"The Memory Wars: Freud's Legacy in Dispute" by Frederick Crews. This book (300 pages) is an excellent critique of Freudian psychological theory. Crews powerfully proves the error of the huge unsubstantiated claims which Freud used to build modern day psychology!! I've included the book's back cover comments, and, Crews' closing comments.
Back-Cover:
"..The Memory Wars contains two tenaciously argued essays by Frederick Crews attacking Freudian psychoanalysis and its aftermath in the so-called 'recovered memory' movement. The first reviews a growing body of evidence indicating that Freud doctored his data and manipulated his colleagues in an effort to consolidate a cult-like following that would neither defy nor upstage him. The second (essay) challenges the scientific and therapeutic claims of the rapidly growing recovered memory movement, maintaining that its social effects have been devastating. Crews traces that movement to a Freudian precedent - not just to Freud's abandoned 'seduction theory' but also to the most essential assumptions of psychoanalysis itself..".
"..When these essays were first published in the New York Review of Books, issues flew off the stands, and therapists, patients, scholars, philosophers and others whose lives had been touched by Freud's ideas responded in one of the largest waves of letters the Review had ever seen. Twenty-five of these were published with Crews' deft and forceful replies. Most are gathered here, together with a new introduction describing the genesis of his pieces, and an epilogue considering the debate and its reverberations. The result is a fierce, contentious and startling book that rocks the foundations of one of the century's governing ideas..".
Crews' closing comments:
"..Where, then, are Freud's authenticated contributions not to ethics, mores or literary criticism but to actual knowledge of the mind? So far as I am aware, no distinctively psychoanalytical notion has received independent experimental or epidemiological support - not repression, not the Oedipus or castration complex, not the theory of compromise formation, nor any other concept or hypothesis. Nor is this negative result anomalous in view of the reckless, conquistadorial manner in which psychoanalytic theory was launched and maintained in the teeth of rational criticism. What passes today for Freud bashing is simply the long-postponed exposure of Freudian ideas to the same standards on noncontradiction, clarity, testability, cogency, and parsimonious explanatory power that prevail in empirical discourse at large. Step by step, we are learning that Freud has been the most overrated figure in the entire history of science and medicine - one who wrought immense harm through the propagation of false etiologies, mistaken diagnoses, and fruitless lines of enquiry..".
Pastor Allan's comments:
Crews uses some very big words at times but overwhelmingly the book is written superbly. It is a must read.
The book rightly confronts the "recovered memory thesis" which has had a powerfully destructive social impact. People are in prison for being falsely accused of sex abuse which was only ever substantiated by psychological and/or hypnotic manipulation of "memories' of a supposed victim! It is a timely and strong reminder to never suggest to and/or manipulate counsellees into believing that they "might" have been abused. Over the last 25 years of counselling, I have seen both the real and the imagined victims of sex abuse. Those cases, and there have been many of them, which are valid victims of abuse, need no manipulation to determine their suffering. However, the "imagined" or "fantasized" cases of sex abuse are not so easy to detect but with careful assessment these are usually unearthed and they usually reveal deeper distortions of reality which need just as much counselling but in a much different area. The "false memory syndrome" is an extremely important perspective for us to be professionally aware of. It ensures objectivity and impartiality in dealing with the suffering of true victims, and, opens the way for preventing delusional imaginations taking root, for those suffering with something entirely different.
The next big issue that is unveiled through this book, is that the testability and/or provability of the full inner workings of man's heart, soul, spirit and mind, should be able be scientifically proven and fully evaluated!! Sounds inspiring but is nonetheless almost impossible to achieve! Whilst at the conscious level the cause and effect of thoughts and actions can approximately be logically measured, we run into the huge problem that man isn't just mind and matter, he is also heart, soul and spirit which are invisible, mystical and supernatural. God has created us as eternal beings! (of course where we spend eternity is very important!). The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that God has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11 ) and therefore we must come to God, we come to Christ (Colossians 2:3), for understanding of these supernatural mysteries.
Jung and Freud used ancient mystery religious myths, doctrines and techniques, and mixed these with some token attempts at scientific logic, to produce a global philosophy of deception which has powerfully blinded the minds and hearts of millions if not billions of people.
However, because the devices of the heart (Proverbs 19:21), and the attributes of the spirit, together with their interactions with mind and soul, are invisible, hidden, mystical and supernatural, the Bible is the ONLY authentic revealer of the truth concerning these amazing components of God's creation of man. Scientists, logicians, philosophers and academia will always struggle to understand the truth about man's character and behaviour, because to understand, one has to come to God through Jesus Christ and then be given by God the gift of faith to know that the Bible is the only inspired Word of God to man. When this happens we are able to begin to "know the truth" about the devices of man's heart because it is by God's revelation from His word and not by man's wisdom!
