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The human mind resisted the overcoming of magic more stubbornly in psychology and psychotherapy than in any other field. Compromises between scientific and magic thinking can still be seen everywhere today, and all of them necessarily fail. The public demands 'happiness' from the psychotherapist. 'A man who has broken his leg and recovers its use after some rather painful treatment, feels perfectly satisfied. He will not expect that the cure should compensate his pains and troubles by making him a ballet dancer, he does not even hope that his style and steps should become superior to what they had been before his accident. But this is just the sort of thing which the average patient will expect and even insist on as the result of a psychotherapeutic cure.' But this difference between the man with the broken leg and the mental patient is not so great after all: 'As a matter of fact the neurotic demands the same as any other patient, namely that the organ which has been disordered by illness or injury should be restored to its normal functions. The normal function of the mind is the pursuit of happiness.'
What are the possibilities of the psychotherapist under such conditions?
1He may use the pretext of 'science' as a shelter and keep the patient at an 'objective' distance. But '… even in the therapy of diseases of the body the exaggerated use of these devices which are the pride and glory of modern science may become detrimental when they are used as a screen that hides the patient from the doctor, the doctor from the patient'.
2He may try 'pseudo-magical' methods. They will be the more effective, the more the therapist himself believes in his own omnipotence. In any case the therapist 'cannot work out the successful results of his therapy according to plan and intention. All this belongs to an invisible power which he uses as well as he can without controlling it.'
3He may try to give as much 'happiness' as is in his power. Unfortunately an unlimited quanti