A Historical Essay on the Theoretical Foundations of Psychotherapy
By Roberto Assagioli
(Doc. #23960 – Assagioli Archive – Florence)
Originally Published in Psyche , Vol. II, No.3 (1913) [1]
Translated and Edited With Notes by Jan Kuniholm [2]
Editorial note
This article was written by Roberto Assagioli in 1913 and published in the Italian journal Psiche. It belongs to Assagioli’s early theoretical work, prior to the formal articulation of psychosynthesis, and reflects his engagement with contemporary debates in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and experimental psychology. The abstract, subheading, and cross-sections in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth Sørensen, to support readability and archival navigation. The original text has not been altered.
Abstract
In this early theoretical essay, Roberto Assagioli examines psychotherapy not primarily as a clinical technique, but as a source of profound psychological knowledge. Surveying the historical development of modern psychotherapy, he argues that psychotherapeutic practice functions as a form of living psychological experimentation, capable of illuminating the nature of consciousness, personality, dissociation, affective conflicts, and character. Assagioli analyzes the psychogenic origins of nervous and mental disorders, critiques reductive materialism, and explores the dynamics of repression, complexes, emotional transformation, and sublimation. The article anticipates several core themes of later psychosynthesis, including psychic synthesis, the role of the will, and the ethical reevaluation of neurotic personality structures.
Psychotherapy is not a modern invention. It has been practiced among many different peoples since ancient times; indeed, Löwenfeld [3] goes so far as to say that “it is the earliest and most original form in which the art of medicine was practiced.” [4]
The study of the various principles that inspired psychotherapy and the various methods by which it was practiced in the past would not only be of historical interest, but would also yield important theoretical and practical lessons, at least for those who are not so blinded by the “superiority” of our era — a glorious and blessed era that “surpasses” all others even in the number of lunatics, alcoholics, and suicides — to the extent that they believe modern science can learn nothing from the “superstitions” of the ancients. However, such a study would be very difficult, since, as far as I know, there is currently no comprehensive and well-written history of psychotherapy. [5] In any case, the discussion would take us beyond the limits imposed on this presentation. We will therefore deal only with modern psychotherapy.
Even those who are not infatuated with “modernity” cannot help but admire the rapid and extraordinary development that psychotherapy has undergone in just a few decades. It can be said that a fairly active psychotherapeutic movement began only after 1880. In fact, the generous efforts and warm appeals in favor of psychotherapy made by Reil [6] at the beginning of the last century were met with indifference and skepticism; the same was true of those made by Braid [7] and a few others around the middle of the century; and finally, the same happened for many years to Liebault’s attempts. [8]
The doctors of the last century, proponents of a narrow and presumptuous materialism, were concerned only with what was palpable, visible, and measurable, and therefore neglected the psychic element in the study and treatment of diseases. For them, as Dubois [9] put it sharply, “the only difference between medicine and veterinary medicine was the clientele!”
Finally, around 1884, the “School of Nancy” [10] — thanks to Bernheim [11] — began to shake the indifference of doctors, despite the lively opposition that was aroused above all by the use of superficial hypnosis or “hypnoidization” by Sidis. [12] Many other methods were then added to this one: first of all, suggestion in the waking state; then, gradually, “re-education” in general; “gymnastics of the will”; Breuer’s “cathartic method”; Freud’s psychoanalysis [13] and its varieties (Bezzola’s psychosynthesis, Frank’s psychocatarsis, and Adler’s “individual psychotherapy”); Dubois’ “persuasion”; Moll’s “associative therapy”; the mixed and eclectic methods of Prince, Déjerine, etc.; and finally a curious reappearance in scientific guise of religious psychotherapy by the Emmanuel Movement — not to mention the numerous “non-scientific” psychotherapeutic methods that have become very popular in recent years in America. [14]
This proliferation of psychotherapy is clearly reflected in the literature devoted to it: a recent “summary review” of the subject [15] contained a bibliography of more than 400 titles, although it was far from complete; in addition, there are journals in Germany, [16] Austria, [17] France, [18] Russia, [19] and America [20] devoted entirely or largely to psychic therapy. It must be admitted that Italy has unfortunately made no significant contribution to this movement. Indeed, given the scarcity and insignificance of [Italian] publications on the subject, it can be said that only a faint and distant echo of it has reached us, to which doctors, busy with other matters, have paid — with rare exceptions — but little attention.
