Guest guest Posted April 7, 2000 Report Share Posted April 7, 2000 In a message dated 4/7/00 6:29:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Robert_Weil writes: << I have an essay I wrote many moons ago on turn of the century Vienna, when Freud and Hitler were there, if anyone wants it. I was amazed on researching for it how much anti-semitism and proto-nazism there was back then, in Vienna, and the reasons for both. Very instructive about Freud's and more indirectly, Hitler's background. Got a B for it too <g>... It's on this pc, so easy to send. Love >> Hello Rob, You've captured my interest, my boy! Sent it along, if you don't mind (l'll condescend to read it even tho it's only a B. :) love, jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 At 19:07 07/04/00 EDT, you wrote: >In a message dated 4/7/00 6:29:03 AM Pacific Daylight Time, >Robert_Weil writes: > ><< > I have an essay I wrote many moons ago on turn of the century Vienna, when > Freud and Hitler were there, if anyone wants it. I was amazed on > researching for it how much anti-semitism and proto-nazism there was back > then, in Vienna, and the reasons for both. Very instructive about Freud's > and more indirectly, Hitler's background. Got a B for it too <g>... > > It's on this pc, so easy to send. > > Love >> > > Hello Rob, > You've captured my interest, my boy! Sent it along, if you don't mind >(l'll condescend to read it even tho it's only a B. :) > love, > jerry Morning, Jerry, Piqued your interest, eh? Now the trick is to work out what about it only ranked a "B"... )) BTW, you're very welcome. Love Rob > >------ >Get a NextCard Visa, in 30 seconds! >1. Fill in the brief application >2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds >3. Get rates as low as 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR >Apply NOW! >http://click./1/2646/5/_/520931/_/955148825/ >------ > >// > >All paths go somewhere. No path goes nowhere. Paths, places, sights, perceptions, and indeed all experiences arise from and exist in and subside back into the Space of Awareness. Like waves rising are not different than the ocean, all things arising from Awareness are of the nature of Awareness. Awareness does not come and go but is always Present. It is Home. Home is where the Heart Is. Jnanis know the Heart to be the Finality of Eternal Being. A true devotee relishes in the Truth of Self-Knowledge, spontaneously arising from within into It Self. Welcome all to a. > >To from this list, go to the ONElist web site, at > www., and select the User Center link from the menu bar > on the left. This menu will also let you change your subscription > between digest and normal mode. > > > > > > > ---------- {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\uc1 \deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe1033{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 02020603050405020304}Times New Roman;}{\f21\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\panose 02020404030301010803}Garamond;}{\f403\froman\fcharset238\fprq2 Garamond CE;}{\f404\froman\fcharset204\fprq2 Garamond Cyr;}{\f406\froman\fcharset161\fprq2 Garamond Greek;}{\f407\froman\fcharset162\fprq2 Garamond Tur;}{\f408\froman\fcharset186\fprq2 Garamond Baltic;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue2\ 55;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\gree\ n255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;\ \red0\green128\blue0;\red128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green12\ 8\blue0;\red128\green128\blue128;\red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\qj\sa80\ \sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid \snext0 Normal;}{\*\cs10 \additive Default Paragraph Font;}{\*\cs15 \additive \super \sbasedon10 endnote reference;}{\s34\qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx86\ 40\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid \sbasedon0 \snext34 footer;}{\*\cs36 \additive \fs18\up6 \sbasedon10 footnote reference;}{\s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid \sbasedon0 \snext37 footnote text;}{\s42\qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid \sbasedon0 \snext0 page number;}}{\info{\title National College Of Hypnosis & Psychotherapy}{\author Robert Weil}{\operator Robert Weil}{\creatim\yr1999\mo11\dy22\hr9\min59}{\revtim\yr1999\mo11\dy22\hr9\min59}{\\ version2}{\edmins1}{\nofpages7}{\nofwords3013}{\nofchars17177}{\*\company }{\nofcharsws21094}{\vern71}}\paperw11900\paperh16820 \widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\hyphhotz0\noextrasprl\prcolbl\cvmme\sprsspbf\brkfrm\swp\ bdr\lytprtmet\hyphcaps0\formshade\fracwidth\viewkind4\viewscale90\pgbrdrhead\pgb\ rdrfoot \fet0{\*\ftnsepc \pard\plain \qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {Said to Ernest Jones, who praised the creative atmosphere of Vienna.