Psychotherapy

Hugo Münsterberg

Description

Though the two terms are often used interchangeably today, "psychology" and "psychotherapy" actually refer to two related but fundamentally distinct concepts. This volume, penned in the era when the two fields of practice were just beginning to branch away from one another, helps to clarify the differences and similarities between psychology and psychotherapy.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Psychology

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776583874
• Langue: English

Extrait

PSYCHOTHERAPY
* * *
HUGO MUNSTERBERG
 
*
Psychotherapy First published in 1909 Epub ISBN 978-1-77658-387-4 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77658-388-1 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
*
Preface I - Introduction PART I - THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY II - The Aim of Psychology III - Mind and Brain IV - Psychology and Medicine V - Suggestion and Hypnotism VI - The Subconscious PART II - THE PRACTICAL WORK OF PSYCHOTHERAPY VII - The Field of Psychotherapy VIII - The General Methods of Psychotherapy IX - The Special Methods of Psychotherapy X - The Mental Symptoms XI - The Bodily Symptoms PART III - THE PLACE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY XII - Psychotherapy and the Church XIII - Psychotherapy and the Physician XIV - Psychotherapy and the Community
*
To
MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE
DR. FRANZ PFAFF
PROFESSOR OF THERAPEUTICS IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Preface
*
This volume on psychotherapy belongs to a series of books which I amwriting to discuss for a wider public the practical applications ofmodern psychology. The first book, called "On the Witness Stand,"studied the relations of scientific psychology to crime and the lawcourts. This new book deals with the relations of psychology tomedicine. Others discussing its relations to education, to socialproblems, to commerce and industry will follow soon.
For popular treatment I divide applied psychology into such various,separated books because they naturally address very different audiences.That which interests the lawyer does not concern the physician, andagain the school-teacher has his own sphere of interests. Moreover thedifferent subjects demand a different treatment. The problems ofpsychology and law were almost entirely neglected. I was anxious to drawwide attention to this promising field and therefore I chose the form ofloose popular essays without any aim towards systematic presentation ofthe subject. As to psychology and medicine almost the opposite situationprevails. There is perhaps too much talk afloat about psychotherapy, thewidest circles cultivate the discussion, the magazines overflow withit. The duty of the scientific psychologist is accordingly not to stirup interest in this topic but to help in bringing this interest frommere gossip, vague mysticism, and medical amateurishness to a clearunderstanding of principles. What is needed in this time of faith curesof a hundred types is to deal with the whole circle of problems in aserious, systematic way and to emphasize the aspect of scientificpsychological theory.
Hence the whole first part of this book is an abstract discussion andits first chapters have not even any direct relation to disease. I amconvinced that both physicians and ministers and all who are inpractical contact with these important questions ought to be brought tosuch painstaking and perhaps fatiguing inquiry into principles beforethe facts are reached. To those who seek a discussion of life factsalone, the whole first part will of course appear to be a tedious wayaround; they may turn directly to the second and third parts.
One word for my personal right to deal with these questions, as too muchillegitimate psychotherapeutics is heard to-day. For me, the relationbetween psychology and medicine is not a chance chapter of my science towhich I have turned simply in following up the various sides of appliedpsychology. And still less have I turned to it because it has become thefashion in recent years. On the contrary, it has been an importantfactor in all my work since my student days. I have been through fiveyears of regular medical studies, three years in Leipzig and two yearsin Heidelberg; I have an M.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg.In my first year as docent in a German university twenty years ago, Igave throughout the winter semester before several hundred students acourse in hypnotism and its medical application. It was probably thefirst university course on hypnotism given anywhere. Since that time Ihave never ceased to work psychotherapeutically in the psychologicallaboratory. Yet that must not be misunderstood. I have no clinic, andwhile by principle I have never hypnotized anyone for mere experiment'ssake but always only for medical purposes, yet I adjust my practicalwork entirely to the interests of my scientific study. The limitationsof my time force me to refuse the psychotherapeutic treatment of anycase which has not a certain scientific interest for me, and of the manyhundreds whom I have helped in the laboratory, no one ever had to payanything. Thus my practical work has strictly the character oflaboratory research.
