgs/655857.html