\chftnsepc \par }}\sectd \linex0\headery709\footery709\colsx709\endnhere\sectdefaultcl {\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta ..}}{\*\pnseclvl2\pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta ..}}{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta ..}}{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl5\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl6\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain \qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {National College Of Hypnosis & Psychotherapy\tab \tab \tab \tab Stage II Essay \par Robert Weil\tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab 1993 \par \par }{\b Psychoanalytic theory and its associated therapy is rooted in Edwardian Viennese society and has no relevance in today\rquote s society. Discuss. \par }{ \par \ldblquote Personally, I absolutely hate Vienna...\rdblquote Freud wrote to Fliess in 1900. However, in keeping with the tenor of his theories, Freud\rquote s feelings were in conflict about the city of his professional life. In 1938 he refused to leave Vienna until practically coerced by friends and family, when the dangers of remaining under Nazi occupation had spiralled into widespread Jewish panic. \par Freud\rquote s family arrived from Freiburg when he was a boy, and fitted themselves into the upper-middle Jewish professional class. He was deeply saddened to leave his childhood home. Viennese society then was highly stratified: overall was the Emperor Franz-Joseph (later to be assassinated, precipitating the bloodiest war yet fought), presiding over a declining empire by means of the social distance of a courtly elite, which required stringent hereditary pedigrees (one had to prove Austro-German ancestry through eleven generations \endash on both sides \endash for entry). Then came the upper-middle classes, mostly Austro-German, strongly nationalistic, although many second and third generation Jews had earned themselves a place within it (Freud\rquote s family included), and had made conscious, even self-conscious, efforts to become Austro-German. Non-Zionists and supporting the Emperor, they were becoming so distanced from lower Jewish classes that in 1885 the Chairman of the Austrian Israelite Union voiced the need for combating Jewish anti-semitism: Jews must stop hating themselves. \par Self-hate was unnecessary. There was strong anti-semitic feeling in fin-de-siècle Vienna already, not least brought about by the massive influx to Vienna of Eastern European Jews fleeing Russian pogroms and hoping for a better life in the Austro-Hungarian capital. The number of Jews in Vienna more than doubled from 1869 to 1890}{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Friedrich Heer: \ldblquote Freud, the Viennese Jew\rdblquote , from }{\i Freud: the Man, his World, his Influence}{, ed. J. Miller, 1972.}}}{. This fuelled tensions there because many of these Jews became the slum-ridden underclass, the mass from which prostitution and other socially abhorred but privately condoned activities were spawned. Non-Jews, such as Dr. Karl Lüger (described later by the Fascists as \rdblquote the first Führer\rdblquote ) became vocal and irascible: \ldblquote What are wolves, lions, panthers, leopards, tigers, men themselves, compared to these predators in human guise?\rdblquote Lüger spoke vehemently against the Jews\rquote \ldblquote fanatical hatred\rdblquote , their \ldblquote unquenchable thirst for revenge\rdblquote , begging the observation that, in Freud\rquote s terms, there appears to be a certain amount of }{\i projection}{ in evidence in these statements. His Christian Social Party became the prototype of the Fascists\rquote National Socialist Party and gained strong support, culminating in his appointment as Mayor of the city in the early years of the 20th century. \par Vienna was a melting pot of the twelve nations of the Danube. From 1840 to 1910 the city\rquote s population grew five times over. But it was the Jews who, because of their rapid growth in numbers and their gradual prosperity, attracted the hatred of those who felt their Vienna to be defiled by foreign blood. Young Adolf Hitler, living in the slums of Vienna, where in most dwellings several people shared single cots in shifts, later called the slums (in }{\i Mein Kampf)}{ a Babel, a hell caused by the intermingling of nationalities and races. He, like many at that time, had a horror of protracting venereal disease (\ldblquote The fear of infection overshadowed one\rquote s whole soul...