Psycho-analysis has a two-fold value which places it in the front
ranks of the modern constructive sciences. First, it offers untold
possibilities, which are only beginning to be realized, as a
therapeutic or curative agency for many baffling diseases. The ailments
to which it affords cure or relief are not only of the mind, for it has
been found that a great number of physical disorders, which heretofore
have been considered purely of an organic or functional character,
are merely physical reflexes of a neurosis. Relieve the mind of these
all-pervading neurotic troubles, and serious physical disturbances are
frequently removed.
The mental disorders alone that respond to proper psycho-analytic
treatment range all the way from trifling hysterical cases (which,
however, tend to become more severe as the individual weakens under the
increasing influence of the neurosis) to “dementia praecox,” a severe
form of insanity, which the old school psychiatrists have considered
hopeless.
Of course, insanity that is due to disintegration of the brain
structure, as sometimes happens in the tertiary (third) stage of
syphilis, etc., is incurable. Only the charlatan makes all-embracing
claims. And psycho-analysis is not magic or alchemy, but a rational
science based on very definite natural laws.
The second, and in a way the greater, function of psycho-analysis is
as a cultural study for the self-improvement and development of the
individual. I emphasize its possible greater usefulness in this respect
because, after all, only a very small percentage of the population is
insane, and while the victims of neurotic disturbances make up a more
important element of society, numerically, than is generally imagined,
there is still the great mass of people who may be classed as “normal.”
Psycho-analysis has revolutionized our former conception of human
behavior. It has re-interpreted, and thrown a vastly different light on
the passions, loves, hates, fears and other primitive emotions of man.
It has revealed in a startling way many of the heretofore inexplicable
motives and actions of individuals. The deeper, underlying significance
of seemingly inconsequential actions is often disclosed to the analytic
observer at its true value--so far removed from surface indications.
To the student of human problems, whether social, economic, industrial,
psychical, physical, educational, or what not, psycho-analysis is
of incalculable worth. It leads the way to fundamental causes that
hitherto have shielded themselves behind an impenetrable screen, and
whose existence we have only guessed at in the misleading light of
superficial appearances.
There is scarcely any field of human endeavor to which this science
cannot be made an invaluable aid. It is the key to an unexplored region
whose portals we have just entered. It is the new Lamp of Aladdin,
whose light will guide us on the way to a better understanding and
re-evaluation of human possibilities.
In the following pages, I shall endeavor to give the psycho-analytic
interpretation of some of the most common and interesting revelations
that the science offers.
People realize in an indefinite way that they “take to” certain
individuals--that they tend to love or esteem persons of a certain
type, and to dislike and sometimes even hate another type, without
themselves knowing the reason why.
Most of us are cognizant of the fact that there are unfortunate people,
homosexuals or perverts, that society has very ignorantly gone out of
its way to persecute and penalize because it has not understood the
cause of their affliction. Their failure to experience sexual desire
in the normal, prescribed manner has been considered a deliberately
cultivated or inherently vicious trait, instead of a pathological
condition. When the cause of an abnormality remains unknown, there is
invariably an irrational reaction to it.
There was a time when insanity was considered a state of being
“possessed by devils,” and the victim was flogged and otherwise
punished for his indiscretion in harboring the damned. Conventional
society has modified its views, and now takes it for granted that there
are two kinds of people in the world--the sane and insane--that the
latter class is hopeless and must be confined to the asylums until
released by death. Psycho-analysis shatters this romantic theory.
It has been an enigma to the student of human behavior why the great
masses of people remain so long in self-satisfied contentment often
under the most oppressive conditions. It has likewise been a puzzle
why a certain few individuals--almost an infinitesimal minority--have
always resisted authority and oppression, regardless of personal
sacrifices. The pioneers in the radical and feminist movements, etc.,
illustrate this type. The martyrs of history who have died for various
causes and ideals are the best known examples of this phenomenon.
Dreams have been the subject of controversy, speculation and unlimited
commentary throughout the ages. The real meaning and profound
importance of dreams were never realized until Freud’s discoveries
demonstrated their vast significance, and intimate relation to our
life, awake as well as asleep.
Our forgetfulness, or absent-mindedness, particularly when it involves
a subject or details with which we are quite familiar, is very
embarrassing at times. Yet, that there is an unconscious “motive” in
forgetting these things that we know so well, or that causes us to
suffer from slips of the tongue, and to read words that are not there
in sentences, is now established.
Everybody enjoys wit and gets satisfaction out of a joke, particularly
when it is on the other fellow. The significance of this psychic
manifestation is deeper and more involved than our matter-of-fact
acceptance of it has permitted us to comprehend.
The atrocities of war, committed by people who are believed to have
been uplifted by the influence of twenty centuries of Christianity, and
many more centuries of cultural civilization, are astounding to the
casual observer. The ease with which a group of people, individually
peaceful and law-abiding, is transformed into a destructive, even
murderous mob, is seemingly incomprehensible. Still, there are very
plausible reasons for these phenomena, which an understanding of the
new psychology enables us to perceive.
And by understanding all of these and other important factors, which a
knowledge of psycho-analysis offers, we are better able to check and
overcome our individual and social shortcomings, and to re-direct our
course along constructive lines.