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A specter haunts psychoanalysis: the specter of extinction. Sperber (2015), in an effort to counter psychoanalysis' dismal trajectory, called for a “different mode of writing in order to affect change in the world. We must learn to distill clearly what the field has to offer and why it matters” (p. 25). Her recommendation was that psychoanalysts write manifestos. “Manifestos express a different state; they are assured, forceful, and convincing” (p. 25). Eight psychoanalysts, including Sperber, took up the challenge. Unfortunately, much of what was published seemed less manifesto and more screed, fulmination, jeremiad, and polemic. It is profoundly disappointing that so many authors used the valuable platform provided by the DIVISION/Review, an official publication of the American Psychological Association, to engage in acrimonious and tendentious venting which does little to further the stated aims of changing the public discourse and, ultimately, the fate of psychoanalysis.
Braun (2015) derisively labeled Aaron Beck as “a salesman” (p. 25) and called on psychoanalytic colleagues to distance themselves from the “Mental Health Industrial Complex”: “Set yourself proudly apart. You offer articulation. They offer anesthetization” (p. 26). McLain (2015) began her manifesto by stating “Cognitive behavior therapy is for the meek” (p. 28). She continued by shaming cognitive behaviorists for being shallow and rigid, and then blamed the unwitting, corpulent, slovenly, pop-culture obsessed “Pring-les-chomping, Kardashian-watching, Shake Weight—purchasing public” (p. 28) for their ignorance (while claiming not to do so). Morgan (2015) wrote “All of your so-called professional organizations are so busy trying to sanitize and make legitimate our way of working that neuroscience and evidence-based research dominate their agenda” (p. 29) and “insurance companies, drug companies, and the compliant therapists who teach their methods are your enemy” (p. 29).
Exaggeration, oversimplifica