What is psychoanalysis? and the unconscious?

Grazie, Antonio. I know the theory and clinical practice of psychoanalysis well, because I have been a psychoanalyst for 10 years. Now, from my point of view, it is not a science, neither natural nor of the spirit, but a synthesis of the German tradition in what concerns the mystics, the enlightenment and the romanticism. In fact, every single element of Freudian metapsychology is present in Böhme, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. In fact, the possibility of the unconscious was already quelled by Suarez and then repressed by Descartes. And epistemologically two things: it proceeds rather by abduction than induction, and is identical to the thing itself of Kant.

Grazie per il tuo commento.

Adquira o meu livro " Os meandros da Psicanálise" está a venda na Amazon. Leia para melhor responder a esta questão.

Grazie. Preferisco fare la mia ricerca. Ora, se vuole condividere la sua tesi centrale e il suo argomento, sarà benvenuta.

Psychoanalysis is a beautiful hypothesis about human nature, but it is far from being science since it cannot be researched by scientific tools or methods.

'Mind' and "soul' are metaphors that do not exist in reality, like 'God.' Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy cannot heal the mind or the soul that doesn't exist, and they are based on mystical beliefs.

According to Freud himself, “psychoanalysis is the name of (1) a procedure for the investigation of mental processes that are almost inaccessible in any other way, (2) a method (based on such investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders and (3) a collection of psychological information obtained along these lines, and which gradually accumulates into a new scientific discipline.”

Psychoanalysis is like philosophy, which has different schools of thought, from the oldest to the most modern. They are all valid attempts to understand and give meaning to the human experience on the face of the Earth, nothing more. None of these currents - philosophical or psychoanalytic - holds total knowledge or the ultimate truth about things or about human beings, they are just systems of thought in search of answers to the mystery that we are. Each of these systems offers some understanding of partial aspects of the subject, like that old game of blind men groping an elephant, and each describing the animal according to the location of the anatomy where the hand is placed.

However, psychoanalysis has the advantage of offering instruments for investigating the unconscious aspects of the psyche and its approach. Since Freud, it has accumulated different theories and different treatment techniques, which have in common the power to influence and change things in the life of the person being analyzed. Healing, which in the beginning was through the word – remembering the Bible and its “In the beginning was the [divine] Word”, now also includes healing through relationship.

Grazie, Marco Albuquerque . El psicoanálisis es como la filosofía... por ahí va bien. Es más, psicoanálisis es filosofía, y es filosofía moderna, estrictamente. Y el inconsciente, así, sustantivado, es el mito que clausura la filosofía moderna (como Wille zur Macht, en Nietzsche). Porque el mito de apertura es la conciencia, falsamente concluidas por Descartes, mediante un autoengaño.

Dror Green, grazie per il tuo commento. Permettetemi di chiedervi questo: se la mente non esiste, se l'anima non esiste, come si può effettuare un giudizio estetico? Cioè: come si può dire che la psicoanalisi è bella? E ti chiedo anche questo: per te, cos'è la realtà?

The mind is a metaphor and psychoanalysis is a fictional letrature. As such, it can be beautiful and aestetic. I wrote some books Freus's case studies, which are pure fiction.

@drorgreen, I insist: from which faculty is an aesthetic judgment made? And where is that faculty? And I also ask you back, what is reality?

Crítica del psicoanálisis desde el psicoanálisis y su comprensión e interpretación bajo la luz de la filosofía moderna, de la cual no es sino un fruto.

Bruno Oddone Psychology is a science, a scientific study of human mind and mental processes. Psychoanalysis is a school/discipline under this umbrella of psychology. Psychoanalysis, they say lack scientific evidence; yet, I believe it was developed as a result of scientific investigations. It is rooted in Structuralism & objective introspection, a term developed by William James in his experimental psychology. Even Freud, tried to validate his theoretical concepts of hysteria, neurotism, unconscious, dreams, free association based on his clinical observations. Objective observations are the primary principles of science. Even though many of his concepts, such as sexuality and other concepts are widely criticized for its scientific evidence, I believe its not a myth even. Those thoughts were actually the by-product of scientific investigation.

Even Jung, who borrowed much of his theoretical validations rooted in eastern & western mythological studies, his concepts were applied objectively. For example, the concept of Archetypes and Complexes are universal for all human beings.

Be it Eric Fromm, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson, and any neo-psychoanalysts and their theories, even though we find a lack of scientific 'evidence' in some cases, the school of Psychoanalysis is considered as one of the major disciplines under Psychology as it was rooted in "Scientific Investigations". It plays a huge role in the development of much scientific schools later. When we criticize the "Scientificity" of Psychoanalysis, we should also take note of the time period it was developed where science and the age of reasoning just started flourishing.

Psychoanalysis is a technique as well. It is a widely known, widely applied psychotherapeutic technique. The concepts of Free Association, Resistance and Dream analysis, etc has standardized tests that we use in psychometric assessments in today's scientific field. Many of its psychotherapeutic elements are applied for PTSD, Phobias, Anxiety disorders, etc, where childhood & past events has a significant role to play.

