Does Psychoanalysis Work?

by Robert Galatzer-Levy, Henry Bachrach, Alan Skolnikoff, and

• ISBN13: 9780300065275
• ISBN10: 0300065272
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-02-09
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

This important book is a thorough survey of every major study of the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment. The authors -- all well-known psychoanalysts -- critically analyze the studies and their findings, discuss the issues that have been and should be explored in such studies, and examine the problems in conducting research into psychoanalytic outcomes.

The authors begin by providing a definition of psychoanalysis, establishing central psychoanalytic goals, and determining what questions need to be addressed in assessing whether analysis is effective. They then describe their methods and criteria for evaluating modern research on psychoanalytic outcome and apply these criteria to four major studies of adult psychoanalytic patients, several studies of child and adolescent analysis, and some small-group studies. They find that all the studies show that psychoanalysis is an effective treatment for many patients -- and that some cherished assumptions about psychoanalysis are probably wrong. In the final part of the book, the authors address the challenges of co

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Part I What Psychoanalysts Want to Know About the Therapeutic Effects of Psychoanalysis
What Is Psychoanalysis?	5	(8)
What Are the Relevant Measures of Psychoanalytic Outcome?	13	(26)
Predicting the Course and Outcome of Analysis	39	(14)
Part II Empirical Studies of Psychoanalytic Outcome and Efficacy
Historical Background	53	(10)
The Menninger Foundation Psychotherapy Research Project	63	(11)
The Columbia Psychoanalytic Center Research	74	(10)
The Boston Psychoanalytic Institute Prediction Studies	84	(11)
The New York Psychoanalytic Institute Studies	95	(6)
Studies of Child and Adolescent Analysis	101	(12)
Series of Patients with Specific Conditions	113	(5)
Clinical Follow-Up Studies and Case Studies	118	(5)
Summary and Commentary on Systematic Studies	123	(12)
Part III Finding Out More of What We Want to Know: Directions for Future Investigations
Some General Problems of Psychoanalytic Research	135	(12)
Collecting Data About Psychoanalysis	147	(19)
Information About Patients	166	(8)
Data About Psychoanalytic Processes	174	(14)
Strategies for Exploring Psychoanalytic Processes	188	(22)
Methods of Data Analysis	210	(11)
Studies of Populations of Patients	221	(9)
The Single-Case Method	230	(13)
Summary and Overview	243	(2)
References	245	(48)
Index	293