Select Category: Where to? Most people without an interest in psychoanalysis do not know what it is. To the man in the street, psychoanalysis — indeed, anything carrying the prefix psy- — denotes something in the field of psychology, and so this is the closest reference most people have. To the uninitiated psychoanalysis is sometimes looked upon as a form of psychotherapy, and this is not wrong: many psychoanalysts practice as psychoanalytic psychotherapists. And it is of course true that although he claimed to have read more books on the subject of archaeology than on psychology, Freud himself thought of psychoanalysis as a branch of psychology as he says so himself here.
But talk to someone who describes themselves as a psychologist — at least here in the UK — and you will most likely to find them ambivalent if not downright hostile towards psychoanalysis, and towards Freud in particular. What does Lacan make of the tendency to subsume psychoanalysis into the realm of psychology?
In contrast to what seems to be the view of the general public, and perhaps Freud himself, Lacan is exceedingly eager to distance psychoanalysis from the realm of psychology. One of the ideas that Lacan challenges throughout his teaching is that the surface is the level of the superficial. For Lacan, what we find at the surface for instance, what is being said by someone lying on the couch is precisely what is of importance.
Lacan however believes that it is at the surface that we find the truth. The unconscious is always presented on the surface, never in the depths. The Mobius band is perhaps one way to illustrate this idea topographically. Whilst it is essentially just a strip of paper, twisted, and joined at each end, its distinguishing feature is that it only has one surface.
Whilst it appears to have a top and an underside, if you run your finger over it you find that they are both the same. This is a useful tangible representation of the topology of the unconscious. What kind of psychology does he have in mind? At the very least, we can say that Lacan is talking about a post-psychoanalytical psychology, so what are its central tenets and how do they differ from those of psychoanalysis? It might, we can imagine, be the kind of ego psychology that was burgeoning in the United States in the s, the very time that we find the most references critical of psychology in his Seminar.
Are the criticisms that Lacan made then still valid today? Psychology without the symbolic. One of the primary distinctions Lacan tries to effect between psychology and psychoanalysis is to encourage us to think about human psychology less on the model of animal behaviour, and think instead of human subjects as existing in a signifying network, a structure, the key feature that separates the human world from the animal world.
In Seminar XI he elaborates on this:. The relations between beings in the real, including all of you animated beings out there, might be produced in terms of inversely reciprocal relations. This is what psychology, and a whole area of sociology, is trying to do, and may succeed in doing as far as the mere animal kingdom is concerned, for the capture of the imaginary is enough to motivate all sorts of behaviour in the living being.
Psycho-analysis reminds us that human psychology belongs to another dimension. To maintain this dimension, philosophical analysis might have sufficed, but it has proved itself to be inadequate, for lack of any adequate definition of the unconscious. As Lacan sees it, the project of psychology is to plot all human relations, and human subjectivity, on this axis. Whilst here Lacan is attacking this as a mistake, we can argue that for a while in his work Lacan himself does exactly this: the period from the early thirties to the late-forties might be seen as the period where Lacan progressively develops a theory of subjectivity based on the determining properties of the image.
Subjectivity, for Lacan, is inseparable from a theory of language that privileges the mobility of the signifier. A difference in the intelligence, the flexibility, and the complexity of the apparatuses involved cannot be the only means of explaining that absence. If we think of human subjectivity as being a product of a structure that is composed of signifiers it follows that we cannot think of subjectivity in terms of psychology.
The signifier — its autonomy in the sense that it can act as a referent to more than one thing — is the key aspect of the symbolic processes that Lacan highlights to his audience continually through the Seminar. The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Am Psychol. The effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: A systematic review of empirical studies. Fonagy P. The effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapies: An update.
World Psychiatry. Psychoanalysis today. Solms ML. The neurobiological underpinnings of psychoanalytic theory and therapy. Front Behav Neurosci. Redmond J, Shulman M. Access to psychoanalytic ideas in American undergraduate institutions. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. Cieri F, Esposito R. Psychoanalysis and neuroscience: The bridge between mind and brain. Front Psychol. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellMind. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.
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Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Basic Tenets. Key Ideas. Pros and Cons. Support and Criticism. Its Past and Present. Psychoanalysis Today. Who Were the Neo-Freudians? The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud.
Unconscious Mind Thoughts, urges, or feelings that are unpleasant, difficult, or even socially unacceptable. Buried because they can bring about pain or conflict. Can sometimes be brought into awareness using certain techniques.
Conscious Mind Thoughts, feelings, and urges that we are aware of or can easily bring into awareness. Not hidden or suppressed. May be influenced by unconscious thoughts, feelings, or memories. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD Using the criteria established for evidence-based treatment, traditional psychoanalysis alone does not, in fact, pass muster as a method of therapy for the large majority of psychological disorders.
Freud's Contributions to Psychology. Susan Krauss Whitbourne, PhD Psychologists today talk about the psychodynamic , not the psychoanalytic perspective. Family and friends of people with Alzheimer's disease discuss their experiences and how to recognise the early signs. Well-managed anger can be a useful emotion that motivates you to make positive changes. There are many people you can talk to who can help you overcome feelings of wanting to lash out. A common misconception is that anorexia nervosa only affects young women, but it affects males and females of all ages.
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The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website. Skip to main content. Mental illness. Home Mental illness. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. Conditions treated by psychoanalysis The unconscious mind Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy Finding a professional psychoanalyst The patient—therapist relationship The psychotherapy session Where to get help Things to remember.
Conditions treated by psychoanalysis Some of the problems treated by psychoanalysis include: Depression Generalised anxiety Sexual problems Self-destructive behaviour Persistent psychological problems, disorders of identity Psychosomatic disorders Phobias Obsessive compulsive disorders.
Once you have identified a potential psychoanalyst, make a call to set up an initial consultation. During this consultation, you can further explore if psychoanalytic therapy is the right approach for you.
Psychoanalytic therapy is just one mental health treatment approach that you may want to consider. Always talk to your doctor or therapist to determine which psychotherapy method might be the most effective for your individual needs.
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The interpretation of dreams: The complete and definitive text. Basic Books; Shedler J. The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Am Psychol. Fonagy P. The effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapies: An update. World Psychiatry. Leichsenring F, Rabung S. Effectiveness of long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy: A meta-analysis.
The effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: A systematic review of empirical studies. Harv Rev Psychiatry. Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for functional somatic disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of within-treatment effects. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.
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