ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the historical origins of the psychoanalytic perspective and considers the key principles behind this approach. It provides an evaluation of therapeutic practices which stem from the psychoanalytic perspective. Sigmund Freud was the originator of the perspective, and although many of his ideas were based on ancient Greek notions like those of the philosopher Plato, he refined, adapted and developed them to suit the early years of the 20th century. Freud is credited with providing the first psychological explanation of mental disorder, and his ideas dominated thought and practice within psychiatry for over fifty years, until biological conceptions of mental illness prevailed. One fundamental criticism of Freud's theory is a lack of an evidential basis for his ideas about the causes of client's psychological difficulties, and for the success of his treatments. The underlying critique is that Freud's theoretical stance on repression and traumatic events falls short as a single and unequivocal explanation for repressed memories.
