psychology
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What Happens When We Forget a Word?
It’s infuriating when you know something and can’t quite call it to mind. Both Wittgenstein and Freud wrote about this situation, but they were interested in different aspects of it, and they went in very different directions. Wittgenstein focused on situations where a word seems to be on the tip of our tongue but we Continue reading
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Is Neuroscience proving Freud right?
At the start of his career, Freud hoped to develop a science of the mind that would explain psychological phenomena in terms of physiological processes taking place in the brain. But at that time the tools and techniques necessary to explore the functioning of the brain simply did not exist. So, Freud had to rely Continue reading
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Freud’s Struggle with the Mind/Body Problem (1)
Freud’s patients suffered from many symptoms, but there was nothing wrong with their bodies. The problem was their minds. But how could the mind cause changes in the body or were the real causal factors events in the nervous system? This puzzle was one of the biggest medico-scientific challenges of the time, and Freud was Continue reading
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Ogden and the Problem of Inner Objects
Object relations theorists use the concept of internal objects to provide insights into human action, but what exactly are these internal objects? Where are they located and how are they able to play such a role in our lives? In his 1983 paper The Concept of Internal Object Relations, U.S. psychoanalyst, Thomas Ogden, sketches the Continue reading
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Can the Triple Helix of Psychoanalysis be Split?
Psychoanalysis has three aspects. Firstly, it is a body of knowledge about human beings based on the belief that the individual’s account of what they do and feel needs to be supplemented (and sometimes corrected) by an account of reasons that the individual is reluctant to acknowledge but that are evident in their behaviour and Continue reading
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Meaning, Ethics and Psychoanalysis
The frightening thing about madness is that people’s words and deeds lose their meaning. We can no longer relate to them as we normally relate to people. We cannot see their actions as the expression of reasonable intentions nor can we understand their statements as the expression of a reasonable attempt to make sense of Continue reading
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Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: A Difficult Relationship
Freud was attracted to philosophy, but also irritated by it. Not only did it never seem to get anywhere, but it treated human beings as essentially rational, which was in stark contrast to the way people actually behaved. This approach was clearly not the way forward. As with everything else, the way to establish the Continue reading
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Is Psychoanalysis a Science?
Freud saw psychoanalysis as a natural science, but his critics deny that it is scientific. This is a complex issue, but it is worth exploring in detail. Two points seem hard to dispute. Firstly, it is clear that psychoanalysis aims to be a truth-focused undertaking. It puts forward explanations of why people do what they Continue reading
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Kohut and the Perils of Killing Sacred Cows
Heinz Kohut believed that psychoanalysis should adopt new theories in the light of new evidence. His work with borderline and narcissistic patients led him to question the prevailing Freudian orthodoxy, and, in 1977, he published The Restoration of the Self, in which he put forward a theoretical framework based on a psychology of the self Continue reading
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Wittgenstein and Freud: Overrated or Undervalued?
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud have a lot in common. Both were Viennese gurus, who inspired groups of disciples to preach their world-changing revelations to a sceptical world. Both were forthright in putting forward their views, but believed they were offering therapy for which the recipient would ultimately be grateful. Both reached the high point Continue reading
Wittgenstein and Freud 