ABSTRACT
There is a secret bond between psychotherapy and the pastoral care of a priest which S. Freud was very conscious of. Psychoanalysis is neither religion nor medical science. In another famous formula, Freud speaks of the "junctim between healing and researching". In nearly the same way, he describes an intermediate position between these two other areas. Psychoanalysis seems to be located between religion and medicine, between research and healing practice. This chapter lists some serious arguments against the idea of constructing the best available therapy by using empirically researched methodology. In empirical research, theory is something one can test, it has to make predictions, and it is evaluated in terms of true or false. In research, one don't need special personal experience in order to understand what a theory is talking about, but in professional practice one needs a theory to understand one's experience. Therefore, in professional practice theory has another meaning.