The chief aim of this book is twofold. It is a negative one: I want tocounteract the misunderstandings which overflood the whole field,especially by the careless mixing of mental and moral influence. And apositive one: I want to strengthen the public feeling that the time hascome when every physician should systematically study psychology, thenormal in the college years and the abnormal in the medical school. Thisdemand of medical education cannot be postponed any longer. The aim ofthe book is not to fight the Emmanuel Church Movement, or evenChristian Science or any other psychotherapeutic tendency outside of thefield of scientific medicine. I see the element of truth in all of them,but they ought to be symptoms of transition. Scientific medicine shouldtake hold of psychotherapeutics now or a most deplorable disorganizationwill set in, the symptoms of which no one ought to overlook to-day.
HUGO MÜNSTERBERG.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, March 20, 1909.
I - Introduction
*
Psychotherapy is the practice of treating the sick by influencing themental life. It stands at the side of physicotherapy, which attempts tocure the sick by influencing the body, perhaps with drugs and medicines,or with electricity or baths or diet.
Psychotherapy is sharply to be separated from psychiatry, the treatmentof mental diseases. Of course to a certain degree, mental illness too,is open to mental treatment; but certainly many diseases of the mind lieentirely beyond the reach of psychotherapy, and on the other handpsychotherapy may be applied also to diseases which are not mental atall. That which binds all psychotherapeutic efforts together into unityis the method of treatment. The psychotherapist must always somehow setlevers of the mind in motion and work through them towards the removalof the sufferer's ailment; but the disturbances to be treated may showthe greatest possible variety and may belong to mind or body.
Treatment of diseases by influence on the mind is as old as humanhistory, but it has attained at various times very different degrees ofimportance. There is no lack of evidence that we have entered into aperiod in which an especial emphasis will be laid on the too longneglected psychical factor. This new movement is probably only in itsbeginning and the loudness with which it presents itself to-day is oneof the many indications of its immaturity. Whether it will be a blessingor a danger, whether it will really lead forward in a lasting way, orwhether it will soon demand a reaction, will probably depend in thefirst place on the soberness and thoroughness of the discussion. If themovement is carried on under the control of science, it may yieldlasting results. If it keeps the features of dilettanteism and prefersassociation with the antiscientific tendencies, it is pre-destined tohave a spasmodic character and ultimately to be harmful.
The chaotic character of psychotherapy in this first decade of thetwentieth century can be easily understood. It results from the factthat in our period one great wave of civilization is sinking and a newwave rising, while the one has not entirely disappeared and the other isstill far from its height. The history of civilization has shown at alltimes a wavelike alternation between realism and idealism, that is,between an interest in that which is, and an interest in that whichought to be. In the realistic periods, the study of facts, especially ofthe facts of nature, is prevalent; in idealistic periods, history andliterature appeal to the world. In realistic periods, technique enjoysits triumphs; in idealistic periods, art and religion prevail. Such arealistic movement lies behind us. It began with the incomparabledevelopment of physics, chemistry, and biology, in the middle of thelast century, and it brought with it the achievements of modernengineering and medicine. We are still fully under the influence of thisgigantic movement and its real achievements will never leave us; and yetthis realistic wave is ebbing to-day and a new period of idealism isrising. If the signs are not deceitful, this new movement may reach itshistorical climax a few decades hence, when new leaders may give to theidealistic view of the world the same classical expression which Darwinand others gave to the receding naturalistic age. The signs are clearindeed that the days of idealistic philosophy and of art, and ofreligion, are approaching; that the world is tired of merely connectingfacts without asking what their ultimate meaning is. The world dimlyfeels again that technical civilization alone cannot make life moreworth living. The aim of the last generation was to explain the world;the aim of the next generation will be to interpret the world; the onewas seeking laws, the other will seek ideals.
Psychotherapy stands in the servic