The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz – review

Stephen Grosz's collection of case histories makes a subtle but powerful case for psychoanalysisComplex, time-consuming, expensive and usually inconclusive: it's hard to define what purpose psychoanalysis really serves. Janet Malcolm, one of few modern writers able to explain the Freudian method in clear, uncluttered prose, likened the process to pouring water into a sieve. "The moisture that remains on the surface of the mesh is the benefit of the analysis," she wrote in 1983.Thirty years later, the medical reputation of psychoanalysis has deteriorated, even from that modest appraisal of its value. Particularly in Britain, it has been superseded by simpler, shorter, more research-friendly cognitive therapies. The psychoanalytic profession has, in the meantime, done surprisingly little to defend itself. Once the dominant psychological system of the 20th century, it has since tended to retreat into private practice, or obscure theoretical factionalism.Inadvertently, Stephen Grosz provides an illustration of why that is. His book is not an argument. It is a collection of case histories: patient accounts that, though reduced to parable-like brevity, took 25 years to accumulate through painstaking care and attention to individual lives. These are shaped like short stories, but true and moving in ways that fiction cannot be. Rather than validating a system or method, each of his cases speaks uniquely for itself.Grosz avoids almost all psychoanalytic jargon and, even...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Psychology Sigmund Freud Mental health Culture Health, mind and body Reviews Books The Observer Source Type: news