| Abstract: | Psychoanalysis is a "highly articulated theoretical system, one so extensive in scope that it threatens to overwhelm us with insights." Psychoanalysis has been modified in this country. A major antithesis is "between Freud's view, which emphasizes the limitations imposed on man by his nature, and the American vision, an optimistic one, which is captured by the idea of infinite possibility." "Freud seems quite satisfied if the patient achieves a relative internal harmony—that is, he seeks to uproot the neurosis. The American aim is much less moderate; indeed we may even call it inspirational; again and again we hear such terms as 'self-actualization,' 'self-realization,' 'spontaneity,' and 'creativity.' " (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
