The Psychology Book (30 page)

PSYCHOTHERAPY 91

Carl Rogers develops

client-centered

Melanie Klein presents a

Albert Ellis
outlines

therapy
, outlining

controversial paper on
Envy

Rational Emotive

American
existential

his theories in

and Gratitude
, affirming the

Behavior Therapy

psychology
emerges

Counseling and

innate presence of the

in
A Guide to

with the publication of

Psychotherapy
.

“death instinct
.
”

Rational Living
.

Rollo May’s
Existence
.

1942

1955

1961

1967

1946

1959

1964

1970

After his release from

R.D. Laing attempts to

Virginia Satir, the

Abraham Maslow

Auschwitz, Viktor Frankl

describe the structure of

“mother of
family

defines the concept of

writes
Man’s Search for

the
schizophrenic

system therapy
,”

self-actualization

Meaning
, outlining the

experience
in
The

publishes
Conjoint

in
Motivation and

necessity of
finding

Divided Self
.

Family Therapy
.

Personality
.

meaning in suffering
.

lives. The somewhat eclectic

Perhaps the most significant threat

such as Albert Ellis’s Rational

Gestalt therapy was developed

to psychoanalysis at this time

Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

by Fritz and Laura Perls and Paul

came from cognitive psychology,

and Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy.

Goodman, while existential

which criticized psychoanalysis

Freud’s emphasis on childhood

philosophy inspired psychologists

for its lack of objective evidence—

development and personal history

such as Viktor Frankl and Erich

either for its theories or its efficacy

inspired much developmental and

Fromm, who gave therapy a

as treatment. In contrast, cognitive

social psychology, and in the late

more sociopolitical agenda.

psychology provided scientifically

20th century psychotherapists such

Most importantly, a group of

proven theories and, later, clinically

as Guy Corneau, Virginia Satir, and

psychologists keen to explore a more

effective therapeutic practices.

Donald Winnicott turned their

humanistic approach held a series

attention to the family environment;

of meetings in the US in the late

Cognitive psychotherapy

while others, including Timothy

1950s, setting out a framework for

Cognitive psychologists dismissed

Leary and Dorothy Rowe, focused

an association known as “the third

psychoanalysis as unscientific and

on social pressures.

force,” which was dedicated to

its theories as unprovable. One of

Though Freud’s original ideas

exploring themes such as self-

the key concepts of Freudian

have often been questioned over the

actualization, creativity, and

analysis—repressed memory—was

years, the evolution from Freudian

personal freedom. Its founders—

questioned by Paul Watzlawick,

psychoanalysis to cognitive therapy

including Abraham Maslow, Carl

and the validity of all forms of

and humanistic psychotherapy has

Rogers, and Rollo May—stressed

memory was shown to be unstable

led to huge improvements in mental

the importance of mental health

by Elizabeth Loftus. Cognitive

health treatments; and has provided

as much as the treatment of

psychology instead offered

a model for the unconscious, our

mental disorders.

evidence-based psychotherapies

drives, and behavior. ■

THE UNCONSCIOUS

IS THE TRUE

PSYCHICAL

RE

SIGMUND FREUD (1856–1939)

ALITY

94 SIGMUND FREUD

activity that was too powerful, too

IN CONTEXT

frightening, or too incomprehensible

for our conscious mind to be able

APPROACH

to incorporate. Freud’s work on

Psychoanalysis

the subject was pioneering. He

BEFORE

described the structure of the mind

2500–600 BCE
The Hindu

as formed of the conscious, the

Vedas describe consciousness

unconscious, and the preconscious,

as “an abstract, silent,

and he popularized the idea of the

completely unified field

unconscious, introducing the

of consciousness.”

notion that it is the part of the

mind that defines and explains

1567
Swiss physician

the workings behind our ability

Paracelsus provides the

to think and experience.

first medical description

of the unconscious.

Hypnosis and hysteria

Freud’s introduction to the world

Anna O
, actually Bertha Pappenheim,

1880s
French neurologist

of the unconscious came in 1885

was diagnosed with paralysis and

Jean-Martin Charcot uses

hysteria. She was treated successfully,

when he came across the work

hypnotism to treat hysteria

with what she described as a “talking

of the French neurologist Jean-

cure,” by physician Josef Breuer.

and other abnormal

Martin Charcot, who seemed to be

mental conditions.

successfully treating patients for

AFTER

symptoms of mental illness using

the case of Anna O, and is the first

1913
John B. Watson

hypnosis. Charcot’s view was

instance of intensive psychotherapy

that hysteria was a neurological

as a treatment for mental illness.

criticizes Freud’s ideas of the

disorder caused by abnormalities

Breuer became Freud’s friend

unconscious as unscientific

of the nervous system, and this

and colleague, and together the

and not provable.

idea provided important new

two developed and popularized a

1944
Carl Jung claims that

possibilities for treatments. Freud

method of psychological treatment

the presence of universal

returned to Vienna, eager to use

based on the idea that many forms

archetypes proves the

this new knowledge, but struggled

of mental illness (irrational fears,

existence of the unconscious.

to find a workable technique.

anxiety, hysteria, imagined

He then encountered Joseph

paralyses and pains, and certain

Breuer, a well-respected physician,

types of paranoia) were the results

T
he unconscious is one who had found that he could greatly of traumatic experiences that had of the most intriguing

reduce the severity of one of his

occurred in the patient’s past

concepts in psychology.

patient’s symptoms of mental illness

and were now hidden away from

It seems to contain all of our

simply by asking her to describe

consciousness. Through Freud and

experience of reality, although

her fantasies and hallucinations.

Breuer’s technique, outlined in the

it appears to be beyond our

Breuer began using hypnosis to

jointly published
Studies in

awareness or control. It is the place

facilitate her access to memories of

Hysteria
(1895), they claimed to

where we retain all our memories,

a traumatic event, and after twice-

have found a way to release the

thoughts, and feelings. The notion

weekly hypnosis sessions all her

repressed memory from the

fascinated Austrian neurologist and

symptoms had been alleviated.

unconscious, allowing the patient

psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, who

Breuer concluded that her

to consciously recall the memory

wanted to find out if it was possible

symptoms had been the result

and confront the experience, both

to explain things that seemed to lie

of disturbing memories buried in

emotionally and intellectually. The

beyond the confines of psychology

her unconscious mind, and that