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In recent years both psychoanalysts and academic psychologists have felt that a closer collaboration is necessary and possible. Some psychologists (1) have come to a fuller appreciation of the achievements of psychoanalysis in certain fields which were neglected by academic psychology. On the other hand, many psychoanalysts have seen that, although the facts on which psychoanalytic theory is built are well substantiated, certain concepts in the theory itself need clarification and that in this task collaboration with general psychologists, who are interested in more precise definitions of concepts, would be of benefit. This paper is an attempt at such a collaboration.
No concept appears more important or suitable as the subject of a joint investigation by psychoanalysis and psychology than that of memory. Aside from the general importance of the function of memory for psychic life, it assumes a central position in psychoanalytic theory and practice. In the earlier publications of Freud, the Studies in Hysteria and the Five Lectures, we encounter the view that 'the hysteric suffers from reminiscences'. The daily work of the analyst is constantly directed towards obtaining the memories of his patients. Our theoretical understanding of the psychic processes is to a great extent based on an understanding of the forces and processes bringing about the emergence or the repression of reminiscences.
The ever present use of the concept of memory in psychoanalytic theory implies a specific theory of the memory function but such a theory has never been presented in a systematic