However, it is not my intention on this occasion to talk about the admirable successes and enormous practical value of psychotherapy. Instead, I would like to highlight its great and unsuspected theoretical importance. I am all the more willing to do so because this study has not yet received the attention it deserves, even abroad.
Psychotherapy as a Source of Psychological Knowledge
The theoretical importance of psychotherapy is revealed in two ways: first of all, directly, through the numerous important contributions it makes to our knowledge of the human soul; and then also indirectly, both by raising a number of new problems and creating new points of view, and as a “method of [experimental] control;” that is, by confirming the validity of psychological theories and doctrines, or by showing their inadequacies and unsustainability.
If we consider that there are different psychotherapeutic methods that act respectively on each of the main forms of psychic life (intelligence, feeling, and will), and even more so if we recognize that every psychic treatment acts on the entire personality of the patient, whatever method is used, it is easy to understand that there are very few psychological problems to which psychotherapy is not relevant. Since a complete treatment of this subject would therefore require a large volume, in this presentation I will have to limit myself to making some general considerations and touching on a few of the most important points.
There is no need for me to dwell on how psychological treatment provides an exceptionally favorable opportunity to gather a wealth of psychological observations. It is clear that the trust and confidence of the patient and their family, and the various circumstances of the treatment, provide the doctor with a wealth of psychological and physiological material that would be difficult to gather in any other way.
Psychotherapy as Living Psychological Experimentation
What may not be apparent at first glance, however, is that psychological treatment constitutes a series of real experiments, or rather a series of psychological experiments . [21]
Those who practice psychotherapy apply the same method to different patients and thus have the opportunity to note how different the results and reactions are depending on the patient’s “psychological type,” the nature of their disorders, and the influences to which they are subjected, — both psychological and otherwise, etc. Furthermore, it is not uncommon (and increasingly so, given the eclecticism and integration of various methods, which many psychotherapists are recognizing as beneficial) to apply different procedures to the same patient, thus providing an opportunity to study their different reactions to each one.
These psychological experiments in psychotherapy actually have some notable advantages over those carried out in laboratories. First of all, the patient’s interest in and cooperation with a procedure from which he hopes to derive relief are generally much greater than those of other “test subjects,” however willing they may be. For the same reason, except in special cases, one can expect less restraint and greater sincerity on the part of the patient himself. Secondly, given the practical importance of his work and his professional and moral responsibility, the doctor also carries out his psychotherapeutic “experiments” with an attention, care, and scrupulousness that he might not always have if he were motivated solely by theoretical interest.
To this, one might object that theoretical and practical interests do not always coincide, and that indeed there is sometimes open conflict between them. Well, fortunately, this is only true to a small extent in the case of psychotherapy. Of course — and it is worth stating this emphatically — the psychotherapist has a strict duty to subordinate all his theoretical curiosity to the good of the patient who entrusts himself to him; he must therefore omit any investigation that is useless for the purposes of treatment, and above all any “experiment” that could in any way be harmful. But — apart from some abuse of hypnotism and some psychoanalytic exaggeration — it can be said that such cases are rare. In general, theoretical and practical interests coincide fully; it is obvious that the better the doctor knows psychology and psychopathology in general, and the patient’s psyche in particular, the better he will be able to help the patient.
The opposite case is much more frequent: that is, practical considerations or requirements (lack of time on the part of the doctor, impatience on his part or on the part of the patient to obtain results, etc.) lead the psychotherapist to limit himself to an overly rapid and incomplete study of the patient’s psyche, which can lead to uncertainties and therapeutic errors. One of the main aims of this presentation is to encourage doctors to study the psychological problems of psychotherapy in order to increase its value.
