Psychoanalysis: The Magic and The Lie
Diary of a Five Day A Week Analysis
by Esther Altshul Helfgott, Ph.D.
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
... I am reading Aichhorn's Wayward Youth and find him so utterly arrogant, though brilliant, of course. Was arrogance not endemic to the psychoanalytic movement and among those closest to Freud? Does it not continue so? Aichhorn was invested with great personal power; Edith and others were courageous to stand up to him; but they in turn - his disciples - adopted some of his habits of behavior. I am including this topic in my next paper, "Edith Buxbaum and the Shaping of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Community." On the other hand, these amazing young analysts were bent upon changing the world through the kinder, through education and the family. I am fascinated by them and, especially, with their tenacity, idealism and strength of character.... This is most exciting work, but I've seen the other side as well, or rather the other side of the inside...
Thursday, October 9, 2003
What a question: Psychoanalysis is inherently arrogant. What fun...
arrogant adj.
1. Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance.
2. Marked by or arising from a feeling or assumption of one's superiority toward others: an arrogant contempt for the weak. See Synonyms at proud.
proud adj. prouder, proudest
1. Feeling pleasurable satisfaction over an act, possession, quality, or relationship by which one measures one's stature or self-worth: proud of one's child; proud to serve one's country.
2. Occasioning or being a reason for pride: "On January 1, 1900, Americans and Europeans greeted the twentieth century in the proud and certain belief that the next hundred years would make all things possible" (W. Bruce Lincoln).
3. Feeling or showing justifiable self-respect.
4. Filled with or showing excessive self-esteem.
5. Of great dignity; honored: a proud name.
6. Majestic; magnificent: proud alpine peaks.
7. Spirited. Used of an animal: proud steeds.
:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2000
Eating Oysters
Dr. Edith Buxbaum on a day trip to the San Juan Islands with the Kirschners. WA. State, 1970s.
Courtesy Dr. Heidi Kirschner
Psychoanalysis: The Magic and The Lie - Diary of a Five Day A Week Analysis
copyright2005Esther Altshul Helfgott All Rights Reserved
This page was last updated on: July 29, 2005
