The Rise and Fall of Psychoanalysis in America

• Published in: PsycCritiques Vol. 57; no. 42; p. No Pagination Specified
• Main Author: Teague, Ronald
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Psychological Association 24.10.2012
• Subjects: Freudian Psychoanalytic School; History of Psychology; Human; Psychoanalysis; World View
• ISSN: 1554-0138; 1554-0138
• DOI: 10.1037/a0030211

Reviews the book, After Freud Left: A Century of Psychoanalysis in America edited by John Burnham (see record 2012-11892-000). The material covered in this book does not focus on the development of ideas and practices that make up the clinical practice of psychoanalysis; rather, the authors examine the ideas and opinions that developed about psychoanalysis. Consequently, there is little new material presented about the conceptual struggles that mark the development of this clinical approach. Burnham and his team are, for the most part, more interested in how psychoanalysis became a worldview and then influenced the worldview of America during the 20th century. This book contains many fascinating historical facts that help broaden the understanding of the development and decline of psychoanalysis in America. The conclusion of the book, that the ideas of psychoanalysis no longer inform North American culture, seems a bit premature. In the reviewer's opinion, readers who wish to review the history of the ideas that make up the conceptualizations of psychoanalysis would be better off reading other works. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)