Quote:
Originally Posted by starfishing
Is "Freudian" really a separate school of thought from the others you listed, where you are? I don't know any analysts or therapists who work psychoanalytically who don't see themselves as Freudian in some sense unless they identify as Lacanian (or Jungian, I suppose, but I haven't met any of those), despite very much using object relations and relational theories in their work.
I feel like "Freudian" gets used as a specific label more as a pejorative where I am, by people who don't know much about contemporary psychoanalysis in clinical practice and don't realize that their impression is closer to a parody than to what actually happens in analysis and analytic therapy.
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Yes it is separate in that the key concepts are structural and drive theory. No, I'm not taking my location into consideration.
I do agree with what you're saying about dismissing Freud, it does get ridiculous and therapists get it wrong all the time when discussing. Most I know still use concepts like neurosis, hysteria, defenses, conflicts, etc. They are still useful to me too, and I know these are actively used in some way or another as all therapy is Freudian in a sense. But hardly anyone uses drive theory and psychosexual development anymore, which is why I say there really are no Freudian analysts. I still use some of these concepts for myself (and talk about them here) because I think they are still relevant.
There are so many overlapping concepts, structures, and methods which is why I've been trying to say to help Lrad, if you look it as expressive vs supportive, that's the one component that informs what to expect for the most part. I also agree ideally it is a always a mixture of both but many analysts favor certain schools of thought and although they incorporate both, they often tend to lean towards one or the other.
There's all the different classifications which can't be illustrated effectively without using a tree diagram as they are hierarchical and most are not mutually exclusive, so they cannot be categorized easily. (Interesting-this is sort of like the DSM where everything overlaps and is messy-no wonder the inter-rater reliability is all messed up. Which is another reason why I like Glen Gabbard-he includes everything from all the different schools and is very contextual.
In thinking through this, I came up with a few classifications though not wholly accurate unless a tree is done. I may have gotten some of the classical vs modern wrong thinking date was the delineation but it's not. It seems modern or contemporary can sometimes be the same as interpersonal or relational but sometimes not. I can't figure it out now as I have to run. I also don't see where this Spotnitz guy fits in-i thought he was self psychology but he's also under interpersonal or mostly excluded-hmm.
Key theoretical frameworks/schools of thought:
Topographical/Structural/Drive Theory (eg Freud)
Ego psychology (eg Erikson, Anna Freud)
Object relations (eg Winnicott, Klein, Kernberg)
Self-psychology (eg Kohut, Stern)
Relational/Attachment (eg Bowbly, Ainsworth, Schore, Fonagy)
There's a few more such as Lacanian; Spotnitz?
I prefer to think of it all as 'developmental'. It's also confusing since all psychoanalytical methods are considered relational, but object relations isn't really considered relational.
That's why I was trying to simplify everything in the way I was referring to it before to help Lrad see what's out there-the key differences.