By Pastor Allan Anderson MDiv, Phd.
Back-Cover:
"..The Memory Wars contains two tenaciously argued essays by Frederick Crews attacking Freudian psychoanalysis and its aftermath in the so-called 'recovered memory' movement. The first reviews a growing body of evidence indicating that Freud doctored his data and manipulated his colleagues in an effort to consolidate a cult-like following that would neither defy nor upstage him. The second (essay) challenges the scientific and therapeutic claims of the rapidly growing recovered memory movement, maintaining that its social effects have been devastating. Crews traces that movement to a Freudian precedent - not just to Freud's abandoned 'seduction theory' but also to the most essential assumptions of psychoanalysis itself..".
"..When these essays were first published in the New York Review of Books, issues flew off the stands, and therapists, patients, scholars, philosophers and others whose lives had been touched by Freud's ideas responded in one of the largest waves of letters the Review had ever seen. Twenty-five of these were published with Crews' deft and forceful replies. Most are gathered here, together with a new introduction describing the genesis of his pieces, and an epilogue considering the debate and its reverberations. The result is a fierce, contentious and startling book that rocks the foundations of one of the century's governing ideas..".
Crews' closing comments:
"..Where, then, are Freud's authenticated contributions not to ethics, mores or literary criticism but to actual knowledge of the mind? So far as I am aware, no distinctively psychoanalytical notion has received independent experimental or epidemiological support - not repression, not the Oedipus or castration complex, not the theory of compromise formation, nor any other concept or hypothesis. Nor is this negative result anomalous in view of the reckless, conquistadorial manner in which psychoanalytic theory was launched and maintained in the teeth of rational criticism. What passes today for Freud bashing is simply the long-postponed exposure of Freudian ideas to the same standards on noncontradiction, clarity, testability, cogency, and parsimonious explanatory power that prevail in empirical discourse at large. Step by step, we are learning that Freud has been the most overrated figure in the entire history of science and medicine - one who wrought immense harm through the propagation of false etiologies, mistaken diagnoses, and fruitless lines of enquiry..".
Pastor Allan's comments:
Crews uses some very big words at times but overwhelmingly the book is written superbly. It is a must read.
The book rightly confronts the "recovered memory thesis" which has had a powerfully destructive social impact. People are in prison for being falsely accused of sex abuse which was only ever substantiated by psychological and/or hypnotic manipulation of "memories' of a supposed victim! It is a timely and strong reminder to never suggest to and/or manipulate counsellees into believing that they "might" have been abused. Over the last 25 years of counselling, I have seen both the real and the imagined victims of sex abuse. Those cases, and there have been many of them, which are valid victims of abuse, need no manipulation to determine their suffering. However, the "imagined" or "fantasized" cases of sex abuse are not so easy to detect but with careful assessment these are usually unearthed and they usually reveal deeper distortions of reality which need just as much counselling but in a much different area. The "false memory syndrome" is an extremely important perspective for us to be professionally aware of. It ensures objectivity and impartiality in dealing with the suffering of true victims, and, opens the way for preventing delusional imaginations taking root, for those suffering with something entirely different.
The next big issue that is unveiled through this book, is that the testability and/or provability of the full inner workings of man's heart, soul, spirit and mind, should be able be scientifically proven and fully evaluated!! Sounds inspiring but is nonetheless almost impossible to achieve! Whilst at the conscious level the cause and effect of thoughts and actions can approximately be logically measured, we run into the huge problem that man isn't just mind and matter, he is also heart, soul and spirit which are invisible, mystical and supernatural. God has created us as eternal beings! (of course where we spend eternity is very important!). The Bible says in Ecclesiastes that God has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11 ) and therefore we must come to God, we come to Christ (Colossians 2:3), for understanding of these supernatural mysteries.
Jung and Freud used ancient mystery religious myths, doctrines and techniques, and mixed these with some token attempts at scientific logic, to produce a global philosophy of deception which has powerfully blinded the minds and hearts of millions if not billions of people.
However, because the devices of the heart (Proverbs 19:21), and the attributes of the spirit, together with their interactions with mind and soul, are invisible, hidden, mystical and supernatural, the Bible is the ONLY authentic revealer of the truth concerning these amazing components of God's creation of man. Scientists, logicians, philosophers and academia will always struggle to understand the truth about man's character and behaviour, because to understand, one has to come to God through Jesus Christ and then be given by God the gift of faith to know that the Bible is the only inspired Word of God to man. When this happens we are able to begin to "know the truth" about the devices of man's heart because it is by God's revelation from His word and not by man's wisdom!
By Pastor Allan Anderson MDiv, Phd.
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