Paradigms of Psychiatry: Eclecticism and Its Discontents

Psychoanalysis: A Kinder, Gentler Freud

Psychoanalytic extremism or orthodoxy is now rather rare. Yet the negative consequences of a half-century stranglehold of this dogmatism on psychiatry, especially in the USA, can hardly be underestimated. The lifework of the late Paul Roazen^[15] provides great insight into the tragic flaws of psychoanalytic orthodoxy, as well as its sometimes under-appreciated merits. Today, most psychoanalytic groups adhere to the BPS and tend to be eclectic,^[16*] with multiple subtypes of psychoanalysis being acceptable to all, rather than the past experience of insistence on a pure Freudian variety by mainstream leaders in this group.^[17] The limits of the 'anything goes' nature of eclecticism have also been raised among psychoanalysts.^[16*]

Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2006;19(6):619-624. © 2006  Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Cite this: Paradigms of Psychiatry: Eclecticism and Its Discontents - Medscape - Nov 01, 2006.