Psychic Influences on the Body and Psychogenesis
The first and fundamental problem of psychotherapy is the psychological influences on the body and the “psychogeneity” of nervous and mental disorders. It is of course impossible to deal adequately with such a broad and complex problem in this brief review; so I will limit myself to making a few general observations.
First of all, it seems to me there are two problems that we need to keep clearly separate, even though they are often combined, or even confused. These are the philosophical problem of the relationship between the psyche and the organism, which is closely connected with the even more general problem of the relationship between spirit and matter; and the psychological and empirical problem of psychic influences on the body.
The recognition of these influences, the study of the laws that govern them, and their therapeutic use are all theoretically independent of philosophical doctrines about the relationship between the psyche and the organism. In fact, we find both materialist and spiritualist psychotherapists who are supporters of determinism and free will, who believe in psychophysiological parallelism and in the “reciprocal action” between body and psyche.
However, this does not mean that some of these doctrines — considered from a practical and empirical point of view, and not only as “working hypotheses” — may not present various kinds of practical advantages over those opposed to them.
For example, the concept of reciprocal action between the psyche and the organism “frames” the facts and laws of psychotherapy in a much simpler and more natural way; so it is therefore much more understandable and acceptable to patients than that mysterious psychophysical “parallelism,” a concept whose popularity was largely due to the phobia of the Soul that infected modern psychologists and is now in decline.
Similarly, practice has shown me that appeals to patients’ will are much more effective if, instead of insisting only on the rigid determinism of psychic life, we evoke in them a sense of inner freedom and the conviction that their health and well-being depend largely on their own will. [22]
But, I repeat, the psychological and medical question of psychic influences on the body is quite distinct from the philosophical problem of the relationship between spirit and matter. Whatever the “organic substratum” or physiological concomitants of an idea, a feeling, or a volition may be, the fact remains that by arousing such psychic states in ourselves or in others, we can bring about great changes in organic functions. Everyone is aware of the powerful effects that emotions such as fear or anger have on circulation, digestion, etc.; Pavlov’s experiments demonstrating the secretion of saliva and gastric juice produced by psychic stimuli are also well known. [23] There is certainly no need to dwell on this.
What matters is to concretely study the extent, modalities, and mechanism of psychic influences on the body. And it is precisely to this study that psychotherapy contributes important, indeed truly valuable, data and insights; because they would be very difficult to obtain by other methods of investigation. To be convinced of this, one only needs to recall the much-debated question of the etiology of various nervous and mental illnesses. So much has been discussed, for example, concerning whether hysterical and neurasthenic symptoms depend on a special physical “constitution,” or on a psychic “disposition,” or on certain physiological causes (intoxication, autointoxication, exhaustion, sexuality), or on psychic causes (emotions, psychic conflicts, etc.), or finally from a varied intertwining and combination of any or all of these causes.
A significant part of the disagreements and misunderstandings that have arisen regarding these issues are certainly the result of the confusion that often exists in the minds of doctors about the concept of cause. They want to use the single term “cause” for hereditary predispositions, personal predispositions, and environmental conditions, as well as “occasional causes.” But even aside from this, a real and serious difficulty arises from the very nature of “constitutions” and “dispositions.” These are not visible or tangible facts, nor are they directly observable; they can only be inferred from certain reactions that are more or less significant and more or less reliably interpretable. And while in some cases (such as certain typical hysterical cases) this inference is quite easy and natural, in many other cases it is much more difficult and uncertain, due to the intertwining of many varied elements.
Well, such issues can often be resolved, and in a truly experimental way, by psychotherapy. In fact, psychotherapy can demonstrate that all the symptoms it manages to cure are not truly “constitutional,” since no one, however enthusiastic about psychic therapy, can believe that an individual’s “constitution” can be changed. However, it should be noted that one must be careful not to accept too easily the opposite proposition: that symptoms that cannot be cured by psychic means are truly constitutional. In fact, therapeutic failure may be due to various reasons of a completely different nature (external obstacles, poor choice or imperfect application of the method, persistence of pathogenic causes or the appearance of new ones, etc.).
