By Robert Samuels
At TAP, we’re interested in bringing psychoanalytic thinking into conversation with a broad public. One way we do that is by collaborating with writers, artists, and publications exploring similar questions. Today we’re pleased to share this recent essay by Robert Samuels, who writes the Substack Psychoanalysis, Politics, and Media. Here, he argues that Freud’s reputation as an unscientific thinker deserves another look.
A recent commentor on this Substack asked ChatGPT the following question: “I am curious about the validity of the theories of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. What can you tell me?” I will quote some of the bot’s answer and provide my analysis.
Here is the first part of the reply: “The short answer is that Freud was enormously influential, but most of his specific scientific theories are no longer accepted by contemporary psychology. His importance today is less as a scientist whose ideas were proven correct and more as a founder of a way of thinking about the mind, human motivation, and psychotherapy.” The notion that Freud is influential but not scientific is a very common misunderstanding of Freud, and one that I will try to disprove here.
To determine whether Freud’s key theories are scientific, we should look at their tested predictive power. We can begin with the theory of the unconscious: “The unconscious mind: Much of our behavior is influenced by thoughts and feelings outside conscious awareness.” The first problem here is that this is not how Freud defines the unconscious since many things are non-conscious, but the unconscious is reserved for things that we repress, which means we lie to ourselves. Clearly, numerous studies have proven that people lie to themselves. There has also been extensive research documenting repression.
The next set of theories listed by the bot concern sexuality: “Children experience unconscious sexual desires for the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent.” Once again, I think this is a common but simplified version of the Oedipus complex, which we can re-define as the relation between desire and the aggression directed to anyone who blocks access to the object of desire. Moreover, Freud’s concept of sexuality begins with his radical claim for his time that children have desires and stimulations. I doubt that most people today would reject this theory, and so the key to determining the validity of his theories is to first properly define them.
Another way of proving the scientific validity of Freud’s work is to examine the outcomes of therapies based on his theories. In fact, there has been extensive research on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis as a treatment for a wide range of mental disorders, and several of the metadata studies comparing psychoanalytic treatment to other forms of therapy and medication provide scientific evidence of the benefits of Freud’s model of talk therapy. In relation to Freud’s treatment model, ChatGPT states the following: “Many modern therapies owe something to psychoanalysis, even those that reject most Freudian theory.” This summary of how Freud is received by many therapists points to the notion that even the ones who rely on his theories and practices tend to dismiss his validity.
It is not my intention to argue that Freud was always correct; moreover, his own concept of science is based on the need for humility and constant revision and reality testing. However, many people reject his entire work because some of his concepts cannot be tested empirically. For instance, ChatGPT questions the following conception of dream interpretation: “Dreams represent disguised expressions of unconscious wishes.” While we do have scientific evidence that people dream at night, and they dream in scenes, it is impossible to prove if the symbolic nature of these representations is derived from attempts to avoid an internal censor: We simply do not have a scientific way of determining this claim, yet it does explain a lot, and it cannot be disproven.
There is also a lot of scientific evidence concerning the next aspect of Freud’s work considered by the bot: “Defense mechanisms: People protect themselves from anxiety through processes like denial, projection, and rationalization.” Psychologists from a range of specialties have documented the use of denial, projection, and rationalization. In fact, many psychologists use Freud’s key concepts without giving him any credit.
While the ChatGPT response affirms that Freud’s notion of the unconscious is valid, it posits that it has been modified by current psychologists since they reject the notion that our lack of mental awareness is related to “repressed sexual and aggressive wishes.” This central Freudian theory has been tested in the lab, and should be evident to anyone who has remembered their dreams in an open manner. When people simply reject the theory of repression and its relation to drives, they are usually resisting the theory out of prejudice.
It is interesting that in relation to Freud’s notions of different defense mechanisms, ChatGPT states that they “are widely used in modern psychology, although they are understood more carefully and are not always exactly as Freud described.” One possible reason why Freud’s concepts are understood differently now is that neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and evolutionary psychologists often seek to replace psychology with biology. By implying that these concepts are now understood more carefully than Freud, we encounter a clear judgment not based on scientific evidence.
ChatGPT posits that perhaps the biggest problem with Freud’s theories is that they are hard to test, but this is not true for most of his concepts. One of the examples that the bot gives is the following: “For example, if a patient loves their father, a Freudian might say that reflects a healthy resolution of the Oedipus complex. If the patient hates their father, that could be interpreted as evidence of unresolved conflict. Critics argue that such flexibility makes the theory hard to disprove.” It is hard to imagine how one would test this in a lab or through a double-blind study. All we can do is rely on the written word of psychoanalysts who have presented case studies, and there are numerous accounts of the Oedipus complex. There is also extensive anthropological research on this topic.
In a list of Freud’s major contributions, we find the following:
He emphasized the importance of childhood experiences.
He showed that emotional conflicts can influence behavior.
He treated psychological suffering as something worthy of serious study.
He developed the first comprehensive theory of personality.
He created a new form of psychotherapy.
This list of positive aspects is followed by a list of limitations:
He relied heavily on case studies rather than controlled experiments.
Many of his observations came from a small group of upper-class Viennese patients.
His theories were influenced by the cultural assumptions of Victorian-era Europe.
He placed a very large emphasis on sexuality and aggression.
While it is clear that some of Freud’s ideas were shaped by his culture, it should be evident that most of his concepts relate to universal features of the human mind and society. On a basic level, the bot repeats many of the common understandings and rejections of Freud, but we can do better by judging each concept based on its own proven validity.
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