Freud’s Theories Reflected His Needs

response article

Paul H. Elovitz

Abstract

In this article, part of the symposium on traumatic reliving with Freud, the author responds to Rudolph Binion’s lead essay, “Reliving with Freud,” expressing admiration for Binion’s scholarship and agreement with his approach. The author reports that a search of the Concordance of the Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud finds neither repetition compulsion nor traumatic reliving among Freud’s terms. The author maintains that later thinkers’ continued reworking of Freud’s ideas signals the vitality of psychoanalysis. The author proposes that Freud’s replacement of the seduction theory with a theory of childhood fantasies of seduction reflected his own psychological needs and his wish not to alienate Victorian contemporaries. Where Binion stresses inconsistency in Freud’s thinking, the author is more concerned with the elements of struggle within Freud, and contends that Freudianism remains a universal system of explanation. The author closes by asking what in Binion’s own psyche and life experience leads him to study traumatic reliving, and suggests that Binion address this question directly.

Keywords:

childhood fantasies of seduction, Concordance of the Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Freudian theory, psychoanalyst, psychobiography, psychohistory, repetition compulsion, Rudolph Binion, Sigmund Freud, traumatic reliving

As usual, Rudolph Binion’s erudition is profoundly impressive. It is a great treat for the readers of Clio’s Psyche, myself included, to be able to not only read but also to comment on the thoughts on Freudian theory as dissected by one of our longest serving and most accomplished psychohistorical colleagues. It has set me thinking about how the master psychoanalyst’s ideas changed over time.

The concept of traumatic reliving, which Binion has been writing about so masterfully for about a half century, was introduced to me as the “repetition compulsion.” However, upon looking for the subjects in the Concordance of the Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, I was surprised to discover that Freud does not even use the terms “repetition compulsion” or “traumatic reliving.” A clear sign of the vitality of psychoanalysis is the extent to which not only Freud, but all of us, keep reworking his ideas to utilize data from the present era. This is just how it should be if psychoanalysis is to continue to be a dynamic paradigm for understanding.

Whenever I hear a new idea or read a book or article for the first time, I ask myself several questions: Does this make sense and shine new light on the subject? To what extent is it a reflection of the author’s own conscious and unconscious psychological needs? Does it supplant other explanations? What are the universal implications of the insights presented?

As well as reflecting his enormous erudition, Binion’s approach certainly makes sense to me. While dealing with subject matter quite familiar to clinicians, Freudian scholars, historians of ideas, and psychobiographers, it still offers a few new insights. Freud’s rejection of the seduction theory

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in favor of the theory of childhood fantasies of seduction reflected his own psychological needs, as well as his desire not to totally shock and drive away Victorian contemporaries he wanted to convert to his revolutionary theories. Whereas Binion is focused on the inconsistency in Freud’s thinking, my concern is more for the elements of struggle within the originator of psychoanalysis. The essence of Freudianism is the courageous investigation of unconscious desire—a point on which Sigmund Freud never wavered. His system certainly supplanted older systems of explanation, although the struggle against it continues right down to the present day. Freudianism remains a universal system of explanation and the impact of trauma is spreading throughout our society.

To me, the great unanswered question is what in his own psyche and life experience brings my friend Rudy Binion to devote his powerful intellect and enormous erudition to the issue of traumatic reliving in individuals and groups? In the spirit of the Viennese master, it would be good if he tackled this question directly.

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About the author

Paul H. Elovitz

Dr. Paul H. Elovitz, PhD, began organizing scholarly meetings when he started as a faculty member at Ramapo College and then as convener of the Institute for Psychohistory Saturday Workshops (1975-1982). In 1982, he founded the Psychohistory Forum to nurture psychohistorical research and continues to lead its Executive Council. In 1994, he created Clio’s Psyche (cliospsyche.org) to publish its scholarship, of which he is Editor-in-Chief. Prof. Elovitz is a historian, psychoanalytic researcher, and author of well over 400 publications, covering presidential psychobiography, teaching, documenting the field of psychohistory, and much more. After taking his doctoral degree in history, he trained and practiced as a psychoanalyst for three decades, and in 2019 was made the first Research Psychoanalyst by the New Jersey Institute for Psychoanalysis. Elovitz is the author of The Making of Psychohistory, editor of The Many Roads of the Builders of Psychohistory, and edited or wrote eight other books. He is a founding member and past president of the International Psychohistorical Association (1978-) who held all but one of its offices and continues to serve on its leadership council. He is the sole founder of the IPhA who has attended and presented at all of its annual meetings. In recent years, he has devoted himself to editing, publishing, and writing psychobiography. Prof. Elovitz was a founding faculty member at Ramapo College who previously taught at Temple, Rutgers, and Fairleigh Dickinson universities. Aside from teaching Western and World Civilizations, his focus on teaching was on American, English, and European history; childhood; gender; genocide; the Holocaust; identity; leadership; psychobiography; psychohistory; the psychology of creativity and innovation; and war and peace. Presently, he teaches post-graduate courses on creativity, psychoanalysis, psychobiography, and other aspects of psychohistory online at psychoanalytic institutes. A Festschrift honoring him is scheduled for publication in Clio’s Psyche in 2024. He may be contacted at .

How to cite this article

Elovitz, P. H. (2010). Freud’s theories reflected his needs. Clio’s Psyche, 17(1-2), 99-100.

https://doi.org/10.70763/0c52d419a421fb13bb58357e67b7fb4b

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