The same can be said regarding the question of whether certain symptoms depend on physiological or psychological causes. Psychotherapy has been able to demonstrate that numerous symptoms, especially neurasthenic ones, which were and still are considered by many doctors to be the effect of intoxication, “nervous exhaustion,” etc., are instead, at least in some cases, clearly psychogenic. It is clear that if such symptoms can disappear at any moment thanks to a psychic action, they certainly cannot depend on the physiological causes mentioned above. [24]
Personality, Dissociation, and the Limits of Unitary Psychology
Another fundamental problem in psychology to which psychotherapy has made very important contributions is that of “personality” and “psychic synthesis,” especially in relation to “consciousness.”
It is well known that one of the most important advances in modern psychology is the synthetic and unified conception of psychic life. In this regard, however, it seems to me that some exaggerations and confusions have been made. For example, in my opinion, “unitary” psychologists have given too little importance to the function of “dissociation” in psychic life.
The data provided by psychotherapy, while confirming on the one hand the intimate union that exists between the various forms of psychic activity, show on the other hand that there are divisions in the psyche that are much deeper than psychologists generally admit, and that the concept of “personality” may have to undergo a profound change. It is primarily thanks to psychotherapy — from hypnosis to psychoanalysis — that the existence of a wide range of psychic activity taking place outside ordinary consciousness has been conclusively demonstrated, and its laws and mechanisms brought to light.
In my opinion, psychologists have not yet taken sufficient account of these results. When reading their analyses, one often has the impression that they are practicing a “two-dimensional” psychology, that is, they only take into account what appears on the surface of consciousness, without seeing everything that extends below, in the “third dimension,” in the depths of the unconscious. Psychotherapists, on the other hand, have been forced — for practical purposes — to take all of this into account.
Thus, they have been able to observe the genesis, development, various phenomena, and dissolution of unconscious or alternating personalities; indeed, they have been able to effectively influence all these processes. We have seen how a small “complex” of psychic states, dissociated from the ordinary personality under suitable conditions, can gradually grow by incorporating ever new psychic states, to the point of constituting a true secondary “personality,” capable of taking control of the organism away from the ordinary personality for a long time, and of behaving in a manner entirely equal to that of any normal person. We have witnessed sometimes truly tragic struggles between various “personalities” of the same psyche, and we have been able to intervene by weakening and disintegrating certain personalities, strengthening others, or merging two or more into a single, larger one.
To give an idea of how profound the differences between two “personalities” of the same psyche can be, I will quote the following, taken from a list more than six pages long. This is the famous case of Miss Beauchamp, studied so thoroughly by Morton Prince. [25] The personality designated “BI” has little appetite, loves milk, soups, and vegetables; the other personality, “B IV”, on the other hand, has an excellent appetite and does not like milk, soups, and vegetables; the first is patient, sweet, and never gets angry; the second, on the other hand, is impetuous and prone to violent anger; one is meditative, dreamy, religious, loves reading and children; the other is the exact opposite of all this; and so on. [26]
The psychological interpretation of such facts is certainly not without its difficulties. Many psychologists are repelled by the idea of having to admit the coexistence of different personalities and different consciousnesses within the same individual; moreover, it is difficult to understand how a consciousness, or rather a self-consciousness, can form little by little, and how two different consciousnesses can merge into one. But on the other hand, how can we admit that within the same personality there are parts that are unaware of each other, with different and contradictory tastes, each asserting its own conscious and independent existence?
I cannot dwell on this further on this occasion. It is enough for me to have shown that these facts — brought to light by psychotherapeutic practice — cannot be overlooked by psychotherapy or psychology, but must be interpreted by them, even at the cost of having to abandon or modify concepts or doctrines that have hitherto been believed to be secure and satisfactory.
Complexes, Repression, and Affective Conflicts
But even apart from these extreme cases, psychotherapy has highlighted the existence of phenomena of psychic dissociation of a much lesser degree, which are of great importance and are also very frequent in the normal psyche. These are the so-called “complexes with a strong affective tone.”
