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The treatment of neuroses by psychoanalysis rests, it is well known, upon a purely subjective basis. Obviously there is a great need for a sound objective foundation. This research is an attempt to investigate objectively the influence of analytic therapy on the neurodynamic state of the patient, using the Pavlov technique for conditioned reflexes.1 It was motivated by a contradiction between the author's experience and certain current analytic theories.
To avoid confusion I shall define certain expressions which will be used constantly in the paper.
By 'higher nervous activity' Pavlov means the activity of the cortex and subcortical centers. By 'reflex' is meant a cortical response to any stimulation, irrespective of its complexity or reflex time. 'Cortical tonus' refers to the readiness of the cortex to respond. The research was carried on in the Laboratory of Developmental and Pathological Physiology headed by Professor Ivanov-Smolensky of the All-Union Institute for Experimental Medicine.
Altogether, seven patients were studied, and all of them gave essentially the same findings. For lack of space, only a summary of our results is presented, with one case described in detail as an illustration. Using Freud's technique I arrived at somewhat different theoretical conclusions to be described below.