Psychoanalysis
a form of therapeutic treatment originated by Professor Freud of Vienna. In its essence it is a system of psychological inquiry into the subconscious psychic forces at the base of psychic disturbances, preliminary to the formulation of a method of treatment in cases of neurasthenia, hysteria and the like. The principle lying at the foundation of his theory is that these psychical manifestations spring from emotional experiences that have been forgotten or repressed into the field of unconsciousness, while still holding their place in the mind. sensibilit The evidence gathered is designed to show that impressions of various kinds have been communicated from one mind to another in this way. On occasions the person acting the part of recipient has been put into a hypnotic condition, and experiments have been considered as showing that acute sensibility so induced has made thought transference more easy. The evidence that has been accumulated up to the present as a result of experiment has, however, not been such as to establish any process of telepathy.
Apart from the evidence that has been derived from repeated experimental attempts at thought transference, the societies of psychical psychical research have systematically gathered all available data relating to human experience in the telepathic field. This group of experiences has been in the main of a spontaneous character, arising without any preparation of milieu or conditions on the part of the percipient. The larger division relates to the transference of presentiments in connection with crises in the lives of persons involved in the presentiment. Only a small proportion of the cases so recorded, however, were bereft of elements that tended to doubt as to the actual connection between the event and the presentiment. The investigation, however, showed how subject the human mind is to ideas of this kind, even in a state normal and healthy. Th y. The sum total of inquiry up to the present time has not established the telepathic hypothesis on a scientific basis, but it has at least explored mental conditions that before the introduction of psychical research had remained unexplored, and if it has not shown with certainty telepathic potentialities in the human mind, it has at least aided in defining more clearly hu-quiry and the treatment call for great man limits in the perception and communication of ideas. The American Society for Psychical Research was for some years connected with the British society, but in 1906 it
Professor Freud's method of treatment seeks to establish the connection between the neurotic manifestations of the patient and the causes that lie hidden in his memory. Its purpose is to pierce the obscurity in which these latent ideas are embedded and by revealing the connection between them and their symptoms to bring about their disappearance. In this connection he developed his theory on the nature of dreams, which in his view were merely distortions of unrealized desires. In the treatment the patient is led to repeat what he remembers of his dreams and to reveal the flowing course of his aspirations and thoughts.
On the basis of the knowledge so acquired the physician shows the connection between cause and effect to the patient and dissipates the neurotic condition by rationalizing it. There is unquestionably much that is sound in Psychoanalysis, but both the insagacity, skill, and patience, and these qualities are not always present in those who endeavor to apply its principles.
In the United States the theory has received further development and is being PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOTHERAPY used with success in the milder forms of Associationists and of Herbart, hold that nervous affections.