I doubt all those claims that Freud is totally disproved and discarded...his
paradigm is, in its general lines, still a huge influence on the layman's
personal idea of what psychology and psychiatry are, with regard to ideas
about the Un- or sub-conscious as well as all the other aspects Dan
mentioned. I know respected psychiatrists who still base their practice on
Freudian theory combined with that of others, like Adler and Piaget.
Certainly he has completely affected my own development, as I've received
some kind of counseling since I was ten years old up to the present. I
actually find it impossible to think of the human mind without automatically
conjuring up a basic Freudian image.
Of course Freud is outmoded and cannot provide a comprehensive, whole-cloth,
scientific psychoanalytic theory, but the idea that he must be discarded or
forgotten as quickly as possible is a bizarre one; Freud simply stands to
psychology as Ford stands to car manufacturing. We don't build cars the way
Ford used to, sure, but that doesn't mean much. (Sorry for the silly
analogy, by the way.) There is just so much anger directed at Freud when he
comes up, for some reason, as if he were responsible for everyone's personal
problems with society/their self-image. His misogyny, or his emphasis on
things like early childhood development or sexuality, are rightly
challenged, but people get far more emotionally incensed about his errors
than is really rational. It's something that is unique among theorists who
have shaped the world we live in...far less despise Luther, or Einstein, or
any of the physicists who aided in the development of the A-bomb.
Sarah Barmak
University of Toronto
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