To understand the nature and mode of action of these “complexes,” we must recall certain facts and laws of emotional life, which have also been largely highlighted — or at least better illustrated — by the analyzes of psychotherapists, especially those of Freud, Jung, and Pavlov.
In investigating the causes of nervous and mental disorders, they have been able to ascertain how much of a role affective conflicts play in them. Such conflicts depend on the very nature of affective states. These are, so to speak, “impenetrable” to each other; they cannot coexist. Indeed, each of them tends to drive antagonistic states out of the field of consciousness and inhibit them in every way. This can be demonstrated very easily with a number of facts from everyday life: for example, a person experiencing a state of depression and discouragement will be prevented from properly appreciating and sometimes even seeing everything that would tend to give rise to hope or confidence; all joy and enjoyment are forgotten, as if they had never existed or were illusory and could never return.
It should be noted that affective states do not exist in isolation or in a “pure” form in the psyche, but are closely connected to specific images and representations. It is precisely this set of psychic facts, this “constellation” of intellectual elements — that are “impregnated” or “colored”, so to speak, by the one and the same affective state — that has been given the name “complex.”
Another important fact is that every emotion seems to be endowed with a certain amount of “energy,” a “charge” which continually tends to express itself, to “discharge” itself in some way; that is — to express the fact in more strictly psychological language — every emotion tends to have its own adequate “expression.”
Now, it is not uncommon for this expression or charge to be inhibited, either by the action of antagonistic emotional states or for various other reasons. But, as we have seen, two antagonistic states cannot coexist in consciousness, and so dissociations of various kinds are formed: some “normal,” others pathological. These dissociations have been studied very carefully by psychotherapists, as they provide the key to many nervous and psychological disorders and at the same time show the ways in which these can be treated.
The most frequent and “normal” outcome of a conflict between two emotional states is that the weaker of the two is “repressed.” This simply means that it is driven out of ordinary consciousness, not that it is neutralized or destroyed. Instead, it persists in the unconscious for an indefinite period of time, always retaining its tendency to assert itself in one way or another. Together with the emotional state, all the related ideas, images, memories, etc., that are associated with it are often repressed, forming what is known as a “complex.” This concept can be used to interpret numerous psychological phenomena, both normal and pathological.
First of all, many curious lapses of memory that occur in everyday life clearly appear to depend on the fact that the things forgotten are connected with unpleasant and painful affective states. The genesis of various morbid symptoms is similar. I will give as an example the “negative hallucination” experienced by one of my patients. In her, repression was particularly intense; she found it very difficult to open up and express her feelings. One day, as she was preparing to write some notes about herself, which I had asked her to do, she could not see the inkwell. “My sister,” writes the patient, “kept telling me it was on the table, but I couldn’t see it. Finally, I picked it up, but in the meantime my sister had brought me the fountain pen: well, I closed it mechanically.” The patient herself did not fail to grasp the significance of these two facts, as she immediately added: “It’s clear that I don’t feel like writing.”
Sometimes repression is even stronger and gives rise to more serious symptoms: it can cause amnesia of important painful events and even of entire parts of life. Not infrequently, however, repression fails, in whole or in part, and the “complex” manages to manifest itself in a variety of ways, often very tortuous and indirect, both normal and pathological. Among the manifestations of this kind, which are also very common in everyday life, are many “mistakes” and “symptomatic actions” that generally seem normal and insignificant, but which now reveal themselves — after Freud’s careful analysis — as sure signs of unconscious complexes.
Another very frequent and normal manifestation of “complexes” occurs in dreams. The study and interpretation of dreams has become, mainly through the work of the psychoanalytic school, an important psychotherapeutic aid and, at the same time, a fruitful method of psychological investigation. But this subject raises a number of problems that I cannot even touch upon on this occasion.
Sometimes, either because of the severity of the psychic conflict or for other reasons, the victory of the “complex” has much greater consequences. In fact, it may violently burst into ordinary consciousness and takes root there, driving out anything that tries to resist it and thus causing the disorganization of the personality. Such is the mechanism of the onset of many delusions.
