Psychoanalysis and Research: Can we Utilise Qualitative Research?

Although Freud was a pioneering researcher and the necessity of research in psychoanalysis has often been emphasised, the relation of psychoanalysis to modern research is often characterised as ambivalent. The article proposes that qualitative research methodologies established in recent years in the social sciences, and which focus on the quality and subjectivity of lived experience and are not subject to the “tyranny” of numbers and of “objectivity,” can, under certain conditions, be employed in psychoanalytic research to achieve a “re-engagement” and find mutually beneficial common ground. Furthermore, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a recently developed qualitative methodological approach, is presented, one which can provide material suitable for psychodynamic understanding and interpretation in both clinical research and research in other areas of lived human experience. Possible convergence and contact points are discussed, as are the necessary conditions for the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in psychoanalytic research, as well as the potential that this interplay might offer.