Re: Re: Freud and Science

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rod Hay wrote:

> The scientific evidence is that psychoanalysis and other talk therapy have
> little effect against depression. They can, however, be effective against some
> neuroses. Since depression and neuroses often appear together many doctors are
> recommending a combination of drug and talk therapy. There is some differences
> of opinion about the effectiveness of psychoanalysis versus other forms of
> cognitive therapy. Psychoanalysis produces the same results but it
> usually takes
> longer than other methods.

Psychoanalysis is probably a crappy psychotherapy, but some people
seem to enjoy it. I saw one study said that 1/3 of the people going
through it get better, 1/3 get worse, and 1/3 stay the same. People
undergoing no therapy showed identical numerical results, though
obviously it's impossible to tell whether they'd be the same people.
I think it's more valuable as a kind of hermaneutics, a way of
interpreting texts, of reading repressions or their undoing, of
decoding how ideologies are collectively constructed.

Doug