There are also other outcomes of conflicts between affective states that are of particular interest to psychologists. It has often been observed that following an affective conflict and the repression of certain complexes, various types of nervous symptoms arise: paralysis, contractions, tics, convulsions, palpitations, neuralgia, etc. Freud interpreted these phenomena by postulating that the repressed “emotional energy” was discharged along the peripheral nervous system of the organism; that is, that the emotional state was “converted” into an organic symptom.
But there are other ways in which psychic conflicts can unfold. It is not uncommon for the complex to “resolve itself,” so to speak; that is, for the affective charge to dissociate itself from the ideas and representations with which it was united and to associate itself with others, following the common laws of association or those of symbolism. This is how the genesis of many phobias and obsessions can be interpreted.
Transformation, Sublimation, and Psychic Energetics
Finally, a psychic conflict can have yet another outcome: the repressed emotional state can transform itself in various ways. We will discuss the nature of this phenomenon further on. A very important variety of such transformations is the so-called sublimation, ie, the transformation of lower tendencies and impulses into higher emotional states.
Psychotherapy offers numerous examples and ample proof of all the facts and laws just mentioned, and of many others not mentioned here for the sake of brevity. First of all, it clearly shows the beneficial effect of the “release” of complexes, of the “venting” of repressed (or even simply “accumulated”) emotional states in the psyche. Such “waiting” can be, as we have seen, of a very varied nature. Verbal expression alone is sometimes sufficient. The patient often feels a great sense of relief in opening up, in confiding freely with someone who understands them. Even waiting in writing can be very beneficial for some. Here, for example, is what one of my patients says:
“The diary is as necessary to my life as any food for the body, and even if I am tired and find writing difficult, it brings me relief and lightens my soul. I spend my days without saying a true word about myself; I accumulate feelings and thoughts within myself, but I cannot lock them away and I am happy when I can express them in some way.”
Sometimes it is enough to remind the patient, through various psychotherapeutic procedures, of the cause of a symptom and help them to “unload” the emotional states connected with that cause, in order to achieve the disappearance of the symptom itself, even if it was old and persistent. Breuer and Freud insisted on this principle in particular, even making it the basis of their methods of psychic therapy.
I believe that they attributed too broad and exclusive a value to this principle, because in many cases several other factors come into play, and it is not uncommon for the evocation of memory and emotional “release” to prove insufficient in themselves to eliminate pathological symptoms. But this does not detract from the fact that in some cases the beneficial effect of these procedures is obvious and indisputable. Here is a very illustrative case:
One of my patients (the same one who had the negative hallucination mentioned earlier) had been suffering from insomnia for a long time; not only did she sleep little, but her sleep was very light. She naturally wanted to sleep, but little by little it became clear that she had an unconscious aversion to sleep. Once, for example, she wrote in her notes, “Who knows why, even though I need so much sleep, if I sleep more I almost get angry with myself for having been absent from myself for too long.” And another time: “… I feel like I need, like I have to, always be alert.”
So I drew the patient’s attention to this resistance and urged her to look for the cause and to recall the origin of her insomnia. This was not easy, given the patient’s strong tendency to forget and “repress” painful events and feelings in every way possible, and her great difficulty in “opening up.” Finally, one night, the patient managed to find the facts she was looking for.
This is how the insomnia began: One evening she was with some people and did not want to leave them to go to bed because she feared that something unpleasant would happen among them in her absence. Finally, she had to leave them and go to bed, but because of her concern, she did not sleep. Later, she learned that what she had feared had indeed happened, and from then on, her insomnia became persistent.
Well, immediately after remembering these events and realizing that they were the cause of her insomnia, the patient began to sleep longer and, above all, more deeply. I quote verbatim from her notes:
“Last night I slept for about seven hours and slept properly, which had not happened to me for more than two years and four months, and it is happening now, after I discovered the cause of my insomnia. When I wake up, I feel that I am passing from one sphere to another, from unconsciousness to consciousness, whereas before my consciousness was more or less awake and the transition from sleep to wakefulness seemed to me to be just a matter of opening my eyes.”
