Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-jwnkl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T06:46:04.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychoanalysis and the American Scene: a Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Norman E. Zinberg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For many people in the United States the designation of the first part of the twentieth century as the Age of Analysis does not seem strange or even overstated. They know immediately that the phrase refers to psychoanalysis and not spectrum analysis or content analysis or market analysis. Psychoanalysis as a therapy, as a way of looking at the world, undeniably caught on in this country and in this hemisphere to a far greater extent than it has anywhere else in the world. Yet today many signs indicate that its influence has leveled off and perhaps even declined, while in Europe and Japan the boom may be just getting under way. This current disparity between the Old World and the New provides fresh impetus for speculation about the forces that implemented the acceptance of psychoanalysis in this country and for illustration of how this acceptance became in part a silly infatuation. Some of these factors should be outlined both from the point of view of phychoanalysis as a cultural phenomenon and from the point of view of psychoanalysis as potentially the most inclusive general psychological theory. To spell out some of the conditions that did and do obtain in the United States in regard to psychoanalysis may supply a baseline from which to study the similarities and differences in the growth, in other countries, of psychoanalysis as an institution and as a system of thought, as well as a part of medicine along with its barely legitimate offspring, dynamic psychiatry. This vast task can be undertaken here only in the broadest possible terms. Hence historical, sociological, and psychological generalizations will be offered without the necessary noting of ever-present exceptions and disagreements.

Type
Notes and Discussion
Information
Diogenes , Volume 13 , Issue 50 , June 1965 , pp. 73 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © 1965 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Hofstadter, Richard. “Child Rearing in the United States.“ In Hofstadter, Richard (ed.), Essays on American History. In Press.Google Scholar
De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America 2 vols. Translated by Reeve, Henry and edited by Bowen, F.. Cambridge: Sever and Francis, 1863.Google Scholar
Oberndorf, Clarence P. A History of Psychoanalysis in America. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1953.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “An Autobiographical Study.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XX(originally published in 1925). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1959.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XI (originally published in 1910). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1957.Google Scholar
Jones, Ernest. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Vol. II. New York: Basic Books, 1955.Google Scholar
Rein, David N. S. Weir Mitchell as a Psychiatric Novelist. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1952.Google Scholar
Fleming, Donald. ”Freud in America.” Paper presented at a conference of the Psychiatric Service, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, May 21, 1962.Google Scholar
Whitehorn, John C. Lecture at Johns Hopkins Medical School, 1951.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. The Origins of Psychoanalysis. Edited by Bonaparte, Marie, Freud, Anna, and Kris, Ernest. London: Imago Publishing Co., 1950.Google Scholar
Erikson, Erik H. Young Man Luther. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1958.Google Scholar
Zinberg, Norman E. “Psychiatry: A Professional Dilemma” Daedalus, Vol. 92, No. 4 (Fall, 1963).Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. ”The Unconscious.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XIV (originally published in 1915). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1957.Google Scholar
Zinberg, Norman E. “The Problem of Values in Teaching Psychoanalytic Psychiatry.“ Paper presented at a symposium entitled “The Teaching of Dynamic Psychiatry,” sponsored by the Psychiatric Service, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, October 30-31, 1964.Google Scholar
Erikson, Erik H. Childhood and Society. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1950.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XXII (originally published in 1932). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1964.Google Scholar
Fromm, Erich. Beyond the Chains of Illusion; My Encounter with Marx and Freud. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1962.Google Scholar
Gitelson, Maxwell. ”On the Present Scientific and Social Position of Psycho-Analysis.“ (Presidential Address, Twenty-third International Psycho-Analytical Congress.) The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, Vol. 44, Part 4 (October, 1963).Google Scholar
Simpson, George G. ”Biology and the Nature of Science,” Science, 139, No. 3550 (1963).Google Scholar
Jones, Ernest. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud. Vol. III. New York: Basic Books, 1955.Google Scholar
Levin, Sidney and Michaels, Joseph J. “The Participation of Psycho-Analysts in the Medical Institutions of Boston,” The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, XLII(1961).Google Scholar
Kubie, Lawrence S. ”Need for a New Subdiscipline in the Medical Profession,“ Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 78 (September, 1957).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroeber, A.L. “Totem and Taboo: An Ethnologic Psychoanalysis,” American Anthropologist, 22 (1920).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freud, Sigmund, ”Totem and Taboo.” The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XIII (originally published in 1912). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1955.Google Scholar
