The question of the relationship between psychoanalysis and science, and the place of psychoanalysis in clinical practice is reviewed. A commonly held view that the central question is whether or not psychoanalysis is scientific is challenged. It is argued instead that psychoanalysis, science and clinical practice are epistemologically independent fields and attempts to subsume one within the other are unproductive. Psychoanalysis may have as much to say concerning the epistemological basis of science as science has to say concerning the epistemological basis of psychoanalysis. Only a proper appreciation of this enables the question of the relationship between psychoanalysis and clinical practice to be adequately examined.
References
1.
PopperK. Conjectures and refutations, the growth of scientific knowledge (4th ed.). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972.
2.
GrünbaumA. The foundations of psychoanalysis: a philosophical critique. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
3.
BettelheimB. Freud and man's soul. London: Chatto and Windus, 1983.
4.
SpenceD. Narrative truth and historical truth: meaning and interpretation in psychoanalysis. New York: Norton, 1982.
5.
HabermasJ. Knowledge and human interests. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.
6.
BrackenP. Science and psychoanalysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1987; 21: 137–139.
7.
SmithG. Psychoanalysis today. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1988; 22: 12–15.
8.
ParkerP. Psychoanalysis and scientific methods: no need for despondency. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1988; 22: 17–18.
9.
MullenP. Psychoanalysis: a creed in decline. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry1989; 23: 17–20.
10.
FreudS. The resistances to psychoanalysis. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 19. London: Hogarth, 1955.
11.
FreudS. On narcissism: an introduction. In: StracheyJ ed. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 14. London: Hogarth, 1955: 67–102.
12.
FreudS. Project for a scientific psychology. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 1. London: Hogarth, 1955.
13.
FreudS. Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 12. London: Hogarth, 1955.
14.
FreudS. A special type of object choice made by men. In: StracheyJ ed. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 11. London: Hogarth, 1955.
15.
LacanJ. On a question preliminary to any possible treatment of psychosis. In ÉcritsLacan J., a selection (trans. Sheridan). London: Hogarth, 1977.
16.
FreudS. The interpretation of dreams. In: StracheyJ ed. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 4–5. London: Hogarth, 1955.
17.
MillerJ-A. Elements of epistemology (trans. Rodríguez). Analysis1989; 1: 27–42.
18.
WallaceE. What is “truth”?: some philosophic contributions to psychiatric issues. American Journal of Psychiatry1988; 145: 137–147.
19.
FreudS. Introductory lectures in psychoanalysis. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 15–16. London: Hogarth, 1955.
20.
FreudS. Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 18. London: Hogarth, 1955.
21.
RoustangF. Psychoanalysis never lets go (trans. Lukacher). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.
22.
FreudS. The psychogenesis of a case of homosexuality in a woman. In: StracheyJ. (ed.) The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud, vol 18. London: Hogarth, 1955.
23.
LaplancheJ. New foundations for psychoanalysis (trans. Macey). Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.
24.
LacanJ. Some reflections on the ego. International Journal of Psychoanalysis1953; 34: 11–17.
25.
SzaszT. The myth of mental illness: foundations of a theory of personal conduct. New York: Harper, 1961.
26.
FoucaultM. Madness and civilisation: a history of insanity in the age of reason trans. Howard). London: Tavistock Publications, 1967.
27.
ScheffT. Negotiating reality: notes on power in the assessment of responsibility. In: FranklinBKohutB. ed. Social Psychology and Everyday Life. New York: David McKay, 1973: 55–72.
28.
GoffmanE. Asylums: essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1968.
29.
FalloonI.BoydJ.McGillC.RazaniJ.MossHGildermanA. Family management in the prevention of exacerbations of schizophrenia: a controlled study. New England Journal of Medicine1982; 306: 1437–1440.
30.
EisslerK. Medical orthodoxy and the future of psychoanalysis. New York: International Universities Press, 1965.
31.
MalcolmJ. In the Freud archives. New York: Knopf, 1984.
32.
LacanJ. The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis (trans. Sheridan). London: Hogarth, 1977.
33.
RoustangF. Dire mastery: discipleship from Freud to Lacan (trans Lukacher). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.
34.
TurkleS. Psychoanalytic politics: Freud's French revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1978.
