Psychoanalysis as a cross-bearing.

The term â€oe¿¿ psychoanalysis†• has a triple usage. First, it describes a connected body of observations about unconscious mental pro cesses, systematically classified and more or less colligated and brought under general laws. This first meaning places psychoanalysis among the sciences, but a difficulty at once arises ; for the phenomena with which psychoanalysis is con cerned, and the methods used to study them, are so different from those upon which our tradition of science was first based that the question arises whether it is science at all. Second, the term refers to a technique for investigating unconscious mental life. This technique can be learned, as can all techniques of investigation, by any apprentice with reason able ability. A second difficulty is now met, for this ability is not the same as that required for the physical sciences. It is possible to have an excellent mind for physical science and yet to be a duffer at psychoanalysis : and vice versa. This state ofaffairs is not inevitable, but it raises an important problem about the nature of abilities. Third, the term is used to describe a method of treatment for mental disturbance. We doctors are usually most concerned with this third usage, but it is the one Freud valued least, for he was primarily concerned with inquiry, dis covery, knowledge and investigatory technique, but only secondarily with therapy. These three meanings of â€oe¿¿ psychoanalysis†• , a body of knowledge, a technique of investigation, and a treatment, need sorting out whenever the term is used, otherwise misunderstanding may arise. In this communication I shall be concerned with psychoanalysis not as a treatment but as a scientific standpoint, derived from the technique and its associated body ofknowledge, from which S Read at the Annual Meeting of the Royal Medico Psychological Association, London, July, i967. to view human affairs. Like the chemical view point, the psychoanalytical viewpoint is definite but of course limited to certain matters. It is there and always available, like the chemical viewpoint, no matter what human behaviour may be under study, and, like the chemical viewpoint, it does not conflict with any other; rather it is in addition to others and seeks a part of the truth. Nevertheless, the differences of psychoanalysis from other sciences in its field of study, its methods and the talents required need emphasis, and I propose to discuss these. Psychoanalysis cannot but …