by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright February 19, 2004
All Rights Reserved.

ixty-five years after Sigmund Freud's death from jaw cancer in 1939, Freud bashers continue their assault on perhaps the greatest genius—certainly the most prolific—of the 20th century. His paradigm, called psychoanalysis, was the first coherent theory of explaining and treating mental illness in the history of man. Before Freud, mental patients were routinely chained, tortured and sometimes burned at the stake. Completing his medical degree at University of Vienna in 1881, Freud worked as a physician and neurologist, trying, but failing, to explain mental events from his knowledge of biology. In 1893, he aborted his “Project for Scientific Psychology,” a heroic attempt to use neurology to explain the human mind. After abandoning “The Project,” Freud traveled to Paris to study hysteria with Austrian psychiatrist Josef Breuer. In 1900, Freud published his breakthrough work "The “Interpretation of Dreams.”

      Freud's work revolutionized psychiatry and single handedly launched the modern science of mental health. Freud's theory was called psychoanalysis to describe the world's first orderly attempt to explain and treat mental illness. Compiling 23 volumes in the “Standard Edition,” Freud's work transformed psychiatry into a coveted medical specialty. Today's psychiatrists and psychologists offer some of the most compelling expert testimony, giving, yes, credible Freudian interpretations of violence, criminality, child abuse and almost everything else. When Time Magazine's millennium edition feature article asked, “Is Freud Dead?” Freud's critics seized the chance to pound in the last nail. By Freud's death, psychosomatic medicine, history, literature, politics, art, music, architecture, psychology, education, early child development, sociology and film were given psychoanalytic platforms.

      Freud's theories were routinely disputed by diehards in respected fields, unwilling to open minds, broaden horizons and look under the microscope. “Arguably no other notable figure in history was so fantastically wrong about nearly every important thing he had to say,” said Todd Dufresne, a University of Northern Ontario medical professor and author of “Killing Freud: 20th Century Culture & the Death of Psychoanalysis,” nitpicking about a few loose ends. He complains that Freud's "Wolf Man," wasn't cured of his early childhood neurosis, requiring lifelong psychoanalysis. Critics don't quite get that analysis, as Freud himself wrote in “Analysis: Terminable and Interminable,” sometimes ends and sometimes doesn't. Today's HMOs and managed health care have no time—or money—to subsidize psychoanalysis or other types of in-depth and costly psychotherapy.

      Freud set out, like Lewis and Clark, to map the most uncharted territory imaginable: The human mind. A project so daunting, so far-reaching, so unthinkable by today's standards that scientists confine themselves to small-minded, almost brainless activities. Dufresne discounts Freud's notions of eros and thanatos, the life and death instincts, yet civilization—and indeed individuals—have always battled with forces of creation and destruction. Freud would have had something to say about Sept. 11 and today's cult of suicide bombers who apparently value death and fantasies about the afterlife more than living. Since publishing "The Interpretation of Dreams,” the role of the unconscious has played central role in human motivation. Whatever the circumstance, unconscious emotions and repressed memories are viewed as driving factors in human behavior.

      New theories have come and gone, but Freud's endure because they accurately mirror the realities of the human condition. Freud's stages of psychosexual development provide the bedrock of today's most accepted developmental theories. Most people accept the idea that early-life trauma skews normal development. Psychoanalysis, Freud's method of psychotherapy, aims at undoing or correcting the damage by giving traumatized patients, in the context of a therapeutic relationship, an opportunity to heal. Where has anyone disputed or dismissed the analyst's nurturing role in the healing process, giving wounded patients a corrective emotional experience? Because repressed memories and trauma are subject to distortions doesn't mean the role of the unconscious has become obsolete. With all the state-of-the-art biologic and behavioral theories, clinicians still trust Freud's insights.

      Nitpicking about irrelevant exceptions doesn't disprove Freud's overall theories. Freud's emphasis on sexuality, nearly 70 years before the sexual revolution, continues to exert a dominant influence in today's society and individual relationships. Love and hate, rage and violence, anxiety and depression all have their roots in the Freud's structure of personality. No biological theory, religious or secular philosophy or scientific breakthrough has more accurately explained the complexities of the human mind better than Sigmund Freud. Whether he was vain, self-absorbed, overly zealous or even neurotic doesn't detract from his brilliant analyses of the human condition. Far from being dead, Freud's theories are alive-and-well, giving new generations the chance to understand and deal with human complexity. Studying Freud still gives cynics the best chance of redeeming themselves.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2002 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.