Freud's ideas have influenced almost every aspect of our lives, but have they been confirmed by experimental science? Did Freud say anything that was new or true? Has his influence been good or malign? To answer those questions, the author draws on his knowledge of recent psychological research and produces evidence indicating that we should now dismiss psychoanalysis as a pseudo-science. He explores the heroic myths Freud created about his own originality and the hostility he encountered - myths repeated to this day by credulous disciples. He argues that psychoanalysis, unlike behavioural therapy, is unsuccessful at curing neurotic patients and that Freudian theories about dream interpretation and the Oedipus complex, anal personalities and slips of the tongue, are, at best implausible.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the last word, but essential reading,
By
This review is from: The Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire (Paperback)
Make no mistake about it, Eysenck does not think much of Freud. At times his tone adopts a polemical flavor that I personally find distasteful. Yet the facts remain. Anyone hoping to understand Freud and psychoanalytic theory must read Eysenck, if only to be aware of the questions that must be faced.Eysenck gives four rules about interpreting Freud. First, do not believe what Freud and others have to say about his life. Check out the facts for yourself. Eysenck claims that most biographical material about Freud is designed to promote hero worship. Second, do not believe the claims about the effectiveness of the psychoanalytic method. Look at the evidence for yourself. For example, in the famous case of Anna O, Eysenck documents Freud's failed "cure" and continued treatment by medical doctors of her tuberculous meningitus. Third, do not accept claims of originality in Freud's theory. Eysenck traces use of even the "unconscious" to Freud's predecessors. Fourth, do not accept Freudian evidence for the correctness of his theories. Eysenck claims that the facts often disprove, rather than support, Freud's claims. Eysenck is not the last word. Psychoanalysis continues today. There are proponents who have extended Freud's theories. There have been new attempts to find value in Freud's work. Nonetheless, Eysenck is essential. In a sense he started the entire controversy!
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Psychoanalysis is dead,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Decline and Fall of the Freudian Empire (Paperback)
H. Eysenck does a wonderful job showing that Psychoanalysis is as scientific as Dr. Seuss Books. The book is filled with information and references of why Freud and Psychoanalysis failed to be scientific. This book is specially usefull if you live in places where Psychoanalysis is still considered as the ultimate theory, and Freud has an almost god status. It is of great help to those who want to show to their peers and teachers that Freud was simply wrong.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Freud's Fraud,
By
This review is from: Decline and fall of the Freudian empire (Hardcover)
If you are one of the perceptives, you have probably questioned the quackery behind Freudian psychoanalysis, but may not have taken the time to investigate precisely why it is exactly that. Eysenck has done an outstanding job in this book in showing not only how unscientific and wrong it is, but goes further to describe the great harm that his ideas have inflicted on Western society. Psychoanalysis is two things: a theory of psychology, dealing with memory, personality and childhood development; and a method for treatment of certain types of mental illness such as neuroses and depression. As a theory of psychology, it has failed because its basic assumptions are now known to be incorrect, and because of its use of unscientific modes of establishing and analyzing factual materials. As a treatment, it has failed because of its very frequently noted propensity for making patients worse. Its sexual interpretation of physical symptoms, such as a cough being a "love song," or bedwetting being caused by masturbation, are absurdities that only perverts can believe. Eysenck's critique is truly devastating for a modern reader to encounter, and one can only wonder why Freud's ideas have had such an impact on the popular imagination. Eysenck's lucidly expressed explanation is that the answer lies in the ancient human desire to get something for nothing. Freudian methods can obtain theories without having to laboriously obtain reliable facts. Non-scientific thinkers, including literary authors, new agers, pseudo-psychologists, social workers and pedagogues, whose hunger for explanations exceeds their common sense, mistake idle speculation for "insight," and lamentably fall all too easily for humbug. The author's interpretation of the root causes of Freud's errors and deceptions are actually, to me, a bit on the generous side. He sees them as compounded of ignorance, an erotic mode of thinking, laziness, cocain, and a desire to be the heroic leader of a cult-like movement. Kevin MacDonald's interpretation in "Culture of Critique," goes even further to describe Freud's malevolent rejection of Western European intellectual traditions, which Freud, as a strongly self-identified Jew, hated.
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