How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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269 (canvas 289)
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sudden changes from exaltation to profound despair.
Some neuroses were characterized primarily by aberra¬
tions in the sexual sphere, others in the social or vocational
spheres. Many of our old misconceptions are hallowed
in the names we still give to certain mental states : the
name hysteria is due to the fact that this neurosis was
believed to be due to the wanderings of the uterus, and
the name melancholia is due to the ancient belief that
despair was caused by an excess of black bile in the
system. Valerian and asafoetida. are still occasionally
given to nervous patients in large doses, probably in the
belief that the medicine, being more foul than the disease,
may cure the patient. These are examples of the pious
nonsense to which mechanistic interpretations have driven
the neurologists of days gone by.
Fallacies of Freudian Psychoanalysis
Modern psychiatric concepts date from the work of
Janet, Freud, and Breuer, and there is no doubt that
psychoanalytic concepts were a vast improvement upon
the old descriptive psychiatric classifications of Kraepelin
and the German school. Although the entire Freudian
theory is based on mechanistic interpretations, it has the
great merit of being a dynamic, not a static interpretation
of human conduct. The tragedy of Freud is comparable
to the tragedy of Columbus, of a man who sets out to
discover a far country with a preconceived notion of what
he will find, only to discover an entirely new continent.
Astonishment is mingled with disappointment, and
the daring explorer dies unreconciled with his own
discoveries, and unaware of their extent.
The Freudian school of psychoanalysis has failed rather
dismally because it fell back into the old demonic ideas
despite the fact that it was the first to see the promised
land. Instead of having bad little devils causing frank
neuroses by their presence, the Freudians dressed up the
little devils with pseudo-scientific names, and called them
libido, id, super-ego, censor, repression, polymorphous