Critique of Freud’s Notion of Mental Illness

Abstract

The most basic ideas of psychoanalytic theory were initially enunciated in Josef Breuer’s and Sigmund Freud’s “Preliminary Communication ”of 1893, which introduced their Studies in Hysteria. Three years later, Freud designated Breuer’s method of clinical investigation of patients as “Ca new method of psycho-analysis. ”¹

1 All citations of Freud’s writings in English are from the Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, trans. by J. Strachey, et al., Hogarth Press, 1953-1974. 24 volumes. Each reference will use the abbreviation “S.E., ” followed by the year of first appearance, volume number, and page(s).The present reference to Freud is S.E. 1896, 3:151.