The Application of Psychoanalytic Principles in Interpreting the Psychoses*

Psychoanalysis, both in theory and practice, has confined itself largely to the field of neuroses. It was there that Freud first formulated its principles and there^too it has found its most successful therapeutic application. The attempts at broadening the scope of the psychopathological significance of these principles to comprise definitely psychotic phenomena were few and far between. Whether or not this can be explained on the basis of the rather sharp differentiation both in theory and practice between psychoneuroses and psychoses in Germany one is not prepared to say. It remains a fact, however, that outside of a few more or less theoretical and isolated considerations (Freud, Abraham, etc.) the psychoanalytic school has had little to do with the study of the mechanisms and therapeutic possibilities in the field of the psychoses. Schilder can, therefore, be considered as the first one to attempt a systematic interpretation of the psychoses on a psychoanalytic basis. The author designates this attempt as a sketch, and when one has gone through the immensity of ideas, assumptions, terms, and real and apparent solutions of problems in this book, one must admit that it is a sketch which at times remains purely schematic. This, however, is not the only difficulty that one encounters in attempting to follow the author's main thesis. Psychoanalysis has created a terminology all of its own, a great portion of which was contributed by the author. To one who is not thoroughly familiar with the whole psychoanalytic literature and that of Schilder in particular, this is liable to act as a constant source of misunderstanding and confusion. Finally all this is presented in a naturally somewhat careless, even if brilliant, style grafted upon an unusually complex German. It was on these grounds that a more detailed review than is usual was believed justifiable,