Psychoanalytic theory, Theory of psychoanalytic technique, The “truth” of psychoanalytic interpretation, H.C. Rümke’s conception of Praecoxgefühl, Relation between theory and technique in psychoanalysis.
Abstract
Several issues regarding the rationale that is behind the clinical process are critically examined. Some ofthese issues are the following: the transmission of psychoanalytic technique and its misunderstandings, the problem oftruth in psychoanalytic interpretation, measurement and verification in psychotherapy, the gap between theory andtechnique in psychotherapy, the role of the therapist’s personality factors, the problem of “classical” psychoanalytictechnique and its “as if” relation with theory, “classical” psychoanalytic technique as a mark of credibility of a socialgroup, the shift in psychoanalysis from the criterion of “truth of interpretation” (a strong concept) to that of “truth of thetherapeutic frame” (a weak concept), the role of insight and the concept of the “function” of insight, the role of empathyand of unconscious communication, the conception of Praecoxgefühl (a feeling or experience of the schizophrenicpatient on the part of the therapist) formulated by H.C. Rümke in the 1940s as a threat to classical nosography withintraditional European psychopathology (i.e., the use of a criterion associated with experience and affects has beenemployed even in the realm of descriptive objectivity), and so on.
