Idiodynamics and Applied Psychoanalysis

Abstract

This communication explores the implications of Rosenzweig's idiodynamic method for applied psychoanalytic studies. After reviewing the methodological problems intrinsic to applied psychoanalysis, the author summarizes the idiodynamic method. Rosenzweig's idiodynamic studies of loss and creativity in Freud's life (and the lives of creative individuals) are briefly reviewed. With Rosenzweig's insights in mind, Freud's methodological problem in Totem and Taboo is identified and explored in terms of its psychological meaning. Freud's split with Jung was an important factor in the composition of Totem and Taboo. The Freud–Jung split also influenced the insular nature of organized psychoanalysis and contributed to the relative neglect of empirical methods within psychoanalysis in the twentieth century. The idiodynamic method is intended to foster empirical rigor. For applied psychoanalytic studies, the idiodynamic method would place actual known events, with consequent patterns and meanings emerging over time, above any theoretical scheme. Although his method does not resolve all of the methodological problems of applied psychoanalysis, Rosenzweig offers a disciplined method for creative psychological inquiry.