Whatever Happened to Sigmund?

In the 1950s and 1960s, Sigmund Freud's ideas about psychology changed not just therapy, but the way we thought about character. Before Freud, character was a moral quality--you either led an honorable and principled life, or else you "lacked character." But, according to the Freudians, the person with an ideal character was one who could "self-actualize"--that is, set goals and pursue them. Such a person could also recover quickly from setbacks, and carry on despite an onslaught of continual stressors and thorny experiences.

Credit where credit is due

Even though the era of psychology has not faded--far from it--few people today give much credit to the Freudian thinkers who changed our culture (for better or worse). In view of this, when you read about bad behavior and the stresses or addictions or traumas that inevitably trigger it, please give credit to the Freudians for inventing the inexhaustible narrative of the frail, tempest-tossed human being buffeted by storms both internal and external.

Those of us who remember the heyday of psychoanalysis, a time when this narrative focused on "mommy/daddy issues," "anal-retentive personalities," and the like, are now marching through middle age; nevertheless, we remain quite familiar with the Freudian concepts of character that still perfuse the media both high and low.

Time for a summing up?

It's been nearly 20 years now since the cover of Time magazine featured the question, "Is Freud Dead?", and far fewer of those New Yorker cartoons are appearing that show neurotic people and animals lying on couches spilling their guts. So maybe it's time to take stock of what was lost and how much it is missed, and of what to make of Freud's heirs. How does the Freudian ideal of mental health inform the treatment of mental disorder in an age when few people have the time, money, or inclination to take to the couch?

Progress

On the plus side, therapy is a lot more affordable than it used to be in terms of time and money, in part because it tends to be time-limited and focused on helping you to overcome a specific symptom or problem, as opposed to doing a complete overhaul of your life. A lot of research in the past few decades has proven the power of therapy, especially behaviorally focused treatments that are aimed at changing phobic avoidance, self-defeating thoughts, and addictive habits.

But isn't this problem-focused approach woefully superficial? I once had a chat on the phone with an old-style psychoanalytically trained psychiatrist about a patient of his for whom I thought a behavioral approach would be very helpful--that is, one that focused on helping the patient change certain of her behaviors rather than delving deep into her thought processes. This psychoanalyst sneered back, "Yes, but it's not curative."

A crucial question

I've often puzzled over what he meant by that. By recommending a therapy that addresses the symptoms without addressing the deeper issues, was I just putting a "fake-it-till-you-make-it" Band-Aid on the problem?

And my response to that question is a firm, "Yes, but…." Yes, many of the solutions offered by latter-day therapies do have an element of "fake-it-till-you-make-it"; and, yes, if you choose to fake it till you make it, you will be passing up a chance to do the kind of life-changing overhaul of your character that might give you not only the power to better anticipate and avoid problems in the future but also give the ability to get more out of life in general.

The merits of a shallower way

On the other hand, for as long as you can manage to keep faking it, you are steering clear of the harmful consequences of your neuroses, psychoses, addictions, and other afflictions--and what's so wrong with that? The longer you can avoid trouble and practice coping with life, the greater the chance you will mature into a resilient character.

If you do in fact have the time, resources, and curiosity about your inner emotional life to set out on a psychodynamic journey, I wish you well and applaud your bravery; if, however, you don't, then you can still gain a lot from psychotherapy.