Myths of psychoanalysis

1. Long silences with nothing happening.

This idea has become a myth; it is assumed that the analyst is completely neutral, mysterious, and only says a few random phrases.

My comment: Silence is merely a technical resource, not a rule. In some clinical situations, and depending on the patient, the analyst speaks more or less.

2. The patient lies on the couch and talks about his mother.

This is a well-known idea. It harks back to the classic Freudian idea of the patient speaking and the analyst listening, out of sight. The caricature is the association with the mother, as if everything were her fault.

My comment: It's a reductionist idea; the couch isn't always used. And the relationship with the mother, while often fundamental, isn't necessarily the axis of an analysis.

3. The analyst never gives answers.

The myth says that the analyst never answers anything, never gives an opinion, nor says “what to do”.

My comment: It's partially true. Psychoanalysis is not counseling. But this construction of meaning can involve interpretations, assessments, and recommendations that make a difference.

4. Analysis lasts forever.

The idea that those who begin analysis never leave it is common. It becomes a never-ending relationship.

My comment: It depends on the case, the patient, and the ethics involved in the work. There are long and short analyses, depending on the need. If there's one truth, it's that in psychoanalysis, there's no rush.

5. Analysis is for rich people, neurotics and intellectuals.

This myth places analysis as a bourgeois privilege in an intellectualized place, far from reality, in a world closed in a little box.

My comment: History shows that there was indeed a class bias at some point in the past, but today psychoanalysis allows many forms of access and deals with all psychological suffering in people of any social class.

6. The analysis is normative, sexist or racist

The beginning of psychoanalysis took place in a social context in Europe at the end of the 19th century, where colonialist and heterosexual norms were the cultural basis from which thought derived.

My comment: This stereotype has long since been dispelled and today psychoanalysis belongs to the individual, whether oriented towards any possible manifestation of gender or sexuality; as well as any origin, skin color or socio-cultural condition.

7. Everything is sex

Another Freudian cliché. The myth says that every human problem, for psychoanalysis, revolves around repressed sex.

My comment: Freud never said that everything was sex, but rather that childhood sexuality plays an important role in the constitution of the individual. Confusing this with promiscuity, adultery, or heightened sexuality is a gross error.

Text: Silvio Ambrosini