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arnold richards
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 5
The World of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalysts
Arthur A. Lynch, Ph. D.
“The World of Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalysts” is the fifth volume of Arnold D. Richards’ Selected Papers. Emphasized in Volume 1, and continued throughout the five volumes, Richards has consistently worked towards developing an integrated psychoanalytic theory. In this effort he has been influenced by Jacob Arlow, Dale Boesky, Charles Brenner, Leo Rangell, Robert Wallerstein, and many others who have worked to enhance Freudian theory.
Richards uses several parameters to guide him in his efforts to evaluate and clarify which concepts work within existing theories, and which facts need further evaluation and integration. These parameters include: the Total Composite Psychoanalytic Theory (Rangell, 2007); the use of the process of scientific principles depicted by Brenner (2006) to assess and evaluate psychoanalytic contributions; and, beginning with Volume 2 (Richards, 2017), the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge, developed by Ludwik Fleck, for an understanding of the more complex organizational systems and the interactions that occur between complex systems and socio-political forces.
Through his training and with these additional forms of guidance, Richards addresses not only his preferred theory (Richards, 1986), a Freudian Contemporary Conflict Theory (F.C.C.T.), but also his appreciation of the limitations and restrictions found in all the different and competing theories within the psychoanalytic framework. Richards has carefully examined and critiqued: the Self Psychology theory of Heinz Kohut, Arnold Goldberg and others; the Relational theory of Jay Greenberg, Steven Mitchell and others; the Self Psychologies of George Klein, and John Gedo; the Social Constructivism and the Hermeneutic Science of Merton M. Gill and Irwin Z. Hoffman; the Interpersonal Theory represented by the contributions of Benjamin Wolstein; as well as Martin Bergmann’s new taxonomy of psychoanalytic innovators (modifiers, extenders, or heretics). Richards has also worked on several dimensions of his preferred theory (F.C.C.T.) and reviewed the contributions by other major contributors to this literature, e.g., Charles Brenner (Richards, 2006), Jacob Arlow (Richards, 1992), and Leo Rangell (Lynch, A.A., Richards, A.D. & Bachant, J.L., 2013).
Volume 5 is presented in two sections. The first section contains ten “Clinical Papers,” and the second section, “Views and Reviews,” has thirty-one shorter works. The first paper of the book is “Dreams and the Wish for Immortality.” This paper, like many others in the volume, is very bold. In it Richards makes a strong case for broadening Psychoanalytic theory in several ways.
Evaluating these life and immortality wishes through a Freudian Contemporary Conflict Theory lens initially raises questions about the impact these fundamental wishes have on the individual and our understanding of the models of: the mind, development, pathogenesis, and treatment. If Richards’ recommendations are accepted, they give the reader pause for reflection on the scientific activity of the profession. Freud and Horney separately made major changes to the broader theory without abandoning the primary essential concept of “psychic conflict.” There are many questions regarding the impact of the primary finding. These all revolve around the wishes for longevity and immortality. Richards provides some interesting evidence from his own dreams and he offers us a paradox: Why did Freud leave this essential human wish out of his canonical text, The Interpretations of Dreams, only to struggle with his own desires for longevity in the face of painful chronic illness? Are the wishes for immortality and longevity equal in strength and importance to the defining other wishes in psychoanalytic theory? What will be the impact of integrating these wishes into current psychoanalytic theory?
Section I continues with nine more papers focused on clinical contributions. Following ‘Dreams and the Wish for Immortality,’ Richards addresses: “Freud’s Dream Theory Today” by conceptually comparing it to the course of Einstein’s theory of relativity. In Chapter Three, Richards (with others: A.K. Richards, A.A. Lynch, and J.L. Bachant) reviews the psychoanalytic concept of the Unconscious, and the revisions and the clinical modifications that have emerged from the contributions made by Contemporary Conflict Theorists. Chapter Four, “On Perspectives, Theories, Models, and Friends: A Reply to the Relationalists” (with Bachant and Lynch), outlines a basic contention of theirs at that time, that Relational psychoanalysis needed to move toward a “theory development” which could ultimately be evaluated along “an evolutionary–revolutionary conceptual axis.”
