Psychoanalysis as Prevention: Using PATHS to Enhance Ego Development, Object Relationships, & Cortical Integration in Children

For over a century, psychoanalysis has improved the lives of many individuals, as well as humanity in general. However, the great potential for psychoanalysis to vastly enhance cultural evolution has not yet been actualized. Employing psychoanalysis in the service of prevention could assist with this goal if it could be made “exportable,” “user-friendly,” and available to a large segment of the population. PATHS (Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies) is one specific application of psychoanalytic prevention that was developed with these objectives in mind. PATHS is a comprehensive, developmentally-based curriculum for teachers to use in their classrooms with latency-aged children throughout the elementary school years. Some of the major goals of PATHS include teaching emotional literacy, improving social competence, alleviating and preventing emotional distress and behavior problems, reducing risk factors, improving classroom atmosphere, enhancing student-teacher relationships, and promoting optimal development. The present paper provides an overview of the content and process of PATHS, discusses PATHS as psychoanalytic prevention, and summarizes research conducted with PATHS over the past 15 years. It is suggested that emotional literacy is now critical for our basic knowledge repertoire and that children not taught this information will likely be at a distinct disadvantage as adults.