An Outline of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

Author:Sigmund Freud
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, pdf
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2003-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

6

Explanations, Applications, Orientations

Ladies and Gentlemen! May I for once, fed up, so to speak, with the dry tone of these lectures, speak to you about things that have very little theoretical significance but which, however, closely concern you, in so far as you are favourably disposed towards psychoanalysis? Let us imagine this scenario: in an idle moment you pick up a German, English or American novel in which you expect to find a description of the people and conditions as they are today. After a few pages you encounter a remark about psychoanalysis, and, very soon, you encounter further such remarks, even if the context doesn’t seem to demand them. You must not imagine that this is a case of applying depth psychology in order to gain a better understanding of the characters or their actions in the text, though there are other, more serious, works of literature that genuinely attempt to do this. No: these are mostly derisive remarks, by which the author wants to display his intellectual superiority, how well-read he is. Moreover, you don’t always get the impression that he really knows what he is talking about. Or you may attend for your recreation a social gathering; it doesn’t necessarily have to be in Vienna. After a short while, the conversation turns to psychoanalysis. You hear the most diverse people proffering their opinions, mostly in a tone of unwavering certainty. They are usually contemptuous, often abusive; at the very least, they are derisive again. If you are careless enough to let it slip that you know something about the subject, everyone falls upon you; they demand information and explanations, and you are very soon convinced that all these severe judgements have been based on no prior information, that hardly a single one of these opponents has ever picked up an analytical book or, if they have, that they never got beyond the first resistance they felt towards the new material they encountered.

You may perhaps also expect an introduction to psychoanalysis to tell you which arguments you can use to correct these patent mistakes about analysis; which books you could recommend to those who want better information; or even which examples from your own reading or experience you should call upon in discussion in order to change people’s attitudes. I beg you to do none of these. It would be useless; it would be best if you hid your superior knowledge altogether. If that is no longer possible, then restrict yourself to saying that you believe, so far as you are orientated in the subject, psychoanalysis to be a special branch of science, extremely difficult to understand and to judge; that you understand it to concern very serious things, so that it couldn’t be dealt with by a couple of jokes, and that it would be preferable to find an alternative plaything for social entertainment. Nor, of course, do you get involved in attempts at interpretation if incautious people recount their dreams; and you will also resist the temptation to court favour for analysis by telling everyone about the people it has cured.

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