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Sexual Repression in Savage Society New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1927.Google Scholar
Malinowski, Bronislaw, The Sexual Life of Savages. New York: Halcyon House, 1929.Google Scholar
Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough 3rd ed. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1935.Google Scholar
Lasswell, Harold D. Psychopathology and Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1957.Google Scholar
Allport, W. Gordon. The Nature of Personality: Selected Papers. Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1950.Google Scholar
Langer, William L. “The Next Assignment,” American Historical Review, LXIII (January, 1958).Google Scholar
Edel, Leon. ”The Biographer and Psycho-Analysis,” The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, XLII, Parts IV-V (1961).Google Scholar
Bibring, Grete L. “Psychiatry and Social Work,” Journal of Social Casework, Vol. 28, No. 6 (June, 1947). Reprinted in Psychiatry and Medical Practice in a General Hospital, Norman E. Zinberg (ed.) New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bibring, Grete L., “Psychiatric Principles in Casework,” Journal ol Social Casework, Vol. 30 (1949). Reprinted in Psychiatry and Medical Practice in a General Hospital, Norman E. Zinberg (ed.). New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1964.Google Scholar
Zinberg, Norman E. and Edinburg, Golda. “Psychiatric Consultation in an Interdisciplinary Setting,” Smith College Studies in Social Work (February, 1964).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolff, Robert Lee. “Neurosis and the Novel—Two Case Histories.” Paper presented to a conference of the Psychiatric Service, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, June 4, 1962.Google Scholar
Hyman, Stanley Edgar. “Psychoanalysis and Tragedy.” In Freud and the 20th Century, Benjamin Nelson (ed.). Cleveland: World Publishing Company (Meridian Books) (no date).Google Scholar
Roth, Philip. Letting Go. New York: Random House, 1962.Google Scholar
Wouk, Herman. The Caine Mutiny. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1951.Google Scholar
Mccarthy, Mary. The Group. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1963.Google Scholar
Kramm, Joseph. ”The Shrike.” In The Best Plays of 1951-1952, John Chapman (ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1952.Google Scholar
Ross, Lillian. Vertical and Horizontal New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1963.Google Scholar
Baker, Elliott. A Fine Madness. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1964.Google Scholar
Zinberg, Norman E. “Growing up and the Movies.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Mike Nichols and Elaine May Examine Doctors. Mercury Records, MG 20680.Google Scholar
Dichter, Ernest. Handbook of Consumer Motivation. New York. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1964.Google Scholar
The New York Times. July 26, 1964.Google Scholar
Walker, Stanley. City Editor. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1934.Google Scholar
Taylor, F.L. Jr., in Boston Globe. July 18–19, 1964.Google Scholar
Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1945.Google Scholar
Therapy: Treatment of disease from L. therapia, G. therapeia, to attend, trust, to nurse, cure. Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged. Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam & Co., 1964.Google Scholar
Zinberg, Norman E. and Shapiro, David. “A Psychoanalytic Group Approach in the Contexts of Therapy and Education,” Mental Hygiene, 47, 1 (January, 1963). Reprinted in Psychiatry and Medical Practice in a General Hospital, Norman E. Zinberg (ed.). New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1964.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XIV (originally published in 1914). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1957.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund., “The Interpretation of Dreams.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, IV–V (originally published in 1900). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1953.Google Scholar
Hartmann, Heinz. Essays on Ego Psychology. New York: International Universities Press, 1964.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “Civilization and its Discontents.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XXI (originally published in 1930). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1961.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund., ”Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XII (originally published in 1911). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1958.Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund., “The Ego and the Id.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XIX (originally published in 1923). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1961.Google Scholar
Freud, Anna. The Ego and the Mechanism of Defense. New York: International Universities Press, Inc., 1946.Google Scholar
Rapaport, David. ”The Structure of Psychoanalytic Theory: A Systematizing Attempt,” Psychological Issues, Vol. II, No. 2 (1960).Google Scholar
Freud, Sigmund. “Inhibitions, Symptoms and Anxiety.” In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, XX(originally published in 1926). London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1959.Google Scholar
Gill, Merton. ”The Present State of Psychoanalytic Theory,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 58, No. 1 (January, 1959).CrossRefGoogle Scholar