ABSTRACT
Consider this section of the eulogising poem in memory of Sigmund Freud, written by W. H. Auden in 1939. … he merely told the unhappy Present to recite the Past like a poetry lesson till sooner or later it faltered at the line where long ago the accusations had begun, and suddenly knew by whom it had been judged, how rich life had been and how silly, and was life-forgiven and more humble, able to approach the Future as a friend (Auden, 1939) It refers to psychoanalysis as a process of “recit[ing] the Past” like a poem (i.e., working through) until understanding dawns (i.e., insight is achieved: “… it faltered at the line where / long ago the accusations had begun / and suddenly knew by whom it had been judged”), allowing one to recover a sense of the value of life and to view the future with optimism and confidence (“… to approach the Future as 2a friend”). Thus, Auden’s poem captures some of the essential qualities of psychoanalysis as therapy. But psychoanalysis is more than this:
… [psychoanalysis] essays to change the structure of the patient’s mind, to change his view of things, to change his motivations, to strengthen his sincerity; it strives, not just to diminish his sufferings, but to enable him to learn from them. (Menninger & Holzman, p. xii)
Psychoanalysis is not only a form of treatment; it is also a theory or a set of theories and a research method; it is “… a science of man … a branch of knowledge, and … an investigative tool” (Lothane, 2006, p. 711). Psychoanalysis has had a long gestation and has experienced multiple rebirths over the course of its history, leading some current authors to complain that there has been such a proliferation of theories of psychoanalysis over the past 115 years that the field has become theoretically fragmented and is in disarray (Fonagy & Target, 2003; Rangell, 2006). The aim of this book is to assess the degree of actual, as opposed to imagined fragmentation of psychoanalytic theory and practice, using four branches of psychoanalytic psychotherapy— object relations, attachment-informed, existential–phenomenological and intensive short term dynamic psychotherapy—as my case study. A brief chronology follows, the aim of which is to identify those factors from the multiplicity of theories that currently abound that cohere under the generic rubric “psychoanalysis”.