Looking at Psychoanalysis

Few subjects promote such lively interest as the theory and practice of psychoanalysis, or the life and work of its founder, Sigmund Freud. In this article Dr. J. H. Kahn reviews two important new books, Psychoanalysis observed*, which attempts to put psychoanalysis in its contemporary setting, and The psychoanalytic revolutionf, which demonstrates the inseparability between psychoanalysis and Freud's own life. French and translated into English by Kenneth Morgan, is sub-titled Sig-mund Freud's Life and Achievement. The account of the development of psychoanalytic theory and practice is shown to be inseparable from the personal history of its founder. Psychoanalysis Observed is a collection of essays Lomas with an introduction by the editor, and here an attempt is made to discuss the place of psychoanalysis in the present-day world. Both these books represent the continuing lively interest in the topic of psychoanalysis and have to be judged against the background of an enormous literary output on the subject. Most writings are partisan. There are the orthodox Freudians, the post-Freudians, and the anti-Freudians. What there cannot be now is the non-Freudian, as the works of Freud have irrevocably changed the way in which we perceive the culture in which our personalities develop. It seems remarkable that a branch of therapy, which in this country is represented by under 300 analysts, should be the subject of so much discussion, but this is partly because the ideas have penetrated into so many other disciplined and undisciplined modes of thinking. One of the ways in which the hold of psychoanalysis is revealed is the perpetual violent opposition to its theories. Consider, for example, the case of Eysenck. It could seem sad that his name is associated with criticism of psycholanalytical theory by a wide public of whom only a small proportion are familiar with his own highly original work. Charles Rycroft's book discusses psychoanalysis in terms which include clinical practice, philosophy, and religion. It is concerned with all the various ways in which human beings try to impose a pattern upon the universe and to find some consolation for the terror that its vastness imposes upon them. This volume was conceived as one in a series of books in which different churchmen and humanists critically discussed their own beliefs, but it became apparent that the analogy between religion and psychoanalysis was false. The position of psychoanalysis as a science likewise posed problems. Although Freud made the …