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SIGMUND FREUD-REVISITED |
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Freud
was considered to be the father of a new branch of
medicine called, psychoanalysis. The latter was thought
to be a new revolution of the twentieth century. Havelock
Ellis, a friendly critic of Sigmund Freud, had expressed
his opinion that psychoanalysis could not be considered
"scientific", but that idea was not acceptable
to Freud. The latter wanted the title of a scientist at
any cost. He did succeed in getting that label when the
secretaries of the Royal Society brought their charter to
him 1938, to sign alongside the signatures of Newton and
Darwin. He could not have asked for more. His reputation
has remained a mystery all along. Now comes a well
researched book by Webster, named " Why Freud was
wrong: sin, science and psychoanalysis." ( Webster
R, London: Harper Collins, 1995.), which systematically
reveals the fraud behind the great discovery of this
century.
Many critics of Freud have not been successful in
convincing the world about Freud’s folly. In fact an
American historian Paul Robinson writes as recently as
1993, " At most they have delayed the inevitable
process by which he will settle into his rightful place
in intellectual history as a thinker of the first
magnitude. Indeed the very latest scholarly studies of
Freud suggest that the anti-Freudian movement may have
already begun to pass." This recent book by Webster
is a mighty work of research into all aspects of Freudian
thinking and has explored all the original data from
Freud’s patients stories and all the anecdotal
narratives written down by Freud himself. In an in-depth
study of the book and various other literature on the
same subject, Prof. R.C.Tallis, of Salford, brings out
many more details of the other side of Freud. ( Burying
Freud, The Lancet 1995; 347: 669-672).
Earlier thinkers also had expressed similar opinions but
then they got diluted in the sea of pro-Freudian
opinions. Esterson in 1993, in a book had this to say
" the rise of psychoanalysis to a position of
prominence in the twentieth century will come to be
regarded as one of the most extraordinary aberrations in
the history of western thought."( Esterson A.
Seductive mirage: an exploration of the work of Sigmund
Freud. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois: Open Court Books,
1993: 254) Medawar, an eminent scientist had this
opinion: " Opinion is gaining ground that
doctrinaire psychoanalytic theory is the most stupendous
intellectual confidence trick of the twentieth century:
and a terminal product as well- something akin to a
dinosaur or a zeppelin in the history of ideas, a vast
structure of radically unsound design and with no
posterity."
Freud is credited to have discovered a cure for morphine
addiction; by substituting it with cocaine claimed to be
non addictive by Freud. It is a well known fact that
cocaine is as addictive as morphine if not more.
Freud’s ideas were more acceptable at that time
because of his clear prose which was really marvelous.
Psychoanalysis has been extensively investigated
scientifically and has been found wanting in many areas
for its authenticity and also validity. The damage done
by psychoanalysis is being assessed in the USA in a
recent study by Crew and his colleagues. Since 1988
nearly 10, 00, 000 families have been affected by
therapist inspired charges of sexual molestation’
supposedly uncovered by the awakening of the repressed
memories. Many women have suffered immensely as a result
of the therapist construing real episodes of sexual abuse
as oedipal fantasies.( Crew F. The revenge of the
repressed The NewYork Review of books part I I 1994 )
The very idea of the Oedipus complex as the root of all
human problems seems to be far fetched. The discovery of
the unconscious was also shrouded in mystery. The
analysis of dreams , again based on the Oedipus complex
did not stand the scrutiny of scientific studies.
Eventually even the so called data base of clinical cases
seemed to be a hoax when investigated by Thornton. (
Jones E Sigmund Freud: Life and Works Hogarth Press,
London 1953.) When they are talking about the unconscious
they are only talking " about things of which we are
conscious but are not yet conscious of reflectively"
says Chapman in an elegant article in the Lancet entitled
Is it possible to have an unconscious thought? ( Lancet
1994; 344: 1752-53. )
Almost a century has passed since we had the new thoughts
of Sigmund Freud changing the scene for patients with the
reputation of a great scientist, healer, and also of a
thinker par excellence. New cracks are developing in the
thought process now that psychoanalysis seems to have
gone astray. The truth is hidden in the womb of the
future but the truth in this matter is of great
importance to millions of innocent people who have had
the misfortune of undergoing psychoanalytical process in
their healing. Science is purely based on change and all
the scientific tenets are only tentative. There is no
place for dogma in science at all. In fact in a
sensational case in January 1982 the federal court judge
William R. Overton ruled that " A scientific theory
must be tentative and always subject to revision and
abandonment in light of facts that are inconsistent with,
or falsify, the theory". He also wrote " A
theory that is by its own terms dogmatic, absolutist and
never subject to revision is not scientific theory".
The state of Arkansas did not appeal against this
judgment in the case of Creationists Vs Darwinists.
If the findings of this book are proved true in times to
come it will have exposed one of the great frauds in the
history of modern medicine in this century. If not this
may be added to the small list of critics of Freud to go
down the annals of medical history as tormentors of a
great man.[index]
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