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Nina Saadat

Dr. Delgado

Psychology 275

September 27 2020

Current Beliefs

Currently, neither psychoanalysis nor transactional analysis is popular in the established

psychological community. Both, however, have found avenues of consideration in the education,

media, or business, and both have consolidated communities. Their current impact is

international, with varying levels of recognition across cultures. Additionally, each has

developed sub-categories that seek to occupy niches in patients’ needs while retaining their core

principles.

Psychoanalysis's positions as a legitimate therapeutic method and an accepted

psychological theory are precarious. Its presence in mainstream psychological discourse is

peripheral because its proponents offer little empirical evidence (Paris). However, the American

Psychological Association currently recognizes psychoanalysis as a specialty in professional

psychology under its Office of Graduate and Postgraduate Education and Training (American

Psychological Association). The specialty’s year of renewal of recognition is 2022. Furthermore,

Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (Columbia University

Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research), The Institute of Contemporary

Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis (Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy and

Psychoanalysis), and The Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis (The Washington
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Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis) are among the few training institutes which hold

accreditation from the American Psychoanalysis Association. While the field's prevalence is

waning and there is a great deal of scientific skepticism, it would be false to claim that

psychoanalysis has no legitimacy within the greater psychological community.

Over the years, disparate factions of psychoanalytic theory and practice have developed,

emphasizing different aspects of Freud's original approach. These factions include

Contemporary Freudian Psychoanalysis, Relational Psychoanalysis, Self Psychology (Norcross

et al.), and Neuropsychoanalysis (Franck).

Contemporary Freudian Psychoanalysis, which derives from psychoanalyst Charles

Brenner's work (Norcross et al.), emphasizes and clarifies Freud's structural theory of the mind

(Rothstein 10). Additionally, Contemporary Freudian Psychoanalysis has moved towards

analyzing the past solely "...insofar as it is being maladaptively repeated in the present"

(Norcross et al.).

Modern Relational Psychoanalysis originates from Stephen Mitchell's writings (Norcross

et al.), centralizes the patient's relationships with others (Aron 2). Relational psychoanalysts

retain original Freudian concepts, including drive theory, but these concepts only retain

relevance in the context of a relationship (Ringstrom 2).

Self Psychology, which Heinz Kohut founded, focuses on self-development and self

esteem (Fosshage). During Self Psychology therapies, the analyst listens empathetically, instead

of in a detached manner. Unlike traditional Freudian psychology, Self Psychology accepts and

integrates the analyst's subjectivity. The analysand's self-integrity is a joint project of both the

analyst and the analysand (Fosshage).

Neuropsychoanalysis's development reflects psychoanalysis's foremost struggle in the

modern era: neurology and psychiatry's dominance in defining the mind's structure.
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Neuropsychoanalysis is a controversial innovation developed by neuropsychologist Mark

Solms, who claims that "...subjective experience and the unconscious mind can be observed

through neuroimaging" (Paris).

The foremost formal psychoanalysis organization is the International Psychoanalytical

Association or IPA. The IPA currently has 12,811 members (International Psychoanalytical

Association); for comparison, the American Psychological Association had 117,371 members as

of January 2017 (Winerman). Notably, several regional subcomponents of varying size and

scope work under the IPA.

Interestingly, while psychoanalysis' popularity has waned in the United States and

Europe, it remains impactful in Latin America. Historically, the availability of Freudian texts in

Spanish gave the theory credibility in Latin America (Legras 2). Societal turmoil affecting the

region during the 1960s and early 1970s politicized and popularized psychoanalysis (Legras 4).

Today, Argentina hosts one of the largest psychoanalytic communities in the world (Plotkin).

The nation's former president, Mauricio Macri, was an analysand for a quarter-century.

Psychoanalysis terminology is a part of Argentinians' everyday speech (Plotkin). The theory has

even gained celebrity status in Gabriel Rolón, a psychoanalyst with a popular radio show and

who once hosted a TV show "...in which he conducted playful analytical sessions with

celebrities reclining on his divan" (Moffett).

While psychoanalysis has lost its predominance in the United States, Freud is still a part

of many American students' curricula as a small part of the Advanced Placement Psychology

course. It also retains a role in many undergraduates' education, but, as a Journal of the

American Psychoanalytic Association study found, not in the psychology department (Redmond

and Shulman). At the time of the study's release, the authors found that "...six times more

courses featuring psychoanalytic ideas are available outside psychology departments than in
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them" (Redmond and Shulman), mostly in humanities courses. This result likely reflects

Freudian analyses of art, film, and literature (Sharp and Sims).

