FREUDIAN PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

hcommons.org, 2023

“Many traditional Freudian approaches to treatment are no longer in favor, but modern psychoanalytic therapy continues to play an important role in psychology today.” “Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious, psychoanalysis in its classic form is a lengthy process, often involving 2 to 5 sessions per week for several years.” “Of key importance in psychoanalytic therapy is transference. Freud had originally noticed that his patients sometimes felt and acted toward him as if he were an important person from the patient’s past.” “Eysenck (1952) delivered the most damaging indictment of psychoanalysis when he reviewed studies of therapeutic outcomes for neurotic patients. He found that about half recovered within two years. What was so damning for psychoanalysis was that for similar patients who received no treatment at all (waiting list controls), the figure was about two thirds.” (https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html) Many psychoanalytic concepts such as “transference” or “repression” simply are not measurable. On top of that, “In psychoanalysis, narrative explanations of character (personality) or sexual orientation almost always describe how the child solved the Oedipus conflict.” The Oedipus Complex is a bulls**t concept by a bulls**t academic (Mechanisms and fundamental principles in Freudian explanations, Ståle Gundersen THE SCANDINAVIAN PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW 2022, VOL. 45, NO. 2, 87–95 https://doi.org/10.1080/01062301.2023.2274145© 2023) John Bargh, a researcher into the Unconscious, observes researchers from neuroscience, behavioral psychology, as well as cognitive psychology have achieved is a consensus that 1) the Unconscious is the work horse of the human mind 2) that a large portion of the processing in the unconscious are to a great degree beyond the awareness of "knowledge" of the conscious mind. " Furthermore, Bargh’s research indicates that some unconscious processes operate independently from conscious processes and do have “goals” and plans that the unconscious processes pursue. On top of that Bargh states that there is evidence that these unconscious processes beyond that conscious processes can't directly access awareness also make adjustments to the unconscious goals-plans when confronted with problems or obstacles, and continue to actively pursue that those unconscious goals that conscious processes are not aware of.

A Brief Summary of Freud's Psychosexually Based Psychological pPerspective

Having discussed two of the basic approaches to literary understanding, the traditional and the formalistic, we now examine a third interpretive perspective, the psychological. Of all the critical approaches to literature, this has been one of the most controversial, the most abused, and-for many readers-the least appreciated. Yet, for all the difficulties involved in its proper application to interpretive analysis, the psychological approach can be fascinating and rewarding. Our purpose in this chapter is threefold: (1) to account briefly for the misunderstanding of psychological criticism; (2) to outline the psychological theory most commonly used as an interpretive tool by modern critics; and (3) to show by examples how readers may apply this mode of interpretation to enhance their understanding and appreciation of literature.

“Many traditional Freudian approaches to treatment are no longer in favor, but modern psychoanalytic therapy continues to play an important role in psychology today.” “Due to the nature of defense mechanisms and the inaccessibility of the deterministic forces operating in the unconscious, psychoanalysis in its classic form is a lengthy process, often involving 2 to 5 sessions per week for several years.” “Of key importance in psychoanalytic therapy is transference. Freud had originally noticed that his patients sometimes felt and acted toward him as if he were an important person from the patient’s past.” “Eysenck (1952) delivered the most damaging indictment of psychoanalysis when he reviewed studies of therapeutic outcomes for neurotic patients. He found that about half recovered within two years. What was so damning for psychoanalysis was that for similar patients who received no treatment at all (waiting list controls), the figure was about two thirds.” (https://www.simplypsychology.org/psychoanalysis.html) Many psychoanalytic concepts such as “transference” or “repression” simply are not measurable. On top of that, “In psychoanalysis, narrative explanations of character (personality) or sexual orientation almost always describe how the child solved the Oedipus conflict.” The Oedipus Complex is a bulls**t concept by a bulls**t academic (Mechanisms and fundamental principles in Freudian explanations, Ståle Gundersen THE SCANDINAVIAN PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW 2022, VOL. 45, NO. 2, 87–95 https://doi.org/10.1080/01062301.2023.2274145© 2023) The prominent psychologist, John Bargh (PhD), in his book, "Before You Know It," observes that, "while his [Freud's] emphasis on unconscious drives was without a question a ground shaking insight, in effect Freud demonized the unconscious operations of the normal mind, claiming that each of us harbored a separate unconscious netherworld of dark, twisted urges that we could exorcise only through psychotherapy.....,.In his extensive and detailed theorizing, Freud presented the unconscious mind as a seething cauldron of maladaptive complexes bent on causing trouble and grief, which could only be overcome through the intervention of our conscious mind." (p.11-12) In short, Freud "Demonized" the unconscious needs and drives in a very biased manner, effectively degrading and dehumanizing, as Sartre pointed out, a pivotal aspect of being human. What Bargh-and most other psychologists leave out-is that Freud also demonized religion and religious beliefs in described the fundamental drive of religion based on the Oedipal Complex-which, on the face of it, is a story about a man murdering his father (overthrowing his father) in order to fornicate with his mother. My personal experience is that much of psychiatry is seriously biased against spirituality as well as transcendental spiritual experiences-and it seems clear to me some of that prejudice originates with Freud.

2001

The aim of the review is to discuss what the mind must be like for the psychoanalytic term like "the unconscious" to be meaningfully applied. Freud's two systems called the unconscious (Ucs.) and the preconscious-conscious (Pcs.-Cs.) are introduced and their replacement with alternative categories such as id, ego, and superego is discussed. In the light of mental conflict the paper covers problems that are associated with the application of Freud's structural theory, taking into consideration the changing view of what constitutes normal as well as pathological mental functioning. The paper suggests changes to Freud's structural and topographical agencies. It is concluded that the idea of separate mental agencies as suggested by Freud is untenable and that it should be replaced by one that better fit the data that one is attempting to order or explain.

2020

The author provides a detailed study of Freud’s mind-body views. Freud developed a pragmatic dualist-interactionist view maintaining a distinction between the material body and the mental subjective world. He focused on what went on within the mind in relation to the necessity to reduce tensions experienced within the lived-in body, caused by physiological changes in the material body. He focused upon a particular link between mental processes and the organic substrate of sexual physiology.