PSYCHO ANALYSIS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17632, 8 December 1922, Page 12

PSYCHO ANALYSIS.

PRACTITIONERS WHO ARE FANATICS. e LORD DAWSON'S ADVICE. (TKOSI OTTK OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, October 19. The Medical Society of London is about to enter upon the 150 th year of its existence. Y**hcn this Society was instituted in 1773 tho population of London -was under 700,000, and contained 774 doctors —the old rough proportion of one doctor to 1000 persons prevailing—while the Royal College of Physicians of London was composed of 43 fellows and 74 licentiates. In his presidential address a few days ago, Lord Dawson, of Penn, physician to the Xing, took for his subject "Certain Developments in Medicine," and he dealt at length with psychoanalysis, a subject concerning which there is much misapprehension. The term comprised (1) the theory of the working of the unconscious mind; (2) the practice whereby the unconscious mind could be explored. Strictly speaking, the term should bo limited to the particular theory and practice set forth by Freud and his immediate disciples. Many exponents, though accepting the j basis of Freud's teaching, had departed from some of his tenets and methods, and they sought to distinguish their work by the term "analytical psycho- j logy," They, none the less, were saddled by their critics with full re- | sponsibility for Freud's teaching, in- i eluding his view that morbid and repressed complexes,were associated with primitive sex impulses.. It was widely accepted that the theory of the unconsciouH mind waß a "Teat work likely to exercise influence both on medicine and education. But if all sorts and conditions of people delved into the subject, confusion of thought and disturbance of mind must result. But when it came to the prac-' tice of psycho-analysis a much more serious position arose. Here wo were dealing with a highly specialised method of diagnosis and treatment which it could not be said was without effect, either for good or evil or both, on the patient. It must often be an exploratory operation on the wind, and if they did not accomplish good .they were not sure the result was iiegativo. They could not feel the same assurance as they did, iu the case of an exploratory operation on the body, that at least no damage had been done. The mind did not always heal by first intention. Might not baneful influences thereby gain entry? Admitting that psj'cho-analytio treatment had its sphere of usefulness under conditions of such complexity, it was the habit in the medical profession for the treatment to be undertaken only by workers with specialised training—which ensured skill, restraint, and good judgment. Could it be said that those conditions were fulfilled in the practice of psycho-analysis f He feared not, and therein lay legitimate cause for criticism and alarm. "Too many of its practitioners," sain Lord Dawson,""ar t fanatics, who have no eyes for anything outside their narrow cult. This is unfair on competent and serious workers, who thereby get misrepresented, as has recently been illustrated' by tho joint conference of psychologists and educationists at the recent, meeting of the "British Association- at Hull." Danger of Doing Damage. The following reasons why psycho Analytic treatment calls for special cau tion were tlien given v-* 'lts duration h both long and uncertain', extending, it may .bo,'.into Months and even years:. TL'is is a- great- strain on the mind of tho patient, who lives with a chickening sense of his own abnormality, ami if treatment does not suit hirrt the danger of doing him damage is intensil*jd: Th» operator (analyst) cannot control with precision the range of hu operation; beyond the happenings Ik wishes to induce, others may resul which ar& unsought and detrimental. Psyoho-aiialysM induces and aggravate introspection, and it is apt to produce morbid' ideas. "The laying bare of the •unconscious mind—both the process and the result injures some sensitive-subjects and do. harm by debasing them in their ovn estimation. The dominant position as sertcd for primitive 6ex impulses in th< causation of repressions aggravates th difficulties of tre tment All medical, men know now difficult i> tho handling of sei neuroses and aber rations, iind bow quickly by introspsction 'sex' will monopolise attention, distort judgment, and pervert conduct The difficulties on the educational eidc where youth, is concerned are even greater. "The analyst who holds the Freudian view—that the primitive trends of th' mind are moetlv sexual in origin—cannot but be influenced by that bias m the treatment of patients, who likewis will feel it 3 reflected influence. And lastly, there is a factor in peycho-aniily tic treatment which presents dimonltie of its own. I refer to 'transference,' which means that ©motions and fantasies awakened in the patient by analysis are detached from their original associations and reincarnated in the ana ly<=t, who thus becomes a partner it) the life of the patient, or, to quote. 'Earlier experiences are revived not as past ones, but in the form of a current relation to the person of the phys-'ewn. Is not such a relation of physician In patient putting too big a. strain or human nature, and might not positions of danger be provoked?" With regard to certain-_ difficulties that .arise, frank discussion is needed if doubt '.ind misgiving are to be alnyed The medical profession must recognise the increasing importance of the st-vly of mind in health and illness. Witnm tho fold that study will regain the per spective an-} restraint whkh in its present position of isolation it had lost.'