Psychoanalysis, like psychology, studies mind and behaviour in a very radical yet structural and in depth manner. The difference between the two, however, is that psychology considers the conscious processes as opposed to psychoanalysis, which also concerns itself with the unconscious. The concept of the unconscious arose from Sigmund Freud's creation of the psychodynamic approach to personality. Freud once likened personality to an iceberg with the visible tip above the surface of the water and a large part remaining hidden underneath (Bernstein,1997). From this simplistic introduction to classical psychoanalysis subsequent theories have evolved. Alongside these theories developments in therapeutic technique have arisen, which both coincide with and are a contrast to Freud's original theory. This relationship between classical psychoanalysis and its contemporary variations will be examined, paying particular attention to geo analysis, interpersonal therapy and object relations therapy.
Freud opened his extensive career in psychoanalysis with a background in medicine and a period of research at the Institute of Cerebral Anatomy. It was an interest in nervous diseases, which led him to work with a man named Charcot in Paris, who was considering the idea of hysteria (Patterson and Watkins,1996).
Hysteria can be described as the root from which psychoanalysis grew and through which Freud produced three systems: ego, id and superego. Freud perceived the ego as a mediator between the id's desire, the superego's moral dictates and the external world. In Freud's words, the ego is a "...poor creature owing service to three masters and consequently menaced by several dangers"(Freud,1923,p.82), hysteria being the product of this conflict the ego continually faces.
Freud used psychoanalysis, gradually constructed during the late nineteenth century, in order to explain, examine, ease and eradicate the unconscious conflicts as well as their effects upon the individual. This practice became widely known as classical psychoanalysis, due to modifications and alterations since as early as 1910 (Patterson and Watkins,1996).
The dilemma for Freudian psychoanalysis is that although this field produces insightful and theoretically valid results, it fails to significantly prove them. Freud's various methods of analytical investigation are often criticised for their lack of empirical evidence and unreliability. "Much as Freud desired it otherwise, psychoanalysis simply does not and cannot fit within the empiricist or rationalist models of science or knowledge" (Flax,1990,p.66). This has created a trend for theorists in psychoanalysis to move away from Freud and classical psychoanalysis in an attempt to develop alternative theories and therapies. The aim of these pioneers is to discover a better, more analytical tool than that of hysteria; the inspiration behind psychoanalysis that was later discarded by Freud because of its complexity.
Freudian psychoanalysis, though extensively criticised and not as prevalent (Jensen, Bergin and Graves,1990), is a strong foundation upon which contemporary psychoanalytic theories have been built. Freud himself said, towards then end of his life, "Looking back, then, over the patchwork of my life's labours, I can say that I have made many beginnings and thrown out many suggestions. Something will come of them in the future, though I cannot myself tell whether it will be much or little. I can, however, express a hope that I have opened up a pathway for an important advance in our knowledge" ...
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Freudian psychoanalysis, though extensively criticised and not as prevalent (Jensen, Bergin and Graves,1990), is a strong foundation upon which contemporary psychoanalytic theories have been built. Freud himself said, towards then end of his life, "Looking back, then, over the patchwork of my life's labours, I can say that I have made many beginnings and thrown out many suggestions. Something will come of them in the future, though I cannot myself tell whether it will be much or little. I can, however, express a hope that I have opened up a pathway for an important advance in our knowledge" (Freud,1935,p.129-130).
Contemporary psychotherapy, in any form, derives from the basic structure Freud introduced. Therapy is a personal, one to one, psychological and proposed treatment of a behaviour disorder.
Contemporary psychoanalysis constitutes a move to the ego for the explanation and exploration of human behaviour. A potent example is found in ego analysis, for one of its contributors was Freud's daughter, Anna. Of the ego, Anna Freud writes that it is "...the medium through which we try to get a picture of the other two institutions" (Freud, A.,1941,p.6) and made the ego the focal point of her analysis and study. In accordance with this, Freud has been criticised for his failure to recognize the autonomy of the ego, which ego analysis stresses as it believes the ego possesses its own energy, interests, motives and objectives (Patterson and Watkins,1996). Hartmann was an influential character in the establishment of the concept that the ego had its "...own constitutional base" (Frosh,1987,p.91). Hartmann's book "Ego Psychology and the Problem of Adaptation", incidentally, was published with 1939; the year of Freud's death.
Though Freud believed therapy should be a process that strengthens the ego, Ego analysis was a marked change from classical psychoanalysis since it saw the ego's link with the outside world as having an impact upon personal development. Hartmann placed great emphasis upon reality and followed the Darwinian approach, being of the opinion that just as humans are preordained to adapt to their environment through evolution, so the ego has been biologically programmed to adapt to the social environment (Frosh,1987).
Though ego psychology holds an element of Freud's biological basis, humans are viewed as more logical and rational beings rather than subjects of impulse, fantasy and desire. Ego analysis, therefore, rejects Freud's purely deterministic and biological approach and shifts to accommodate social and cultural influences (Hjelle and Ziegler,1985), realising that Freud overgeneralised from nineteenth century Vienna to the whole of humanity and ignored cultural difference in human development (Patterson and Watkins,1996). This, in turn, means that ego psychoanalysts take into account the whole life span when considering ego development, whereas Freud believed "...it is constructed in early childhood out of our earliest desires and losses" (Minsky,1996,p.3).