In Chapter 5 (“China Education Paper”, written in 2012 with A.K. Richards) he discusses the essentials for teaching psychoanalytic psychotherapy to a mostly naive population. This paper, in effect, marks the beginning of a training program that still thrives today in Wuhan, China.
In Chapter 6, Richards provides a “Discussion on Interaction.” Here he discusses six papers representing six different psychoanalytic points of view. These papers were written by: Meissner, Hurst, Schwaber, Oremland, Greenberg, and Goldberg. Chapter 7 is a “Reply to Stolorow” (J. Clinical Psa. 6(1): 127 – 130, with A.K. Richards). The Richards’ offer their view of Stolorow’s work as based on a primary theoretical misconception, namely: “that intersubjectivity theory ascribes to Freudian theory an epistemological position of naive objectivism and replaces it with a naive subjectivism.” The authors outline how at the center of this difficulty is the use of binary, dynamic thought processes, which are manifest in “either/or” formulations with one side being privileged over the other. They use Bernstein (1992), Carueth, (1996), and Hanly’s findings (1995) to support their position. One way to manage these unnecessary assumptions, the authors suggest, is to shift one’s view point and “instead assume that the patient and analyst are engaged in a mutually corrective and democratic dialogue in search of closer and closer approximations to ultimately incompletely knowable reality.” This leads the authors to the root of the theoretical difficulties that afflict both selfobject and intersubjective theory. As mentioned, these lie in the binary thinking that entails choosing one condition, of the two alternatives, over the other (e.g., subjective/objective, empathy/observation and validation/invalidation). In these cases, the former terms are privileged over the latter, when, in reality, they require and complement one another [p. 67]. The authors have now reached what they believe is the primary difficulty with Stolorow's analysis: his failure to recognize that contemporary Freudian theory is a “systems theory” in which the principle of multi-determination is foundational.
Section II contains a total of thirty-one views and reviews. These are shorter pieces that were used to communicate or demonstrate clinical knowledge in movies, books, plays, and poems. They reveal long-held psychoanalytic convictions. To set the frame for the section, Richards (2016) begins with an interview by Paul Elovitz (2020), “My Life in Applied Psychoanalysis.” The review of “The Unconscious and World Affairs,” by Major and Talagrand (2018), locates Freud in a social and historical context in the. Next, we see Freud as “A Cultural Citizen of the World,” by Abingdon (2018). We also get a glimpse of what Freud was like (Richards, 2018) in a record of an analysis with some historical comments. Next, we see Freud at work in Moses and the Violent Origins of Religion. In the last book reviewed in this group we find Freud again at work in “Dreaming by the Book,” by Lydia Marinelli and Andreas Mayer, which offers some additional historical insights to the Psychoanalytic Movement.
The second group of views and reviews revolve around psychoanalytic technique. These include a review of Anton Kris’(Richards,1983) work, “Free Association: Method and Process” (Kris, 1982). Next is a review of Meissner’s (1982) mammoth work, “The Paranoid Process.” The final work on technique is on Lawrence Friedman’s (1990) comprehensive “Anatomy of Psychotherapy.”
In the third group of views and reviews, there are three reviews related to psychoanalysis and Religion. The first is on “Jewish Thought and Psychoanalysis Lectures,” edited by Harvey Schwartz). This is followed by Richards review of “Origins of Psychoanalysis: Old and Dirty Gods.” Third is the review of Religion and Culture: “Insanity and Sanctity in Byzantium: The Ambiguity of Religious Experience,”
The fourth group offers three reviews and views about articles, mostly with themes of aggression or violence. This begins with a review of “War is Not Inevitable: On the Psychology of War and Aggression” (Parens, 2016). It is followed by a review of “A world Without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from Persecution to Genocide.” This section ends with a Review of: Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Lessons of the Third Reich, History, Memory and Tradition.
