Reclaiming the Metapsychology: Classical Revisionism, Seduction, and the Self in Freudian Psychoanalysis

Contemporary psychoanalytic theory is in conflict as to what constitutes its basic motivational assumptions. Classical Freudian metapsychology has been challenged by self and relational theorists as outdatedly “physicochemical” (Schafer, 1976). In this article, it is argued that the metapsychology being debated in the literature is not Freud's, but a narrowed and selective representation of Freud's theory, as codified by his followers. It is further argued that in its classical representation the history of the development of Freud's theories has also been distorted in order to support this selective view of Freud's metapsychological theory. Two examples are offered in which Freud's own writings are contrasted with the classical representation of those writings. It is proposed that what has been excised is precisely that aspect of Freud's work which is compatible with the seemingly contradictory views offered by contemporary theorists, and that a resurrection of “the Witch Metapsychology” (Freud, 1937) may provide a creative, integrative foundation for psychoanalytic theory building.

There is nothing for it but to ‘summon help from the Witch’—the Witch Metapsychology. Without metapsychological speculation and theorizing—I had almost said ‘phantasy’—we shall not get a step further. (Freud, 1937, p. 326)