FROM CASES OF HYSTERIA TO THE THERAPEUTIC SOCIETY
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from earlier unresolved conflicts and object relationships has now been
accepted as universal. Originally conceived of as only an interference to be
gotten rid of by analysis or self-analysis, countertransference moved to a
position of usefulness in understanding the patient's inner world of self and
objects, that is the patient's transference, as the analyst's countertransfer–
ence to the patient's transferential message. And finally, most currently, for
many analysts, countertransference has become an essential tool by way of
projective identification and projective counter-identification, for the
understanding of, or even impacting on, the patient-by some analysts even
shared wi th the patient in self-revelation in order to further the analytic
process.
Next we come to session II on psychology and science: "From the
Case of Hysteria to the Therapeutic Society"-the title of this session.
Surely the last hundred years have seen a shift from the producer ethos
to the consumer ethos, from the moral, religious society to the therapeutic
society in America (T.Jackson Lears) , where the Protestant work ethic has
been replaced with the value of self-actualization and fulfillment and what
makes you "feel happy"; there is "no place of grace," but stress is on grat–
ification, the rise and acceptance of narcissism. How much psychoanalytic
thought has contributed to this shift, how much psychoanalytic therapy has
made it possible-as it has been accused of-or how much psychoanalyt–
ic thought only offers a commentary and understanding of this aspect of
human nature is perhaps hard to say, though one tends to think the latter.
Surely, however, from its humble beginnings as a cure for a case of hyste–
ria, psychoanalytic thought (as a general psychology) by today has
permeated every aspect of our cul ture from academic,
Ii
terature, li terary
criticism, psychobiography to films and TV, the mass media, to political
debates, and self-revelation. At the same time, psychoanalysis as a therapy
has receded in importance. Cases of hysteria or other symptoms are more
likely to be treated nowadays by other treatment modalities and briefer
methods such as medication, behavior modification, group or brief psy–
chotherapy. But for us in the field, psychoanalysis or "depth psychology"
remains the treatment of choice for neurotic character disorders, narcissis–
tic and borderline conditions. Psychoanalysis as a research tool, the single
clinical case study (Freud's third interest in psychoanalysis) has lost much
credence in the scientific community, and there is a push to apply more
"scientific" research methodology to study psychoanalysis from the out–
side, to define its components and process and validate its premises and
outcome.
Now, similarly to the movement in philosophy, "From
Metapsychology to Language Philosophy," which you will hear about in
another panel tomorrow, there has been some movement in psychoanaly–
sis from Metapsychology toward linguistics or language psychoanalysis,
