On Psychoanalysis
The ideas and thoughts below describe what influences my practice of psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis (sometimes called psychoanalytical psychotherapy) is a form of psychological treatment; an open-ended practice), based on an understanding of the unconscious mind, arising out of the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. It has also been described as a unique kind of conversation that focuses upon the experience of the individual.
Sadly, much of mental health treatment, psychology, psychotherapy and even psychoanalysis have fallen far from its original roots (see below). Often it is nothing more that a superficial attempt to sooth somone, solve a problem, or "hypnotise" somebody with supposed "special knowledge" or wisdom". True or authentic psychoanalysis has nothing to do with this.
Labels or concepts that often come under the guise of mental health initatives today such as "well being", "trauma" and "therapeutic" are nothing more than a superficial attempt to "cure" people of their distress and to shore in or recuperate the dis-ease and chaos that we see in our society, often labelled a "mental health crisis".
Psychoanalysts like Jaques Lacan, Gerard Haddad and philosphers like Lev Shestov, Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas believed that the roots of psychoanalysis was in Hebraic thinking.
French psychoanalyst Gérard Haddad and Russian philosopher Lev Shestov addressed the contrast between Hebraic influenced psychoanalysis (or psychotherapy) and Hellenistic/Greek-oriented psychotherapy. They focused on the relational, narrative, and existential aspects of Hebraic thinking in psychoanalysis versus the rationalist, mechanistic, or universalizing tendencies of Hellenistic approaches.
Haddad, integrated Lacanian psychoanalysis with Hebraic thought, particularly in Le Péché Originel de la Psychanalyse and other works. He contrasts Hebraic psychoanalysis, rooted in narrative and relational ethics, with Hellenistic psychotherapy’s mechanistic and universalizing tendencies, often critiquing Freud’s scientific aspirations.
- Haddad On Hebraic Psychoanalysis vs. Hellenistic Psychotherapy:
“Freud wanted to found a science of the psyche in the Greek sense, a Hellenistic enterprise seeking universal laws, like physics. But the Hebrew Bible (or Hebraic thinking) offers a different path: it is a book of stories, of singular human destinies, where the truth of the subject emerges in dialogue with the Other, not in abstract systems.” (Le Péché Originel de la Psychanalyse, 2002, approximate translation)
Haddad argues that Hebraic thinking enriches psychoanalysis by focusing on individual narratives and relational encounters, contrasting with the Hellenistic (Freudian) aim for universal, mechanistic laws of the psyche. This highlights Haddad’s view that Hebraic psychoanalysis prioritizes the patient’s unique narrative and relational context, opposing the Hellenistic tendency to reduce the psyche to universal structures or mechanisms.
Lev Shestov
Shestov, a Russian existentialist philosopher, contrasts biblical (Hebraic) revelation with Greek (Hellenistic) rationality in Athens and Jerusalem. While not a psychoanalyst, he critiques rationalist frameworks, including those underlying Hellenistic psychotherapy, favoring an existential, faith-based approach aligned with Hebraic thinking.
- Shestov On Psychoanalysis and Hebraic Existentialism:
“The psychoanalyst believes he can trap the soul in a net of causes and effects, as if human despair were a machine to be dismantled. But the God of Jerusalem speaks to the individual in his anguish, not as a specimen of reason but as a living, unrepeatable soul.” (Athens and Jerusalem, 1937, paraphrased for clarity).
Shestov critiques the Hellenistic underpinnings of psychoanalysis, which seek causal explanations (e.g., Freud’s determinism), contrasting them with a Hebraic focus on the individual’s existential encounter with meaning, akin to a therapeutic dialogue rooted in faith and freedom.
Shestov On Hellenistic Rationalism vs. Hebraic Faith:
“Greek wisdom seeks necessity, the eternal laws that bind all men. Jerusalem seeks the impossible, the unique cry of the soul before God. Psychoanalysis, in its Greek mode, chains the human spirit; only a biblical vision can set it free.” (Athens and Jerusalem, 1937, adapted from Shestov’s broader critique).
Shestov implies that Hellenistic psychotherapy, with its rationalist and mechanistic approach, limits human freedom, while a Hebraic perspective, emphasizing the singular and existential, aligns with a more liberating therapeutic practice.
