ABSTRACT
The main criticisms of the classical theory were directed at deep-rooted functional concepts inherited from the cathartic theory. Those criticisms eroded the signifi cance of the functional concepts and eventually dismissed psychoanalysis as a whole. Analysts did not bear in mind that there was a core theory of psychoanalysis, which was the basis of its past prominence. Clearly, Freud did something different when he just listened to his patients, without the aspiration to discover what hypnosis used to reveal. In that sense, the cathartic theory should be considered a prelude to psychoanalysis and not the theory of psychoanalysis, a fl awed theory that was, but should not be anymore. When we genuinely keep that in mind the theoretical model and the conceptual system of the cathartic method should not stop us from discovering the main principles of the actual theory of psychoanalysis. Analysts who adhered to the classical doctrine practised psychoanalysis according to the implicit core theory, although they tended to formulate their thoughts in terms of the cathartic theory. The ones who refused the cathartic theory formulated other theories to replace it and practised “psychoanalysis” according to those replacement theories, but not according to the theory of psychoanalysis.