The fifth and final grouping of Section II consists of six views and reviews related to a comparative psychoanalytic grouping. This begins with a Review of: Clinical Theory: Relational Psychoanalysis Volume 2.ed. This is followed by a review of “Freud and Beyond: A History of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought,” by Stephen Mitchell and Margaret J. Black. Next is the review of “Psychology of the Self,” edited by Arnold Goldberg. This is followed by a review of “Narcissism: Psychoanalytic essays,” by Bella Grunberger”
Next is a review of “Psychoanalysis After Freud: A Response to Frederick Crews and Other Critics,” by Glen O. Gabbard, Sheldon M. Goodman, & Arnold D. Richards, Psychoanalytic Books 6(2):155–173. The next contribution to this section of the book is on: FILMS (1994) a review of: Psychiatry and the Cinema. By Krin Gabbard and Glen O. Gabbard.
The final contribution to the book, “A Letter to a Candidate,” is written in the form of a letter to current and future candidates in Psychoanalytic training. In this letter, offering a warm but judicious welcome to all candidates, Richards emphasizes that psychoanalysis is both an art and a science, dimensions that, in practice, are inseparable. Every analysis, he believes, aims at discovery, for both the patient and the analyst. He conceptualizes the process as both a conversation and a journey, where the analytic couple learns how the patient’s mind works. This new emerging awareness leads to healing and life change. He concludes the Letter by recalling an interview for PBS on Psychoanalysis that he conducted with Charles Brenner. During the interview he asked Brenner a fundamental question: How important is what the analyst does?
Brenner, known for his conciseness replied: “it can be a matter of life or death.”
References:
Anisfeld, Leon & The Replacement Child: A Variation on a Theme in History and Psychoanalysis.
Richards Arnold Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 55:301- 318.
Bernstein, R. ( 1992), Beyond Objectivism and Relativism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Carveth, D. ( 1996), Self Object and Intersubjectivity Theory, Part 2: A Dialectical Critique of the
Intersubjective Perspective. Can. J. Psychoanal., 3(1), pp. 66-67.
Richards, A.D. My Life in Applied Psychoanalysis: An Interview with Arnold D Richards by Paul Elovitz, Paul Elovitz. In Clio’s Psyche 26(2): pp 174-178.
Freud, S. ( 1921), Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Standard Edition, 18:67-145. London: Hogarth Press, 1955.
Hanly, C. ( 1995), On facts and ideas in psychoanalysis. Int. J. Psycho-Anal., 76:901-944.
Hartmann, H., & The genetic approach in psychoanalysis.
Kris, E. Psychoanal. St. Child, 1:11-30. New York: International Universities Press.
Lynch, Arthur, A. & 2010, The Jouney of a Developed Freudian.
Arnold D. Richards Psychoanalytic Review 97: 361 – 391.
Arthur Lynch, (2020), The Spectrum of Analytic Interaction: AContemporary Freudian Perspective Arnold Arnold Richards & Janet Lee Bachant. Psychoanalytic Review 107 435-455.
Richards, A.D., (2000). J.A.P.A. 2000. Celebration and Innovation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 48: 1053.
Richards, A.D. (2020). Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(1):145-149.
Richards, A.D. (20__). (with others: A.K. Richards, A.A. Lynch, and J.L. Bachant)
Reviews the psychoanalytic concept of the Unconscious, and the revisions and the
clinical modifications that have emerged from the contributions made by Contemporary
Conflict Theorists.
Richards, A.D. & “Reply to Stolorow,” J. Clinical Psa. 6(1): 127 – 130,
Richards, A.K.
Richards, A.K. (2000) Benjamin Wolstein and Us: Many Roads Lead to Rome.
& Richards, A.D. Contemporary Psychoanalysis 36: 255 – 265.
Arnold D. Richards Freud in Social and Historical Context:
Freud: The Affairs. By René Major and Chantal Talagrand; translated by Agnes Jacobs. New York: Routledge, 2018, xvi + 220 pp., $37.95 paperback.
Richards, Arnold, D. Unconsiocus Fantasy: An Introduction to the work of Jacob A. Arlow, M.D. and to the Symposium in his Honor. J. Cl. Psa. 1(4): 515-516.
Richards, Arnold, D. Introduction: Symposium: The Clinical Value of the concepts of Conflict and Comproise Formation. J. Cl. Psa. 3 (3) 317 - 321