Therefore, I put down my point that psychoanalysis is a discipline, a school of psychology and a psychotherapeutic technique

Junice Lizy James

There is a difference between behavioral sciences like psychology and psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.

Since the terms 'psycho' or 'mind' are only metaphors (or mystical terms) like 'God', they cannot be researched by scientific methods.

This explains why there are more than 400 schools of psychotherapy, each based on different hypotheses or beliefs.

Karl Popper has indicted Freud's psychoanalytic theory as a non-falsifiable pseudo-science or myth since it is based on belief, not on objective observation.

Junice Lizy James, buongiorno e grazie. I will only say this: modern religion is rationality, particularly scientific rationality, and very particularly economics and technology as the domain of existence. Some previous comments prove it. I, on the other hand, am not religious. Moreover: I hate dogmas, especially scientific ones. I mean, Popper? Really? Why not the Vienna circle? And Lakatos? Or maybe Feyerabend anarchism? Kuhn?

Psychoanalysis is a school that inspires Psychology but it is not exclusive to this science. It was founded by Sigmund Freud in the beginning of the XX century and sustain that every human being is structured by a great psyché complex made by language, defenses mechanisms and free associations. The main difference between Psychoanalysis and Psychology is that, at least in Brazil, one does not have the obligation to be a psychologist intended being a psychoanalyst. Both sciences drinks from the same water, as a brazilian expression, but happens in a very different way when at a clinic. The Psychology we know nowadays was mainly constructed by divergences and convergences between Psychoanalysis, Behavioral Sciences, Humanism and Philosophy.

Thank you Costa,

I may say you have really shed some light in this case because commonly people in South Africa take psychology to be more concerned with studying the patterns of behavior, factors that constitute those behaviors, and predictions of behavioral patters while psychoanalysis is another field that analyses behavior patterns contextually and substantively as they contribute to societal wellness. Then psychoanalysis academically concerns itself with reforming the human behavior towards the societal good rather than making predictions.

Then the relation between Psychology and psychoanalysis becomes the fact that they are both concerned with human behavior (behavioral science), operant conditioning towards the betterment of humanity (humanism). But, psychoanalysis goes further to greatly include philosophy, anthropocentrism, posthumanism, and psychocybernetics (to some degree). So, I agree with you quite a lot...and argue that your understanding is not only limited to Brazil, but quite common than that

Sincereregards

Mohammed X

Dror Green I understand sir, your point on the difference between behavioural sciences and psychoanalysis. I also agree to the fact that mind and its processes can't be evaluated via scientific methods and it has more than 400 schools based on different hypotheses just the same way we have different atomic theories, postulates and models in chemical sciences as well. Some of them are discarded too. Therefore, my humble observation is that science too is nothing but a philosophy that "claims" to be rational. The philosophy of science relies on positivity, reductionism & constructivism. Some of the elements of science also have been inspired from myths. Let's say for example, Constellations in the sky are a part of astronomical sciences which are highly influenced from ancient Greek and Eastern Mediterranean mythologies. It doesn't mean that we do not rely on science or some of its facts, nor it makes scientific facts mythical. Similarly, even though mind and its aspects can't be fully dealt scientifically, some of its observations can be applied into real life as well as therapeutic settings and psychoanalysis too is one among them, along with other behavioural sciences. Even there are many aspects of behavioural sciences in psychology that has been critically discarded due to lack of scientificity, but these criticisms doesn't make it any mythical in nature is what my observation.

Junice Lizy James Thank you. I am an expert in this field and I find it superficial to agrue about the difference between pseudo-scientific field such as Psychoanalysis and other kinds of science. It can be interesting to have a philosophical conversation about science, but it will not add any prolific knowledge about the limitations of Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

Psychoanalysis is a theory and therapeutic approach created by Sigmund Freud, which aims to understand how the human mind operates, whether in normal or pathological states. It focuses on the analysis of the conflicts and challenges of the psyche, accepting the complexity of our emotional life and the presence of a subconscious dimension.

According to Freud, the unconscious is a segment of our mind that harbors ideas, longings and memories that have been suppressed and are not within the reach of consciousness. These subconscious ideas, although we do not recognize them, impact our emotions and behaviors, expressing themselves in dreams, torments and neurological signs.

Psychoanalytic treatment is based on periodic meetings between the patient and the analyst, in which, through dialogue and methods such as free association, a better understanding of oneself is pursued, favoring the solution of internal conflicts and enhancing the quality of life.

Caro, non mi interessa l'opera di Herr Freud. Già la conosco, troppo. Allora: che pensi tu, Diego? Credi questo che diceva Freud? Das Unwebussten? Das Es? Traumdeutung? Talking cure? Edipo? Horda primitiva? Perverso polimorfo? Invertido? Etc. Ecc. Conosci l'altra opera? Lettera e lettera dove si nuda la verità del suo pensiero. Non è felices, davvero.