Psychoanalysis's critics range from philosophers to former psychoanalysts to Tik-Tokers.

The renowned philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper, argued that psychoanalysis is

pseudoscientific because it is unfalsifiable (Thornton). Former psychoanalyst Jeffery Masson

claims that Freud's original theory intended to conceal child sexual abuse, and that

psychoanalysis' practice continues to perpetuate that injustice today (Robinson). A TikTok

search of the "Freud" hashtag uncovers numerous critical videos. One, created by a user called

@1992hondacivic, is captioned, "i actually just hate freud so much this account is slowly

becoming a freud hate page." The video, which mocks the Oedipus complex, has over five

hundred thousand likes.

Proponents of psychoanalysis argue that the theory provides an integral, holistic

approach and cite several studies that seem to demonstrate the therapy's superior long-term

outcomes compared to the more popular cognitive-behavioral practice (Novotney). Overall,

though, psychoanalysis's place in the mainstream has virtually vanished.

Like psychoanalysis, current transactional analysis exists in various components. I

discussed the three primary schools in my history essay: the classic Bernian school, the

Schiffian/Cathexis school, and redecision psychotherapy. Subsequently, the Process Model and

the Racket System have emerged as popular offshoots of the original theory and the later

schools (Dryden 73).

Initially developed by Taibi Kahler and Paul Ware (Dryden 73), the Process

Communication Model is now a trademarked collaboration tool. The model encourages

practitioners to assess how a person communicates instead of the communication's content. It

argues that critical aspects of a person's personality are observable "...within the first few

minutes' acquaintance..." (Dryden 73). Under the Process Communication model, there

are six basic personality types: "...obsessive-compulsive (responsible workaholic), paranoid

(brilliant sceptic), schizoid (creative daydreamer), passive-aggressive (playful critic), hysteric

(enthusiastic over-reactor), antisocial (charming manipulator)..." (74). Kahler also innovated five

behavioral drives, including "...Be Perfect, Be Strong, Try Hard, Please Others, Hurry Up..." and

claims that most people have a primary driver (76). Overall, the theory emphasizes interpersonal

communication.

Today, Kahler Communications, Inc. advertises the Process Communications Model on

its website and social media platforms. The company sells books and certification seminars. On

its YouTube channel, which has accumulated 157,685 views since 2012, videos introduce

viewers to the model and its founder, Kahler. One critic of the Process Communications

Model, Piet van der Ploeg, writes that Kahler Communications misrepresents and fabricates

much of the purported scientific evidence (der Ploeg).

The Racket System, created by Richard Erskine and Marilyn Zalcman, is another

subcomponent of transactional analysis (Dryden 76). This theory supplements Berne's script

theory, explaining how a patient's script develops (76). The Racket System claims that peoples'

behavior exists in feedback loops that originate in unresolved infant discomforts. It begins when

a caretaker repeatedly fails to meet the infants' needs. Over time, the infant invents (often self

deprecating) explanations for their distress that they subconsciously carry into adult life (77). As

an adult, similar discomforts reinforce the same infantile explanation, "Thus each time the

process is repeated, the person can say to herself without awareness: 'Yes, the world is like I

thought it was' " (77). Under the Racket System, the therapist attempts to free their client of the
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feedback loop by telling them to engage in thinking, behavior, or posture (78). Presently,

Richard Erskine is the Director at the Institute for Integrative Psychotherapy, where he hosts

international training seminars and workshops. His YouTube Channel, Integrative

Psychotherapy Videos, has accumulated 46,579 views since 2013.

The International Transactional Analysis Association formally represents the

transactional analysis theory and its practitioners. While it is difficult to assess which regional

subsidiary is the most developed, the European Association for Transactional Analysis has over

seven thousand members (European Association for Transactional Analysis).

Overall, neither psychoanalysis nor transactional analysis are significant to the scientific

community outside of their own groups and journals. However, both practices have garnered

international public attention via television, social media, and business ventures. As a result,

both have accumulated new criticism from scientists, philosophers, and laypeople alike.
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Works Cited

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