Subj : PSYCHOANALYSIS To : BOB EYER From : DAVE OLDRIDGE Date : Mon Oct 23 2000 02:22 pm BE> Dave Oldridge to Frank Masingill, 10-20-00: BE> ------------------------------------------- BE> Glad you finally got connected to Fido. Welcome! BE> FM: BE> -Today, a large body of mental illness that once was treated with BE> -psychoanalysis is now treated only with medicine. The record of BE> >And correctly so. Freud's insight was not the cure-all that he BE> >though it was. BE> What gave you the impression that Freud thought his approach was BE> a "cure-all"? It's a while since I read his big book on pschoanalysis, but yep...that's what gave me the impression all right... BE> FM: BE> -"cures" with any medical science and eternal life remains beyond BE> -its grasp but psychoanalysis today is largely classed as spurious BE> -religion although much prized by the wealthy. BE> >The Church probably had this better covered with confession and BE> >absolution.... BE> I would take issue with this, mainly on the ground that the BE> parishioner already knows what kinds of sins his confessor wants BE> to hear about. The Church preaches a certain doctrine of sin BE> and thus telegraphs to the parishioner what kinds of stories to BE> tell about himself. Yes, like any social relationship between therapist and patient, that one can be abused. But it also works well when it is used properly. BE> This type of distraction does not occur in the treatment of the BE> genuine Freudian psychoanalyst. The genuine Freudian does not let BE> on what he thinks is good or bad. Nor does he attempt to indicate BE> to the patient what the mechanism of therapy is all about. The BE> patient simply goes to the psychiatrist and speaks his mind. The BE> psychiatrist does absolutely nothing but listen. Because we all BE> have a tendency to concoct stories for the consumption of others, BE> it generally takes months of therapy, and may take years, before BE> the patient really does begin to show his mind to the BE> psychiatrist. Only when the patient stops concocting stories BE> and really does say whatever comes to his mind regardless how BE> silly it may seem to him, will the beneficial effects of therapy BE> begin to show themselves. Uh huh....sort of a place where the person can ramble on at length without really confronting any issues except the therapist's bill. BE> There is a method in this madness. The method is directed at BE> releasing the psychic potential energy of the Unconscious. This BE> cannot be done unless the patient really does speak his mind, BE> instead of concocting stories which he thinks the listener wants BE> to hear. BE> Therefore it is essential to genuine psychoanalytic therapy that BE> the patient knows absolutely nothing about the analyst's beliefs, BE> attitudes or feelings. BE> The problem with religious confessionals is that the "patient" BE> DOES know what the priest wants to hear. And that is what he BE> tells him. The task of releasing pent-up psychic energy causing BE> mental blocks, neuroses, etc, is thus short-circuited and BE> defeated. Only if the sacrament is practiced in an empty form--a shell. If the believer actually BELIEVES and the confessor actually prays the prayer of faith, much can be accopmlished without digging everything out into the open. And WAY too much Freudian therapy turns into nonsense. BE> This may be a way of achieving some kind of salvation; but it is BE> not a way of mending diseases of the mind. The best approach to mending diseases of the mind has been to find out just what chemical imbalance is responsible for the errant behavior and repair it. --- þ MM 1.1 #0357 þ ... Save the planet...we might need it later... * Origin: FONiX Info Systems * Berkshire UK * +44 1344 641625 (2:252/171) .