\rdblquote : Stephan Zweig), and in time came to blame VD, prostitution and lasciviousness on the Jews. Freud entered the University of Vienna in 1873, but had to wait until 1902 to get a Professorship (and then without a Chair). The stock market crash of 1873 in Vienna and Berlin was blamed by many on Jewish cupidity. The University when he entered was made up one third of Jews, which precipitated much anti-semitism there. Freud changed his name to Sigmund in 1878; Sigismund was used in anti-semitic jokes, and probably drew too many unwelcome jibes. He eventually abandoned his lectures in neuropathology at Vienna in 1916 to concentrate on his psychoanalytical practice. \par Hypocrisy was endemic in Vienna too. The gap between rich and cultured and poor and illiterate was bridged by an illicit trade in prostitution. It was a vice perpetrated widely but never openly acknowledged, entailing a horror of catching sexual diseases by the stalwart members of Viennese society. Karl Kraus, satirist, polemicist and admired man of his time, railed against a society whose hypocrisy in matters sexual had created a \ldblquote Chinese Wall\rdblquote of predjudice and division, \ldblquote a pathological result of allowing morality to cripple sexual feelings...\rdblquote He was however no admirer of Freud\rquote s theories: he later rejected psychoanalysis as \ldblquote the disease of which it purports to be the cure\rdblquote . \par Café society was at its peak in Vienna: the educational system\rquote s belief in }{\i Allgemeinbildung}{ \endash the idea of universal culture in both arts and sciences \endash and the ease of intellectual intercourse in the cafés meant that Vienna was a hothouse of ideas and beliefs. Artists, writers, thinkers and scientists were in abundance.But Metternich\rquote s secret police was always in evidence, and censorship by the State reached an apogee during the First World War. However, the defeat of the German allies, the destruction of the Empire and the terrible toll of the war doomed Viennese life to a shadow of its former self, and it never attained its former vivacity. It was eventually handed over to the Nazis in 1938 by its own Chancellor. \par In conclusion then, Vienna was a turbulent brew of rigid but not impermeable classes, which included an aristocratic froth, an upper-middle class containing a professional Jewish community trying to extricate itself from its own \ldblquote Jewishness\rdblquote , and a growing mass of mixed races (largely Jewish) as a proletariat, all living in a disintegrating empire, liberally coloured by nationalism and anti-semitism, tightly laced with sexual propriety but alive with sexual commerce, doomed to become an embodiment of the Nazi New Order. In this society Sigmund Freud grew up and developed his theories. \par It is perhaps no surprise that Freud\rquote s concept of repression came about in such a culture of conflict and denial. He was aware of his society\rquote s hypocrisies and dilemmas: the main body of his patients were from the cultured classes, and yet evinced many hidden sexual fears and wishes (as in the case of Little Hans, 1909) and aggressive phantasies (as in the case of the Rat Man, 1907-09). \par Perhaps the most interesting development in his early theories is the change in emphasis he placed on childhood sexuality between 1896 and 1897. His initial \ldblquote Seduction Theory\rdblquote }{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Freud: }{\i The Aetiology of Hysteria.}}}{ pinned the neuroses and hysterias of his patients down to a sexual experience in early childhood \endash the \ldblquote Primal Scene\rdblquote . This was described as a passive sexual experience, of little note to the child at the time, and which was deferred to puberty, when a fresh experience revived it and caused it to be repressed by the Super-Ego. Repression led to neurosis or obsessional behaviours. If the child was passive, the adult partner (or older child) was predatory, hence the name \ldblquote Seduction Theory\rdblquote . \par How might this have been received among the middle- and upper-middle class patients in turn-of -the-century Vienna? One can only conjecture: one and a half years later, Freud rewrote the theory, in which he claimed a) to have discovered the \ldblquote impulse\rdblquote , which he said was the actual target of a defence (rather than the event itself as target) and which caused repression of impulses incompatible with Superego morality, and b) the primal scene had no historical accuracy \endash recollections of seduction or rape were }{\i fiction}{. Many people have speculated on the socio-psychological implications of this change in tack, but given what we know of Viennese society, it may have been too explosive a theory in its original form, and may have threatened Freud\rquote s professional survival. However, in his defence, the concept of an impulse in itself is a worthy addition to his theory, in that it allows the child to have its own feelings and wishes in a sexual context (even if it does not see \ldblquote sexual\rdblquote in the same light as an adult). This was permissive thinking for his time. \par