To be honest, I don’t believe in Freudian psychoanalysis. Of course, Freud enriched psychiatry and psychology with a lot of valuable ideas. Ideas that psychiatrists and psychologists should think of on their own, and not wait for Freud to chew them all out. It was he who invented the religion, which he called «psychoanalysis» and which, in his opinion, is suitable for all people, without distinction of sex, age, level of culture, suitable for all situations of life, even for those that Freud himself cannot understand.
His psychoanalysis is suitable for all times and problems. Freud analyzed the prophet Moses. I’m ready to argue on anything that Freud never met Moses. He has no idea what Moses looked like, but he analyzed him. But life in the time of Moses is not at all the same as life in the time of Freud. He also analyzed Edgar Allan Poe — according to his works, correspondence and newspaper reviews. I think a doctor should be prosecuted for trying to diagnose a writer’s appendicitis based on his writings, letters to friends, and newspaper tales about him. (Erickson laughs) However, Freud psychoanalyzed Edgar Allan Poe on the basis of gossip, rumors and his writings. And absolutely did not understand it. And Freud’s students analyzed Alice in Wonderland. But this is pure fiction. Our analysts don’t care.
According to Freud, the feeling of rivalry with brothers and sisters is equally inherent in the only child in the family and the child, where there are ten more children in the family. The same Freud talks about the fixation of the child in relation to the mother or father, even in cases where the father is unknown. Here you have oral fixation, and anal fixation, and the Electra complex. Nobody cares about the truth. This is a kind of religion. Thanks, however, to Freud for the concepts he introduced to psychiatry and psychology, and for his discovery that cocaine acts as an anesthetic on the eyes.
I wish the followers of Rogers, Gestalt Therapy, Transactional and Group Analysis, and the many offshoots of the various theories, would realize that in their work they hardly take into account the fact that Patient #1 needs a treatment that is not suitable for Patient #2. I have never been sick, for each I invent my own way of healing, depending on his personality. When I invite guests to dinner, I give them the opportunity to choose food, because I do not know their tastes. And people should dress how they want. For example, I dress as I want, you know that. (Erickson laughs). I am sure that psychotherapy is a piece of work.
Now back to that girl who peed at night. At the first session, we talked for an hour and a half. It was more than enough for the first time. Many of my fellow doctors, I know, would spend two, three, or even four years, or even all five years on this case. And it would take ten years for a psychoanalyst.
I remember I had a very capable intern. And suddenly it entered his head that he wanted to engage in psychoanalysis. And so he went to a follower of Freud, Dr. S. There were two leading psychoanalysts in Detroit: Dr. B. and Dr. C. Among those who disliked psychoanalysis, Dr. Nickname «Jesus». Here is my fair-headed and appeared to the “Jesusik”. To be more precise, three of my interns went to him.
At the first meeting, Dr. S. told my most able trainee that for six years he would conduct his therapeutic analysis. Five days a week for six years. And after that, for another six years, he will subject my trainee to didactic analysis. He immediately told Alex that he would analyze him for twelve years. In addition, Dr. S. demanded that Alex’s wife, whom “Jesusik” never saw, also undergo a six-year therapeutic analysis. And my student spent twelve years of his life in psychoanalysis, and his wife spent six years. «Jesus» said they were not allowed to have children until he allowed them to. And I was sure that Alex would make a brilliant psychiatrist, he showed great promise.
Dr. S. claimed that he was doing orthodox analysis exactly according to Freud. He had three trainees: A., B. and V. A. had to park in sector A; B. parked the car in sector B, and V. parked in sector B. A. came to class at 1 pm and left at 50:18. He entered the same door, “Jesus” shook his hand, and Alex lay down. “Jesus” moved his chair to the left side of the couch, positioning it exactly 45 inches (14 cm) from the head and 35 inches (18 cm) from the left edge. When the next intern, B., arrived, he would enter through the same door and Alex would exit through another. B. lay down on the couch, and «Jesusik» sat down, strictly observing his 14 and XNUMX inches.
All three were treated in the same way: Alex for six years, B. for five years, and C. for five years. When I think about “Jesusik”, it takes evil: isn’t it a crime to deprive Alex and his wife of the happiness of having children for twelve years, and yet they loved each other so much.