Karl Popper and Psychoanalysis Reconsidered

“Psycho-analysis is the name (1) of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible in any other way, (2) of a method (based upon that investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders and (3) of a collection of psychological information obtained along those lines, which is gradually being accumulated into a new scientific discipline.” (Freud 1923)

Freud's definition, above, long has been accepted inside the otherwise fractious branches of the psychoanalytic community. Even schismatic dissidents such as Adler, Stekel and Jung did not see fit to challenge Freud on that score. Another notable conflict dividing psychoanalysis - Melanie Klein versus Anna Freud (not to mention the Middle Group) - concerns “how” to do psychoanalysis rather than redefining or defending “what” it is. Although Freud's definition is clear enough, the elements it comprises - research method, treatment and scientific status - have, from the very start, raised questions about psychoanalysis' relation to medicine and science. Freud chose to take an unapologetic stand by stating that psychoanalysis does not require the permission from any discipline, including medicine (Freud 1926). However, since at the time psychiatry, the branch of medicine focusing on the structure and disorders of the psyche, had little of use to say regarding etiology of the disorders, its treatment methods were also limited and dubious. Therefore, psychoanalysis offered aid to this branch of medicine, both theory- and treatment-wise. This situation remained more or less true until the advent of neuroleptic medications for some mental disorders.

In 1952 French navy surgeon Henri Laborit noted the effectiveness of chlorpromazine - normally used for post-operative sedation - on mental excitations. First, psychiatry now had medications to treat, if not cure, such disorders. Second, after chlorpromazine was theorized to function through blocking dopamine receptors, a hypothesis quikly becam