Whether Freud was correct in ascribing such pervasive influence to sexual impulses is a moot point: However it can be seen from where his material came. Whether there actually was a high incidence of childhood sexual experiences (nowadays called \ldblquote sexual abuse\rdblquote ) is impossible to gauge, but Freud must have been aware of the reality for the patients of their real or imagined memories.Perhaps it was as well for him to concentrate initially on the sexual preoccupations he found, even if, as Jung claimed, he extended sexuality too far, especially in childhood, the Oedipus Complex and the Libido. \par Freud\rquote s theories are suffused with mythological allusions; the Oedipus Complex, the Electra Complex (a much less plausible theory to account for similar dynamics in girls), narcissism (the introjection of libidinous impulses towards oneself \endash his explanation for psychosis) and, most famously, totemic symbols in dreams with (usually) sexual meanings. Still chasing the demon of sexuality, Freud believed that \ldblquote sexual exchange is the basis of culture and communication\rdblquote }{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Freud: }{\i Totem and Taboo}{, 1913.}}}{, as evinced by social codes forbidding incest, and the culture of marriage between rather than within families. Here he was still looking at parent-child sexuality, but on a more anthropological level, probably as a means of explaining wider human social mechanisms. Freud was always interested in mythology and tribal symbology, and constantly tried to find a reconciliation between the primal urges of individuals and the \ldblquote civilised\rdblquote codes developed by societies en masse, a very apposite allusion to his own Viennese observations.What drove people to repress their libidinous urges? Why were the attempts so awkward? How could the horror of the Great War come from societies so cultured and orderly? How did fear spring from fascination? \par By 1915, Freud had been appalled by the awesome destruction of life in the Great War, and developed his theories of the \lquote Death Instinct\rquote }{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Freud: }{\i Towards the Death Instinct}{, 1915-1919, and }{\i Beyond the Pleasure Principle}{, 1920.}}}{ between 1915 and 1919. The Death Instinct was an attempt to explain such destructive behaviour as another means for the the discharge of tension in the psychic system. In the case of the Pleasure Principle, stimulus or tension arose which demanded impulsive or wish-fulfilling gratification: the Reality Principle served to postpone this release until an appropriate moment. Similarly, Freud\rquote s Thanatos or Death Instinct was a means of ensuring the the reduction of tension in the system, by aggression or self-destruction, to achieve a state of constancy, ultimately in death itself. \ldblquote The aim of all life is death\rdblquote . He was clearly trying to understand how human beings could be so aggressive and ultimately self-destructive on such a scale, so that this could be harmonised with his previous theories of a psychic system based on control of impulses and inner conflicts. \par His view of his own culture was pessimistic and sometimes bitter: \ldblquote My language is German. My culture, my attainments are German. I considered myself a German intellectual until I noticed the growth of anti-semitic predjudice in german Austria...\rdblquote }{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Martin Esslin: \ldblquote Freud\rquote s Vienna\rdblquote , from }{\i Freud: the Man, his World, his Influence}{, ed. J. Miller, 1972.}}}{ Of Jews he wrote in 1923: \ldblquote …I, of course, belong to a race which in the Middle Ages was held responsible for all the plagues that beset people and which is currently blamed in Austria for the collapse of the Empire and in Germany losing the war. Such experiences are sobering and do not incline one to believe in illusions…\rdblquote Of itself this may be of little consequence to his theories, but he went on: \rdblquote …If we don\rquote t learn, in the course of our development, to divert our destructive impulses from our own kind, if we continue to hate one another for small differences and to kill one another for small gain, if we always use our progress in mastering natural forces for mutual annihilation, what future will there be for us?\rdblquote }{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Letter to Romain Rolland, 1923.