some time ago, at a social gathering, a person who commented that I am a psychoanalyst, I hi zo the same question of the title of this article. Later, a colleague told me that a patient who was attending for the first time his office, to see the couch, this asked yet to use these?
It happens then that this is a question that arises. It seems that sometimes the psychoanalysis may be associated with something old, already past, or that it was already overcome with modern discoveries. This belief is curious because on the other hand there are many people who currently attend a psychoanalyst to solve their problems. Currently, a book in which recognized people from the field of Arts, literature, film, etc. commented on his psychoanalytic experience is being developed. On the other hand, the same Pope Francis in a recent interview reported having attended a psychoanalyst for help in a period of his life. So we see that, on the one hand, it is a treatment that is of choice for many people, but moreover emerges this doubt about its validity.
This idea, that of the obsolescence of psychoanalysis, is perhaps a look that you want that everything can be solved with a pill or quickly, adjudging to science progress that would have left behind the request process and develop emotions and the conflicts. This look is a belief that is not based on research studies covering psychoanalysis, or in the opinion of important neuroscientists, as for example Eric Kandel (who received the nobel prize in medicine the year 2000), which calls for a meeting between neuroscience and psychoanalysis, and which States that “… Psychoanalysis still represents the most coherent and intellectually satisfying point of view of the mind”. Another prominent neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio, points out that advances in neuroscience has found significant concordance with psychoanalysis (there is currently a branch called neuropsicoanalisis, that works precisely on these points of) concordance).
It is possible that the therapeutic Psychoanalytical research often has not been as frequent as it should; clinicians tend to alienate investigations, and that is that the last time the International Psychoanalytical Association (A.P.I.), has been investing resources and has spurred numerous investigations. The A.P.I. is the Association founded by Freud in 1910 to study and develop psychoanalysis, and in this sense, as all know, seeks to convey the main findings of its founder such as the unconscious, transfer, etc, but that on the other part has continued developing greatly the theory and technique.
He said that culturally can tend to a pill it resolves everything, or that the solution is quick and easy. This is rather in what psychoanalysis is an opposition, since it advocates the approach and development of conflicts and traumatic situations. It rather seeks the development of the mental apparatus, which requires some time. Nor is a method that suggest answers and solutions, since rather collaborates in the individual to develop tools to resolve. Intends that unprocessed and seeking repeated time and again in life, can be understood, symbolized and thus give freedom to the person and thus actually choose. In this sense, respects and encourages the freedom of each person. This sometimes makes emerging resistances and a rejection of this intention.
On the other hand, psychoanalysis is not limited only to the psychotherapeutic intervention. Freud said that this is, on the one hand, a method of investigation, also a psychotherapeutic method, and a set of psychological and psychopathological theories. In this sense, the method of psychotherapeutic treatment is only one of the aspects contained by psychoanalysis. Other aspects are the attempts to collaborate on the understanding of social situations, psychoanalysis in which integrates knowledge of other sciences such as anthropology, sociology, biology, etc. This integrative vision is today more necessary than ever, and it is that psychoanalysis has a great effect and contribute to the community opportunity. Issues such as feminism, migration, sexual identities, fanaticism, just to name some themes are topical where psychoanalytic look has a lot to say.
This year, the Chilean Psychoanalytic Association (A.P.Ch.) celebrates 70 years of existence. (Part as a component society of the A.P.I.) A.P.Ch. hopes to maintain and deepen their Exchange, both within psychoanalysis (developing and exchanging clinical experience) and with external areas, in Exchange with knowledge related (history, anthropology, biology, medicine, sociology, law), and thus increase the presence in the community.
Poured in this op-ed content is the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial line nor the counter position.
