Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession

Janet Malcom, as usual, held the fine line between challenging the hubris and cult-like elements of Psychoanalysis, whilst remaining curious and respectful at the same time. I learnt a lot, smiled a lot and felt challenged whilst reading this book.

Since the 1920s, psychoanalytic thought has permeated our culture and the way we look at the world. It has found its way into everything from art to law, literature to anthropology. But the clinical world of the psychoanalyst remains mysterious. In this book, written in 1980, Janet Malcolm attempts to throw some light on the practice of psychoanalysis, its complexities, contradictions and difficulties.She bases her explorations on a series of interviews with a well-established Manhattan practitioner ("Aaron Green") and it's his positions, as an orthodox Freudian, that are given centre stage (although she also touches on developments and elaborations such as the object-relations theory)Malcolm knows her stuff, and this is one of the clearest explanations of some of the central practices in psychoanalysis that I have read. But its the "impossibilities" of the whole enterprise that are the focus of the discussion. In this respect, it makes a fascinating companion piece to Jefrey Masson's "Final Analysis". Masson was trained in a similar mileau at a similar time, so that many of the same tensions occur in both books; the unnaturalness of the patient-analyst relationship, the counter-intuitive nature of many interpretations, the secrecy of the professional hierarchy and its savage treatment of 'apostates'. Masson, as is well known, became disilliusioned and disgusted, culminating in his writing the incendiary "Against Therapy" and "The Assault on Truth". Malcolm is more considered, but even so, adds her own critique of Freud's "Dora" case (and rather persuasive it is too!).However, overall, her approach is even handed, and the reader finishes the book feeling better informed, rather than harangued into taking one side or another.A fascinating read that would fully justify 5 stars if only it were updated to reflect the changes in the field over the last 30 years or so.

Very well written. useful brief summary of Freud. Many interesting stories of mid C20th American psychoanalysis.

I've read Freud, Jung and psychology for the past forty years. Every now and again I come across a real gem that brings the last hundred years kicking and screaming into the 21st century. This book is amongst the best I've read that does this and some. Freud is just as relevant today as he ever was.

Well written informative book ...quick delivery ..

Anything Janet Malcolm writes is required reading...

perfect.

Janet Malcolm, who died in 2021, was an American journalist, one of whose interests was psychoanalysis. Her book, first published in 1981, is mostly about several interviews she had with an American analyst (“Aaron Green”), an orthodox Freudian, through which she conveys the history, practices and issues of psychoanalysis. (She also had a few interviews with some other analysts.)She begins by giving an account of the stages by which Freud developed his theories, rejecting, modifying or replacing earlier versions of them. The book is not always easy for those who do not already know something of psychoanalysis. While some technical terms are clearly explained, a few of them are not. But there are difficulties of understanding which go beyond that, increasingly so towards the end of the book. I have been interested in psychoanalysis all my life and would claim to know more about it than most laymen; but parts of the book were beyond me. So I cannot agree with the reviewer who described it as “the best book for the layman.” (Nor can I detect the wittiness another reviewer ascribed to the book.) By the same token, I don’t know how many stars I should give to the book. A more knowledgeable person than myself would probably give it five stars. The three I have given it merely reflect the degree to which I was able to enjoy the book.Some of the differences between Freud and later Freudians are explained, in particular about the question whether or not the analyst should abstain from any normal response to what the patient says or asks. This is, at least in the beginning, difficult for the patient; but it is not always easy for the analyst either, and he needs to analyze his own feelings towards the patient. (However, elsewhere “Aaron” talks about “the defensive comfort of analytic silence, passivity and neutrality”.) The New York Psychoanalytic Institute, in which “Aaron” worked, and one of its leading analysts, Charles Brenner, rigorously insisted on the need for the analyst to reveal nothing about him- or herself. Leo Stone, also a member of the Institute, was Brenner’s chief opponent, arguing against this detachment; and this issue is perhaps the main theme that recurs several times in the book.There is a good deal about transference (what the patient projects onto the analyst) and counter-transference (what the analyst projects onto the patient. “Aaron” stresses that the analyst’s own personality is not always detached when he is treating patients, and even less so outside the consulting room, where they can have nearly as many hang-ups as anyone else.There is a discussion of what patients cannot be reached by psychoanalysis. Most analysts will not treat psychotics; but a few, like Freud’s pupil Sandor Ferenczi, would not give up on them and try to reach the pre-verbal, pre-Oedipal origins of the symptoms of such severe or “borderline” patients.According to the author, the length of treatment, in cases that have not ended abruptly, has extended enormously – from one or two years in the twenties to six to eight years, in the eighties. She does not explain why this is. Here again there is the controversy about whether in “the termination phase”, of weeks or months, a hitherto austere analyst should or should not soften his technique. The termination, after so long, is traumatic, often for a long time for the patient, but it can also be quite painful for the analyst.