}}}{ He saw in the anti-Semitism of post-war Vienna a prime example of the destructive, irrational and powerful impulses of the atavistic psychological mechanism in human beings. \par In 1928, in a reply to Richard Dyer\rquote s beliefs in a Golden West, he wrote: \ldblquote What also seems over-optimistic to me is your judgement that humanity has progressed far enough to react to an appeal such as yours. A very thin top stratum may come up to your expectations, but otherwise all the old levels of culture \endash that of the Middle Ages, of animalistic earlier times, of the Stone Age itself \endash are still active in the great mass of the people\rdblquote . Freud believed, with some justification from the experience of his time, that a limited victory might be possible over the destructive, irrational impulses of the psyche by means of deeper and clearer control by the Ego, the rational mediator between the primal urges of the Id and the artificial strictures of the Super-Ego. But he was not about to hold his breath while waiting for it.\-\~ \par Are Freud\rquote s psychological mechanisms still in evidence in today\rquote s society? Does change equate with improvement? That depends on the way it is measured. Today we are faced with a population explosion that strains our world\rquote s resources; a Cold War only recently finished after thirty years; where the Austro-Hungarian Empire once tried to keep order there are now numerous civil wars involving genocide; in the Middle East a bitter conflict continues between Jew and Arab nations; super-powers feel they can enforce their codes of conduct and political systems on lesser states while terrorism is the new weapon of lesser states\rquote political groups. We can boast of a nuclear destructiveness that can annihilate our species approximately two hundred times over ; there is a massive inequality and ensuing hostility both within and between societies and states over resources, and nationalism and fascism are again on the rise. Irrational fear of AIDS and the sexual hypocrisy of religious leaders and politicians point to continuing repressions of sexuality and its impulses. That said, there is also a rise in environmental awareness and concern over dwindling resources; there is some commitment to third world development and aid; there is widespread education; a huge increase, almost exponential, in all scientific discovery; many chores in life have been alleviated by technology and innovation, and there has been some relaxation in the social acceptability of previously \ldblquote deviant\rdblquote sexuality (although this may be due in part to the complexity of our social structures today). \par The world as a system is a limited-energy structure: Freud\rquote s view of the human psyche was also that it was a limited-energy system, trying to maintain equilibrium. Is our mishandling of our global eco-system a reflection of our mis-handling of our own psychological inner system? In the personal realm, individuals now have a lexicon from Freudian theory by which they can understand or (more frequently) condemn behaviours in themselves and others. This has enhanced the understanding and acceptance of sexual impulses and has paradoxically given more weight to those who seek to control social and sexual behaviour. They can now use a veneer of psychosexual and psychoanalytical \ldblquote expertise\rdblquote of unqualified and unproven effectiveness, but which nonetheless creates strong affects on those on whom it is administered. Similarly, incest taboos, sexual dysfunction, AIDS as a sexually transmitted disease with minority group implications, and childhood sexuality are areas of renewed fear, guilt and anger. Knowledge of Freudian terminology does not rid one or one\rquote s society of the neuroses and repressions to which they refer. Indeed it is possible to use Freudian terminology as a means of repression and projection. \par Therefore, although our understanding has increased through his work, the issues that Freud identified still remain with us. The Papez-MacLean theory of brain evolution supports Freud\rquote s beliefs regarding the origins of our atavistic impulses. MacLean identified three distinct evolutionary stages in the development of the brain: the ancient, reptillian brain, on top of the brain stem, the old mammalian brain encircling it, and the new mammalian brain or neocortex as the outer layer. They seem to be superimposed on one another. MacLean claims that we suffer from \ldblquote schizophysiology\rdblquote , a constitutional dissociation between newer and older brains, because the vertical connections between the limbic systems (the seat of our basic emotions and impulses) and the neocortex (the seat of our reasoning faculties) are relatively few, indirect and slow to react.}{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~From }{\i Maps of the Mind}{, Charles Hampden-Turner, 1981.