Psychoanalyst Primer - part 1
No one has ever seen the unconscious but we know it exists because of its powerful effects, just as we know that atoms split and electrical impulses travel. Each one of us has an unconscious. It governs our breathing, our digestion, our heartbeat, every step we take; it also serves as our storehouse for all secret, seething memories. Our unconscious helps propel us to success or failure. It can haunt us, making life a nightmare, or it can delight us, help us to live more richly.
Psychoanalysis is a science - the science of the understanding the mind. It is also an art - the art by which an individual may become acquainted with his unconscious feelings and release imprisoned emotions, giving up illusions that once were useful but have become redundant and bring only unhappiness.
Through the ages philosophers, physicians and theologians sought answers to the mystery of the human mind. Why could man not find happiness in this best of all possible worlds? What caused man's mind to break down? Why did man commit violent crimes? Why could he not control his emotions through the use of reason? And why did man dream? Was there a purpose? For centuries there were no answers. On July 28, 1774, Franz Otto Mesmer, a Viennese doctor stumbled on what may have been the first clue. He was treating a twenty nine year old woman who suffered from severe episodes of convulsions (beginning with headache, and followed by delerium, vomiting, paroxysms of rage, then a partial paralysis). On this day he tried something new, and brought to her bed three magnets, placing one over each leg and a third heart-shaped one on her stomach. She convulsed...then was amazingly free of pain! Following a few more treatments her attacks disappeared completely...though they later returned and further treatment was required. For the most part Mesmer was judged a "quack" by his colleagues and accused of fraud.
Mesmer's discovery that one man may possess enough power over another to relieve psychic illness led to the knowledge that, with help, man possesses the power within himself to heal himself. In effect, Mesmer mesmerized his patients and helped open the door to psychoanalysis.
Twenty years after Mesmer placed the magnets, the scene shifts to France, 1793, the Reign of Terror and the French Revolution. Paris had two madhouses, the Bicetre and the Salpetriere. Conditions were horrific! Crying, screaming depressed men and women lived in damp dungeons without light or air in chains, guarded by by convicts who treated them like wild beasts.
Latest Articles