The Nature of the Therapeutic Action of Psycho analysis

A classic essay by James Strachey.

Much of this essay bears out Wilfred Bion’s characterization of therapeutic psychoanalysis as fundamentally manipulative.

A choice quote:

The super-ego, according to this view of Alexander’s (though he explicitly limits his use of the word to the unconscious parts of the ego-ideal), is a portion of the mental apparatus which is essentially primitive, out of date and out of touch with reality, which is incapable of adapting itself, and which operates automatically, with the monotonous uniformity of a reflex. Any useful functions that it performs can be carried out by the ego, and there is therefore nothing to be done with it but to scrap it. (70)

This is extraordinary! People debating in scientific journals whether to try obliterating parts of people’s minds.