}}}{ This may partly account for the tremendous difficulties we as a species have in understanding and living with our desires and emotions. We as a species still seem to be involved in conflicts for which we cannot fully explain ourselves rationally. For instance, animals are far less genocidal than our species, respecting surrender signals from their foes, while we often continue to murder in cold blood and seek rationalisations later. \par }\pard \qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright {Other questions need to be addressed: Eric Fromm felt that Freud had a Hobbesian view of humanity, that is, he saw Man not as a social animal, but rather as one whose dangerous instincts must be restrained. But what of introspection and of learning from one\rquote s own experience \endash of transcendance of one\rquote s former state of mind? Did Freud\rquote s theories admit to the possibility of self-awareness leading to a sense of freedom in Frommian terms? Only in a limited sense, as Freud\rquote s view of society in the short term was pessimistic and based on conflict within the psyche. He believed humans seek pleasure instinctually, but life involves more avoidance of pain than experiencing of pleasure. Thus any society that can offer a reduction in the amount of pain experienced would be accepted by human beings, even at the cost of pleasure.}{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Freud: }{\i Civilisation and its Discontents}{, 1930.}}}{ As regards who gained most from civilisation, Freud believed (with Marx) that the majority of its members worked for its upkeep for too little benefit, and that there was a fundamental imbalance of reward in all societies to date. In modern terms, these points are still manifestly true, and as such are a vindication that Freud\rquote s ideas were based on some accurate and perceptive observations, even if the substance of those ideas was cast in his somewhat pessimistic framework. \par Arguments abound regarding whether psychoanalysis, which Freud pioneered, has any beneficial effect, or merely uses the \ldblquote placebo effect\rdblquote of the power of suggestion to lead patients into Freudian realms.Was Freud observing his patients\rquote own psychological mechanisms, or was he inferring his into theirs? Studies}{\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn {\footnote \pard\plain \s37\qj\sa80\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f21\fs20\cf1\cgrid {\cs36\fs18\up6 \chftn }{\~\~Prioleau, Murdock and Brody, 1983. (See also H. J. Eysenck, 1952, and Glass, Smith and Miller, 1980.)}}}{ of psychotherapy versus placebo groups produced statistically insignificant results for the psychotherapy group, but \ldblquote outlyers\rdblquote in the statistics were not allowed proper saliency, and the debate wrangled on. Another difficulty in the debate is that, as psychotherapy is a predominantly }{\i mental}{ phenomenon, how can one claim that the effect of a placebo is somehow a bogus phenomenon if it utilises the same mental mechanism \endash that of the patient\rquote s own belief system? Either way, the psychoanalytic debate can only be resolved by showing the efficacy and relevance of Freud\rquote s psychoanalytic method for the patients. Psychoanalysis is still in danger of being its own disease, as Kraus maintained. We thus need to distinguish between the relevance of Freud\rquote s theories and the efficacy of psychoanalysis in modern society. \par Although psychoanalysis as a method may be of doubtful effectiveness, Freud\rquote s theories and the terminology he created are still of use in present civilisation. They are a means of communicating about feelings and drives in ways that utilise our Reason. They are a reminder to those who would wish on us a simple utopian or moralistic interpretation of humanity in the face of our undeniable inhumanity and atavistic impulses, facts of which Freud had first-hand knowledge. Freud therefore has a right to be studied, without predjudice, before being dismissed as irrelevant. It has been truly said that those who will not learn from history are condemned to repeat it, which represents a repetition-compulsion on a huge scale that we would be wise to resolve \endash if we as a species wish to survive. \par \par }\pard \sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright {\b\i References:\tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab \tab Other Reading: \par }\pard \sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\tqr\tx7920\adjustright {\i Freud}{, by R. Wollheim, 1971\tab }{\i Maps of the Mind,}{ C. Hampden-Turner, 1981 \par }\pard \sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright {\i Freud for Beginners}{, R.Appignanesi & O.Zarate, 1979\tab \tab }{\i Trance}{, B. Inglis, 1990 \par }{\i The Oxford Companion to the Mind}{, R. Gregory, 1987 \par }\pard \qj\sa80\sl360\slmult0\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright {\i Freud: the Man, his World, his Influence}{, ed. J. Miller, 1972. \par }} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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