Although many specific psychoanalytic ideas are tied to outdated energy concepts, the core of Freud's thinking reflects in many ways pioneering postmodern insights compatible with current cognitive and constructivist ideas and neurophysiological brain research. This paper shows how some psychoanalytic concepts such as the unconscious, the human need for meaning making, a divided rather than unitary self, the human tendency to self-deception and the importance of early life experiences have all acquired increasing importance, albeit sometimes in a modified form, in our current understanding of human behavior and human development. Traditional psychoanalytic therapy is questioned, but it is pointed out that the humanistic values and attitudes underlying psychoanalytic treatment continue to be honored in most non-biological therapeutic approaches.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonH. (1997). Conversation, language and possibilities.New York: Basic Books.
2.
ArendtH. (1963). Eichmann in Jerusalem.New York: Viking Press.
3.
BaumeisterR. F. (1987). How the self became a problem: a psychological review of historical research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1): 163–176.
4.
BeckA. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders.New York: International Universities Press.
5.
BowersK. S. (1984). On being unconsciously influenced and informed. In BowersK. S., & MeichenbaumD. (Eds.), The unconscious reconsidered … New York: John Wiley.
6.
BowersK. S. (1987). Intuition and discovery. In SternR. (Ed.), Theories of the unconscious and the self.Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
7.
BowlbyJ. (1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory.London: Routlede.
8.
BråtenS. (1984). The third position: Beyond artificial and autopoietic reduction. Kybernetes, 13: 157–163.
9.
BråtenS. (1988). Between dialogic mind and monologic reason: Postulating the virtual other. In CampanellaM. (Ed.), Between rationality and cognition (pp. 1–31). Turin: Albert Meynier.
10.
CampbellJ. (1989). The Improbably Machine.New York: Simon & Schuster.
11.
CushmanP. (1995). Constructing the self, constructing America.Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
12.
CrewsF. (1993). The unknown Freud. The New York Review of Books, Nov. 18.
13.
EagleM. (1984). Recent Developments in Psychoanalysis.New York: McGraw-Hill.
14.
EagleM. (1987). The psychoanalytic and the cognitive unconscious. In SternR. (Ed.), Theories of the Unconscious and the Self.Hillsdale, New Jersey: Analytic Press.
15.
EagleM. N. (1993, April). Why do we need objects? Paper given at Annual Spring Meeting, Division of Psychoanalysis (Div. 39), American Psychological Association, New York City.
16.
EagleM. (1997, April). Freud's Legacy. Defenses, Somatic Symptoms and Neurophysiology. Paper given at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
17.
EdelsonM. (1994). Can psychotherapy research answer this psychotherapist's questions? In TalleyP., StruppF., ButlerH. H., & StephenF. (Eds.), Psychotherapy research and practice. Bridging the gap (pp. 61–87). New York: Basic Books.
18.
EllenbergerH. F. (1970). The Discovery of the unconscious.New York: Basic Books.
19.
FoucaultM. (1976). The history of sexuality (Vol. I).New York: Pantheon Books.
20.
ForresterJ. (1997). Dispatches from the Freud wars.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
21.
Freud Museum, The. (1992). The diary of Sigmund Freud. 1929–1939.Translated, annotated and with an introduction by Michael Molnar. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
22.
FreudSigmund (1953–1974). Standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, (StracheyJames, Ed.). London: Hogarth Press.
23.
FreudS(ophie). (1988). My three mothers and other passions.New York: New York University Press.
24.
FreudS. (1994). The Social Construction of Gender. Journal of Adult Development, 1(1): 37–45.
25.
GeertzC. (1973). The interpretation of culture.New York: Basic Books
26.
GilliganJ. (1996). Violence. Our deadly epidemic and its causes.New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
GustafsonJ. (1992). Self-delight in a harsh world.New York: Norton.
29.
HermanJ. L., & van der KolkB. (1987). Traumatic antecedents of borderline personality disorder. In van der KolkB., Psychological trauma.Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
30.
Isra'lsH., & SchatzmanM. (1993). The seduction theory. History of Psychiatry, IV23–59
31.
KeganR. (1982). The evolving self.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
KihlstromJ. F., & HoytI. P. (1987). Repression, dissociation and hypnosis. In SternR. (Ed.), Theories of the unconscious and the self.Hillsdale, New Jersey: Analytic Press.
33.
KihlstromJ. F. (1984). Conscious, subconscious, unconscious: A cognitive perspective. In BowersK.S., and MeichenbaumD. (Eds.), The unconscious reconsidered.New York: John Wiley.
34.
KohutH. (1984). How does analysis cure}Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35.
KrüllM. (1979). Freud und sein vater.München, Germany: C.H. Beck.
36.
(Loewenstein)S. Freud. (1985). Freud's metapsychology revisited. Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 66(3): 139–151.
37.
MassonJ. M. (1984). The assault on truth.New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
38.
MitchellS. A. (1988). Relational concepts in psychoanalysis.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
39.
MitchellS., & BlackM. J. (1995). Freud and beyond.New York: Basic Books.
40.
NisbettR. E., & WilsonT. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 34(3) 231–259.
41.
OmsteinR. (1991). Evolution of consciousness.New York: Simon & Schuster.
42.
PersonE. S., & OveseyL. (1983). Psychoanalytic theories of gender identity disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis11(2): 203–26.
SingerJ. L., & SincoffJ. (1987). Summary Chapter: Beyond repression and the defenses. In SternR. (Ed.), Theories of the unconscious and the self.Hillsdale, New Jersey: The Analytic Press.
45.
SpenceD. (1984). Narrative truth and historical truth: Meaning and interpretation in psychoanalysis.New York: Norton.
46.
SpenceS. A. (1996). Free will in the light of neuropsychiatry. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology, 3(2): 75–90.
47.
SroufeL. A., EgelandB., & KreutzerR. (1991). The fate of early experience following developmental change: longitudinal approaches to individual adaptation in childhood. Child Development, 61, 1363–73.
48.
SternD. (1986). The interpersonal world of the infant.New York: Basic Books.
49.
TaylorS. E., & BrownJ.D. (1988). Illusion of well being. A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103: 193–210.
50.
van der HartO., SteeleK., BoonS., & BrownP. (1993). The treatment of traumatic memories: Synthesis, realization, and integration. Dissociation, VI (2/3) June/Sept.
51.
WeissJ. (1982). Psychotherapy Research: Theory and Findings.Dept. of Psychiatry, Mount Zion Hospital & Medical Center, Bulletin No. 5.
