- Position‹5 of 5
- Everything we know is questionable
- Argument‹2 of 2
Freud’s theories did not come from his work as a therapist
Freud's work as a therapist did not actually follow or support his own theories.
The argument
Freud consistently misrepresented the outcomes of the treatments he based his theories on. In the case of one of the only patients whose treatment notes Freud did not destroy, Ernst Lanzer—the Rat Man—it is clear that he misrepresented the facts as well. In a study of the forty-three treatments about which some information survives, it turned out that Freud had broken his own rules for how to conduct an analysis in all forty-three. Views on dreams and oedipal came from him analysing his own dreams rather than any empirical evidence. "I think that most of us have only a vague - perhaps defensively vague - sense of what Freud is really saying, not least because in the field of popular culture his work has often been mediated to us in ways that water it down, make it palatable, reduce its insight (and) complexity."
Premises
Counter-arguments
The reason for Freud's success was that other theories were worse. Most importantly, psychoanalysis helped move the treatment of mental illness from the asylum and the hospital to the office.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] Freud's theories were still relevant to the advancement of psychology as a discipline.
Further reading
Crew, F. (2017) Freud: The Making of an Illusion. New York: Metropolitan