Classical Psychoanalytic Thought, Contemporary Developments, and Clinical Social Work

Abstract

This chapter presents selected classical psychoanalytic tenets, outlines the major shifts in emphases that have led to the development of ego psychology, object relations, and self psychology schools of thought, and discusses some of the major contributions of these bodies of thought to clinical social work practice. It focuses on one direction of psychoanalysis, namely, attachment neurobiology. Psychoanalytic theory, which is now over a century old, and its contemporary offshoots have been important influences on social work practice. Among the most important assumptions that many clinical social workers adopted from psychoanalytic theory is the view that all behavior is determined in a purposeful and orderly way. Freud was concerned that others in the scientific community thought that there was no objective verification of psychoanalysis and doubted the credibility of the psychoanalytic method. Contemporary psychoanalytic thinking tends, for the most part, to be based on ego psychology.