The therapist in classical psychoanalysis is a metaphorical archaeologist (Spence,1972), digging up the hidden past and asking the client to deal with this unconscious material, calling for a resolution of psychosexual conflicts. The therapist of ego analysis, according to Erikson's theories focuses the individual upon their own ability to triumph over psychosocial dangers within life (Hjelle and Ziegler,1985). Minsky states, "...most modern psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic therapy, is fundamentally concerned with the idea of persuading the client to recognise their own power" (Minsky,1996), revealing the individual's power and contemporary psychoanalysis' concern with the present as the past.
Interpersonal therapy, alongside ego analysis, focuses less upon the biological forces classical psychoanalysis favours and more on social factors (Pervin,1993). This variation of Freudian theory is different from ego analysis, however, as it places strong emphasis upon the relationships with others as opposed to concentrating on 'the self'.
Harry Stack Sullivan introduced the theory of interpersonal psychiatry, moving away from Freud's intrapersonal approach to an interpersonal one. Like Erikson, Sullivan created a strong connection between society and human development and concluded that important stages in development existed beyond Freud's Oedipus complex (Pervin,1993).
Interpersonal therapy chooses a more optimistic change, than that of classical psychoanalysis, using an individual's relationship with others as a model to analyse and treat neuroses. Karen Horney, a traditional analyst who turned to a more interpersonal and social approach, created three neurotic trends: moving toward, moving against and moving away. These three trends arise when an individual attempts to cope with anxiety and all relate to the individuals perception of themselves in relation to others (Pervin,1993). Horney chose to differ from Freud and commented, "When we realise the great import of cultural conditions on neuroses, the biological and physiological conditions, which are considered by Freud to be their root, recede into the background" (Horney,1937,p.viii).
Interpersonal therapy places importance upon the early mother-child relationship in terms of development of both anxiety and the growth of 'the self' (Pervin,1993). Sullivan also accepted the relevance of relationships in preadolescence and their influence upon anxiety and self esteem. It is thought be child psychologists that, upon reaching preadolescence, children become extremely concerned with their reputation and social acceptance to the extent that childhood relationships with peers equal in importance with the mother-child relationship (Lewis et al.,1975).
Relationships are also considered in object relations theory. "The term 'object relations theory' can be quite loosely applied to indicate any approach which focuses on the relationships between the developing ego and the 'objects' (people or parts of people) with whom it comes into contact" (Frosh,1987,p.274). The therapeutic process in object relations differs from that of classical psychoanalysis since instinct is not the determining factor. The focus is upon relationships; how they are acquired, how they are contained and how they affect the individual. The purpose of object relations therapy is, in Guntrip's words "replacement therapy", where bad objects are replaced with good ones (Guntrip,1973). The therapist's aim is to provide a relationship where 'frozen parts' of the self are unlocked and a rebirth takes place where the patient is opened up to the outer world. Object relations theory, like classical psychoanalysis, places the parent at the centre. However, object relations is concerned more with pre-oedipal life and the mother-child relationship, as opposed to the father, to whom Freud gave precedence.
Object relations therapy, like classical psychoanalysis, deals with the unconscious experiences the conscious has repressed. Object relations therapy calls for a close analyst/client relationship and dictates a greater stress on the therapeutic relationship, which creates a "holding" environment (Winnicott,1958,1965), where childhood experiences and relationships are examined.
Freudian theory of early childhood was constructed from an analysis of adults; even Freud's case study of Little Hans was based largely upon the father's shorthand notes about everyday conversation with his son (Freud,1909). Melanie Klein, an object relations theorist, chose a more direct approach. Klein worked with Freud's model of anxiety but eventually modified it through development of a more therapeutic analysis of children. Freud had been very suspect in attempting to work directly with children but Klein produced a successful case study of a child under five (Klein,1932).
In his work on Little Hans, Freud subtly analyses the boy's behaviour in terms of his play. Freud hints that Hans' acting out the loading of packages onto carts was his display of knowledge of his mother's approaching pregnancy (Freud,1909). Klein used Freud's analysis of an eighteenth month old playing with a cotton reel (Freud,1920) as a model for her development of a tool to discover the workings of the infant mind. This she called play technique and used extensively for her modifications of Freudian theory (Hinshelwood,1998).
In conclusion, classical psychoanalysis has provoked a number of questions, debates and criticisms. It has also stood as a firm building block for it's contemporary variations, three of which have been discussed.
Psychoanalysis was founded in an attempt to discover the cause, symptoms and treatment for the dislocation of social fact and psychological construct (Mitchell,1995). Freud was avid to determine "...the possibility that there could be powerful mental processes which nevertheless remain hidden from the consciousness of man" (Freud,1935,p.29).
Early in his career, 1909 to be exact, Freud commented that, "...a psychoanalysis is not an impartial scientific investigation, but a therapeutic measure. Its essence is not to prove anything, but merely to alter something" (Freud,1909,p.246). Indeed, Coulter refers to the evaluation of schizophrenia as unreliable and explains, "...diagnosis in this field cannot be governed by strict rules (Coulter,1973,p.13).
Classical psychoanalysis has influenced other more flexible forms of therapy, such as child analysis and ego analysis. Indeed, there are an innumerable number of theories, which have derived from Freud's original theory that can be attributed to classical psychoanalysis in different ways. The history and the future of psychoanalysis, therefore, it is characterised by a battle. Not only does psychoanalysis attempt to reveal and treat the unconscious battle within the self, but it is itself plagued with the battle amongst its multitude of theories.
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How has psychoanalysis informed contemporary psychoanalytic theory, such as ego psychology and object relations?
