12-24-2005, 04:25 AM
Was not sure where to post this. Anyway have you guys heard of the current controversy raging in france about a new book called "A Black Book of Psychoanalysis". Ever since I have heard of this I can only think of the porn-peddlers who invented all kinds of sh1t about indian moms and kids, Ganesha etc.. Though a google search will reveal more. Here is a representative article..
http://www.sundayherald.com/51783
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->French psychiatrists donât take Freud criticism lying down
From Hugh Schofield in Paris
A WAR of words has erupted among French psychiatrists after the publication of a âblack bookâ that lambasts the teaching of Sigmund Freud and blames his followers for setting back mental health care in France by decades.
In a country that is one of the last redoubts of pure Freudian psychoanalysis, the book has been like shock treatment for many in the white-coat establishment who accuse the authors of grovelling to the âAnglo-Saxonâ trend towards behaviour-based mental therapy.
The news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, which published extracts of the 800-page work last month, was bombarded with letters charging it with âfascist rhetoricâ and leading a âcommunist-styleâ propaganda campaign.
One leading psychoanalyst described the book as a âfanatical chargesheet placed firmly in the camp of the revisionistsâ, while another accused its authors of âscientismâ â an excessive belief in the power of science.
The Black Book Of Psychoanalysis â How To Live, Think And Get On Better Without Freud, follows a critical path that is well-trodden in the US and Britain, where experts have long since questioned the veracity of Freudâs case studies as well as the validity of his ideas. In France, around 70% of French psychiatrists base their treatment of depression, phobias and other mental ailments on Freudian theory.
Most countries now use of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) â which works by helping a patient understand and overcome patterns of behaviour. Pure French Freudians see this as a superficial mechanism designed to return patients to usefulness in the results-based societies of âle monde Anglo-Saxonâ.
Authors of the Black Book â 40 experts from 10 countries â trace the Freudian domination of France back to May 1968 when followers of the master and his French disciple Jacques Lacan took control of the psychiatric establishment. France is the worldâs biggest per capita consumer of anti-depressants and tranquillisers as the result, the authors claim, of the failures of the couch-and-notebook school and the lack of any alternative.
One section of the book entitled âVictims Of Psychoanalysisâ contains painful accounts from French mothers of autistic children. Freudian theory had it that autism was caused by the motherâs âunconscious wish that the child should not existâ.
<i>Sounds familiar ?</i>
A Swiss doctor accuses the French mental health authorities of being responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 heroin addicts up to the mid-1990s by refusing to countenance methadone treatment. This was deemed by Freudians as a crude way of suppressing the symptoms of the problem, rather than addressing the inner cause.
âThe total control of the psychoanalysts over the domain of addiction in the 1970s and 1980s led to a veritable ideological imperialism,â writes Jean-Jacques Déglon.
According to the book, only last year Freudians persuaded the health ministry to suppress a report from the National Medical Research Institute which attested to the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy.
In the view of the critics, Freudian psychoanalysis is not a science but a hermetic cult âimmunised against proofâ which has inflicted untold damage on the nationâs mental health by opposing treatments that are known to work and by enforcing a politically correct âpensee uniqueâ across the country.
But the Freudians see the book as an attempt to introduce new-fangled American theories into France. Treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy â they say â are dehumanising, merely conditioning the patient to overcome his symptoms and render him âproductiveâ again.
Freud, they argue, recognises human complexity. âThe individual is always alone. Freudian theories give him a white stick with which to move forward in thought,â says Alain de Mijolla, a historian of psychoanalysis.
18 September 2005
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http://www.sundayherald.com/51783
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->French psychiatrists donât take Freud criticism lying down
From Hugh Schofield in Paris
A WAR of words has erupted among French psychiatrists after the publication of a âblack bookâ that lambasts the teaching of Sigmund Freud and blames his followers for setting back mental health care in France by decades.
In a country that is one of the last redoubts of pure Freudian psychoanalysis, the book has been like shock treatment for many in the white-coat establishment who accuse the authors of grovelling to the âAnglo-Saxonâ trend towards behaviour-based mental therapy.
The news magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, which published extracts of the 800-page work last month, was bombarded with letters charging it with âfascist rhetoricâ and leading a âcommunist-styleâ propaganda campaign.
One leading psychoanalyst described the book as a âfanatical chargesheet placed firmly in the camp of the revisionistsâ, while another accused its authors of âscientismâ â an excessive belief in the power of science.
The Black Book Of Psychoanalysis â How To Live, Think And Get On Better Without Freud, follows a critical path that is well-trodden in the US and Britain, where experts have long since questioned the veracity of Freudâs case studies as well as the validity of his ideas. In France, around 70% of French psychiatrists base their treatment of depression, phobias and other mental ailments on Freudian theory.
Most countries now use of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) â which works by helping a patient understand and overcome patterns of behaviour. Pure French Freudians see this as a superficial mechanism designed to return patients to usefulness in the results-based societies of âle monde Anglo-Saxonâ.
Authors of the Black Book â 40 experts from 10 countries â trace the Freudian domination of France back to May 1968 when followers of the master and his French disciple Jacques Lacan took control of the psychiatric establishment. France is the worldâs biggest per capita consumer of anti-depressants and tranquillisers as the result, the authors claim, of the failures of the couch-and-notebook school and the lack of any alternative.
One section of the book entitled âVictims Of Psychoanalysisâ contains painful accounts from French mothers of autistic children. Freudian theory had it that autism was caused by the motherâs âunconscious wish that the child should not existâ.
<i>Sounds familiar ?</i>
A Swiss doctor accuses the French mental health authorities of being responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 heroin addicts up to the mid-1990s by refusing to countenance methadone treatment. This was deemed by Freudians as a crude way of suppressing the symptoms of the problem, rather than addressing the inner cause.
âThe total control of the psychoanalysts over the domain of addiction in the 1970s and 1980s led to a veritable ideological imperialism,â writes Jean-Jacques Déglon.
According to the book, only last year Freudians persuaded the health ministry to suppress a report from the National Medical Research Institute which attested to the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy.
In the view of the critics, Freudian psychoanalysis is not a science but a hermetic cult âimmunised against proofâ which has inflicted untold damage on the nationâs mental health by opposing treatments that are known to work and by enforcing a politically correct âpensee uniqueâ across the country.
But the Freudians see the book as an attempt to introduce new-fangled American theories into France. Treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy â they say â are dehumanising, merely conditioning the patient to overcome his symptoms and render him âproductiveâ again.
Freud, they argue, recognises human complexity. âThe individual is always alone. Freudian theories give him a white stick with which to move forward in thought,â says Alain de Mijolla, a historian of psychoanalysis.
18 September 2005
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