Discussion of L. Bryce Boyer's Article, Pioneers in the Psychoanalysis of Schizophrenia

There is a pervasive theoretical continuity in Freud's works. One can and must, to some extent, utilize formulations from earlier periods to help clarify the meaning of later formulations. Freud did not present a finished system, yet the structure of such a system inheres in his total works, as a function of what was said at one time in relation to what was said at other times. A view of this theoretical integrity involves something like simultaneously holding in one's mind sets of statements from different periods of his work. An illustrative example, perhaps, might be the pivotal theoretical function of the 1915 paper on “The Unconscious”1 in integrating the unconscious, preconscious and conscious model with the later id, ego and superego model. That paper provides a theoretical bridge, permitting the inclusion of the properties unconscious and conscious in the later model. The ego, in the later model, is described as being primarily of auditory (linguistic and paralinguistic) origin. This can include the earlier distinction between the cathexis of word and thing presentations as being equated with the distinction between something being conscious or unconscious.

Also, the same term used at an earlier period may not have the same connotation when used in later formulations. It will often have an expanded meaning (in the systematic sense) due to the theoretical accretions which have accumulated in the interim during which other—yet relevant—terms have changed meaning. Thus, the elements of psychoanalytic theory are not isolates but seem to be reciprocal and mutually interrelated sets of formulations. For example, a set of statements about a given subject matter will almost invariably include concepts developed and explicated in other contexts which contain references to still other concepts, all of which have undergone historical development. Thus, it is difficult to present an abbreviated statement of aspects of Freud's thought without the risk of being misleading.