The November 15, 1997, meeting of the Psychohistory Forum addressed the future of psychoanalysis and psychohistory at the millennium. The presenters were Nellie Thompson (New York Psychoanalytic Institute), Conalee Shneidman (private practice) and Lee Shneidman (Adelphi University), David Lotto (private practice and the University of Massachusetts), and Paul H. Elovitz. Dr. Elovitz started with a number of examples of the impact of psychoanalysis and psychohistory on our society. He noted that precisely at a time when psychoanalytic and psychohistorical concepts have permeated our society there has been a frontal attack on psychoanalysis and to a lesser extent on psychohistory. The attack takes many forms including Freud-bashing, rejection of nurture in favor of nature (for example, the idea that behavior is programmed by your DNA), attempts at undercutting the economic basis of psychoanalysis, and the presentation of psychological concepts without emotion. David Lotto’s materials were presented in absentia due to a snowstorm and were published in the March issue of this journal as “The Attack on Psychotherapy as a Contemporary Purity Crusade”.
Turken et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: