Criticisms of Psychoanalysis

There have been criticisms of psychoanalysis from every imaginable angle. It has been equally strongly defended, and has held up very well under fire. Two common criticisms are that the theory is too simple to ever explain something as complex as a human mind, and that Freud overemphasized sex and was unbalanced here (was sexist). Freud's model is just that – a model. Like an economic model or any other, it simplifies something almost infinitely complex to a point at which it can be analyzed. Like the process of modelling anything, it is difficult to draw the line of oversimplification, but Freud's theory and models are practical in understanding people and have been fruitful in treatment.

As to sexuality, the response is that people misinterpret Freud's use of the word "sexual." The word should generally mean "sensual." However, even most modern Freudians would concede that Freud's emphasis on the Oedipal complex was excessive. In light of this, another legitimate response to criticisms about the role of sexuality in the theory would be to concede that Freud's emphasis was excessive, but that that in itself does not really have any effect on the theory as a whole.

The final criticism addressed here is the question of the scientific status of psychoanalysis. It is true that Freud essentially considered psychoanalysis a pure science, but that is a view which has been replaced by the current view, which puts more emphasis on the issue of how fruitful psychoanalytic treatment is as a treatment. Even if a great amount of time is spent writing about theory within the profession, clinical practice plays the central role in the professional lives of psychoanalysts. As a science, psychoanalysis is imperfect, but it has stood the test of time as an important basis of psychotherapy.

Lecture 2. Psychology of thinking, consciousness and subconsciousness, psychological settings, psychology of creativity

1. Psychology of thinking

Thinking is the supreme cognitive process. It generates new knowledge and is an active form of creative reflection of reality and its transformation by a human being. Thinking generates the result that does not yet exist in reality. Thinking can also be interpreted as obtaining new knowledge and creative transformations of existing notions.

The difference between thinking and other psychological processes is due to the fact that thinking is almost always connected with a problem situation, a task to be solved, and active change of the conditions in which the task is set. Thinking always goes beyond the sensory perception and expands the borders of cognition since it is meant to draw theoretical and practical conclusions on the basis of sensory perception. In practice, thinking is not a separate psychic process but is always present in all other processes like attention, perception, imagination, memory and speech.

The result of thinking is a thought or idea or a notion as a generalized reflection of a class of objects in their most general and important properties.

The most important types of thinking are shown in Fig.2.

Types of thinking

Theoretical thinking

Practical thinking