The problem is that I’m a physicist so I see a wiki page with a bunch of quotes from people of all disciplines including a physicist who was famously a huge sceptic of psychiatry and I think of all the physics pages that have all these “opinions” that are wrong
Very few of those quotes mention evidence of outcomes of psychoanalysis but only mention very specific parts of it being questionable. I think you’re jumping the gun a bit. Don’t worry, that’s very common among people who are newer to science
There are many modern meta analysis assessing the (in)efficacy of psychoanalysis and comparing it to other approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (which is the gold standard nowadays) and other approaches, which back my arguments.
I am not really interested in going more deeply about this, but I encourage you to research it, if you are interested. There is a lot of research about this.
And by the way, I am sure that you can also find meta analysis which will tell you that psychoanalysis works. This does not mean that it is necessarily true (or at least, not for the reasons that people think it is true), for various reasons, some of which I'm sure you can deduce.
The problems with psychoanalysis are not just about its (substandard) efficacy. There are many other troubling issues with this practice.
This is why it is important to follow a field of study and what current scientists, field practicioners/experts and academics know (from various disciplines and fields of study, in order to get a consensus as best as possible), and not just read some isolated meta analysis and extrapolate conclusions from it.
> I think you’re jumping the gun a bit.
I think what I'm talking about is pretty well established at this point, it's not news for someone who works in this field.
I suggest you do more research before arguing about a field you don't seem knowledgeable about.
Look, if you are so interested in this, why don't you do the research yourself?
I literally just googled "meta-analysis psychoanalysis" and the very first link that came up [1] was, surprisingly, a meta-analysis about psychoanalysis which concluded the abstract with the following phrase:
"In contrast to previous reviews, we found the evidence for the effectiveness of LTPP [long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy] to be limited and at best conflicting."
I'm not interested in wasting more of my time on this topic, so don't expect any more replies.
Which? Serious question!
> Which? Serious question!
Ok, well, the thing is, I'm not an expert in psychology/psychotherapy, so you shouldn't trust me.
But if you'd like to find out more, here are some avenues that I suggest you dig into. They are based on conversations I had with a psychologist that I know but it's been many years and therefore I could be wrong about almost all (if not all) of this (or at least, misremembering):
1. If I remember correctly, psychoanalysis encourages a long form of therapy in a way that may not be in the best interests of the client. It is fine to have long therapies when needed, but it is not OK to extend a therapy longer than it is necessary to deal with the demands of the client and/or any other relevant and substantial issues that might come up during therapy.
Many would argue that psychotherapy should be about dealing with the issues at hand and what's preventing you from achieving your goals, in an efficient and practical way, not going on and on infinitely about exploring your infancy and your past while the weeks, months and years go by and the dollars fly away from your wallet to the therapist's wallet.
2. Psychoanalysis may also encourage finding (some would argue manufacturing) "issues" and "traumas" that have nothing to do with the problems that the client was having and may only serve to cause additional and unnecessary emotional suffering, besides all the problems that the client was already having when he decided to go into therapy. In extreme cases, this may even lead to implanting false memories of traumas.
3. Psychoanalysts may also tend to (inadvertently or "advertently") inflict and/or encourage emotional dependence between the client and the therapist, in a way that is not healthy, desirable nor in the best interests of the client.
4. The above issues may all feed into and magnify each other.
I am sure there were more issues that I've discussed, but I simply can't remember.
Note that I'm not saying that all psychoanalyst practitioners fall into the above traps, or that practitioners of other forms of psychotherapy don't, I'm only suggesting that psychoanalysis is more prone to the above issues than other forms of psychotherapy that are usually considered more scientific (like CBT).
And once again, please take all of the above with a huge grain of salt and don't trust me. I'm not an expert and I could be completely wrong and/or misremembering the above issues. So I encourage you to do your own research.
