Abstract
The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the scientific activity of different psychoanalytic schools of thought in terms of the content and production of case studies published on ISI Web of Knowledge. Between March 2013 and November 2013, we contacted all case study authors included in the online archive of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic case studies (www.singlecasearchive.com) to inquire about their psychoanalytic orientation during their work with the patient. The response rate for this study was 45%. It appears that the two oldest psychoanalytic schools, Object-relations psychoanalysis and Ego psychology or “Classical psychoanalysis” dominate the literature of published case studies. However, most authors stated that they feel attached to two or more psychoanalytic schools of thought. This confirms that the theoretical pluralism in psychoanalysis stretches to the field of single case studies. The single case studies of each psychoanalytic school are described separately in terms of methodology, patient, therapist, or treatment features. We conclude that published case studies features are fairly similar across different psychoanalytic schools. The results of this study are not representative of all psychoanalytic schools, as some do not publish their work in ISI ranked journals.
Highlights
Since Freud’s discovery of the unconscious at the end of the nineteenth century, psychoanalysis has been permeated with various forms of conflict
The results show that the two oldest schools in psychoanalysis “Object-relations psychoanalysis and Ego psychology or ‘Classic psychoanalysis”’ dominate the field of published case studies
The present study found that the two oldest psychoanalytic schools, Object-relations psychoanalysis and Ego psychology or “Classic psychoanalysis,” were most productive in publishing case studies on ISI-Web of Knowledge between the years 1955 and 2011
Summary
Since Freud’s discovery of the unconscious at the end of the nineteenth century, psychoanalysis has been permeated with various forms of conflict. The first of these disputes concerned certain aspects of Freudian theory, promulgating the establishment of what became known as the Jungian and Adlerian schools, which were eventually no longer recognized as psychoanalytic Shocked by these dissidences, and following a suggestion made by Jones (1955), the famous “secret committee” was formed with the aim to safeguard the theoretical foundations of Freud’s theory. Disputes spanned the issue of so-called lay analysis in the 19 twenties (which came down to a conflict concerning training standards—cf Wallerstein, 1998) to those between Anna Freud and Melanie Klein in the 19 forties regarding the psychoanalytic treatment of children (concerning technique—cf King and Steiner, 1991) These disputes were closely followed by disagreement in France concerning technique and training standards (cf de Mijolla, 2012a,b) in the 19 fifties and early sixties. This led to the establishment of the Lacanian school(s)
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