The Scientific Status of Unconscious Processes

Is Freud Really Dead

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8335264
AutoresDrew Westen (Boston University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1999
Volumen47
Número4
Páginas1061-1106
Fecha de publicación1999-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-0651 • E-ISSN: 1941-2460
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000306519904700404
PMID10650551
OpenAlexW2167281074
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas60
Referencias citadas105

At regular intervals for over half a century, critiques of Freud and psychoanalysis have emerged in the popular media and in intellectual circles, usually declaring that Freud has died some new and agonizing death, and that the enterprise he created should be buried along with him like the artifacts in the tomb of an Egyptian king. Although the critiques take many forms, a central claim has long been that unconscious processes, like other psychoanalytic constructs, lack any basis in scientific research. In recent years, however, a large body of experimental research has emerged in a number of independent literatures. This work documents the most fundamental tenet of psychoanalysis—that much of mental life is unconscious, including cognitive, affective, and motivational processes. This body of research suggests some important revisions in the psychoanalytic understanding of unconscious processes, but it also points to the conclusion that, based on controlled scientific investigations alone (that is, without even considering clinical data), the repeated broadside attacks on psychoanalysis are no longer tenable

Epistemology · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Unconscious mind · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications