Saltar el texto del artículo
TWENTY - SEVENTH LECTURE GENERAL THEORY OF THE NEUROSES Transference WE are nearing the close of our discussions , and you probably cherish certain expectations , which shall not be disappointed . You think , I suppose , that I have not guided you through thick and thin of psychoanalytic subject matter to dismiss you without a word about therapy , which furnishes the only possibility of carrying on psychoanalysis . I cannot possibly omit this subject , for the observation of some of its aspects will teach you a new fact , without which the understanding of the diseases we have examined would be most incomplete . I know that you do not expect any guidance in the technique of practising analysis for therapeutic purposes . You wish to know only along what general lines psychoanalytic therapy works and approximately what it accomplishes . And you have an undeniable right to know this . I shall not actually tell you , however , but shall insist that you guess it yourselves . Only think ! You know everything essential , from the conditions which precipitate the illness to all the factors at work within . Where is there room for therapeutic influence ? In the first place , there is hereditary disposition ; we do not speak of it often because it is strongly emphasized from another quarter , and we have nothing new to say about it . But do not think that we underestimate it . Just because we are therapeutists , we feel its power distinctly . At any rate , we cannot change it ; it is a given fact which erects a barrier to our efforts . In the second place , there is the influence of the early experiences of childhood , which are in the habit of becoming sharply emphasized under analysis ; they belong to the past and we cannot undo them . And then everything that we include in the term " actual forbearance " — misfortunes of life out of which privations of love arise , poverty , family discord , unfortunate choice in marriage , unfavorable social conditions and the severity of moral claims . These would certainly offer a foothold for very effectual therapy . But it would have to be the kind of therapy which , according to the Viennese folk - tale , Emperor Joseph practiced : the beneficial interference of a potentate , before whose will men bow and difficulties vanish . But who are we , to include such charity in the methods of our therapy ? Poor as we are , powerless in society , forced to earn our living by practicing medicine , we are not even in a position to treat free of charge those patients who are unable to pay , as physicians who employ other methods of treatment can do . Our therapy is too long drawn - out , too extended for that . But perhaps you are still holding to one of the factors already mentioned , and think that you have found a factor through which our influence may be effective . If the restrictions of morality which are imposed by society have a share in the privation forced upon the patient , treatment might give him the courage , or possibly even the prescription itself , to cross these barriers , might tell him how gratification and health can be secured in the renunciation of that ideal which society has held up to us but often disregards . One grows healthy then , by giving one's sexuality full reign . Such analytic treatment , however , would be darkened by a shadow ; it does not serve our recognized morality . The gain to the individual is a loss to society .
Atrás Página 285 de 308 Página 285 de 308 Siguiente Sigue leyendo con traducción Crea una cuenta gratis: 7 días de Pro y después 20 traducciones de palabras al día o un plan de pago.