I would add that the unconscious resistance to sleep, although diminished, had not disappeared entirely; in fact, even later, the patient sometimes felt a sense of anger at having slept when she woke up.
In many cases, however, as I have already said, verbal “expression” and recollection of the cause are not sufficient. Other more effective and direct means of release are possible, both because of the nature of the repressed affective states and for various other reasons and circumstances. Then the treatment can become a real experiment in transformation and sublimation of psychic energies. In order to achieve such transformations, it is first necessary to replace the forced repression of “complexes” in the unconscious with conscious control of them. This is already of great benefit to the patient, because it reduces the dissociations existing in their psyche and strengthens the structure of their personality.
Once this has been done, the patient, guided by the doctor, must devote himself as intensely as possible to an activity that he enjoys and finds exciting. If their condition allows it, and if they are able to concentrate, to immerse themselves in that activity, to “polarize” themselves, so to speak, in that one direction without worrying or fretting about their own sufferings and conflicts, they will often succeed in transforming their previously repressed emotional states into useful and fruitful energies. [27]
There is much more to be said about the various practical aspects of all this, and I reserve that for another occasion.
I would like instead to discuss the psychological problems raised by the facts just presented. I do not hide the fact that the interpretation of them raises doubts and difficulties.
This “emotional charge” that is stored in the unconscious, which is converted into organic symptoms, or transported and discharged, may seem too “energetic” a concept; such an emotional charge, it might be said, resembles an “electric charge” too closely. One may even raise the general question: that is, discuss whether and to what extent it is legitimate to speak of “energy” in relation to psychic phenomena. Since I have said that in the struggle between affective states the weaker is repressed, some rigorous psychologists might say that with this expression I am bringing back into psychology that quantitative element which, after a lively struggle, has been largely banished from it.
Various criticisms can also be made of the concept of transformation. If every psychic phenomenon is — as modern psychology has shown — characterized by a special and irreducible quality, how can we say that one psychic state is transformed into another? How can we conceive of such a qualitative transformation? After all, it is only a supposition: what we actually observe is only that state “A” gives way to state “B,” which is essentially different from it.
I recognize that there is some truth in these criticisms. It is easy to exaggerate and be led to construct a “psychic energetics” that is just as unjustified as the old “associationism.” [28] But if we remove the overly mechanical and schematic character of associationism and, above all, if we abandon the claim that it provides a true explanation of psychic life, we are still left with a series of well-attested descriptions and empirical laws that appropriately illuminate certain aspects of psychic activity. The same, it seems to me, is true of energetics.
This is not an “explanation;” it does not reveal the intimate nature of psychic activity; it is merely a way of describing certain phenomena well. But in empirical psychology, describing well is already a lot, and in my opinion, talking about “affective charges” and their transports, “conversions,” and transformations is the best and perhaps the only suitable way to highlight certain phenomena and laws that are of great theoretical and practical importance.
For example, saying that a psychic state “A” is replaced by a psychic state “B” is a sterile observation; on the other hand, saying that state “A” has been transformed into “B” indicates a particular connection between those two facts and shows the possibility of taking practical advantage of it. Moreover, it can be said that transformation is nothing more than an extreme special case of the influence of one mental state on another; and that those who rigidly maintain the irreducibility and specificity of each mental state, find it just as difficult to explain how such states can influence each other; that is, to modify each other.
I believe it is appropriate to continue talking about “affective discharges” and “transformations,” bearing in mind, however, that when we say, for example, that one state has transformed into another, we only mean to indicate that, as far as we know, it is as if state “A” had transformed into state “B,” which followed it. [29]
If psychologists can find a more precise and appropriate language, so much the better. In the meantime, however, I note that even one of the psychologists who has been most rigorous in banishing quantitative concepts from psychology, our [Italian], Villa, when he wanted to indicate one of the phenomena I have mentioned, was unable to use anything other than “energetic” language. In fact, when discussing the importance of the emotional factor in so-called “conflicts of ideas,” he wrote: “And in the struggle, it is not the idea that has the greatest logical effectiveness that wins, but the one that at that moment contains the greatest amount of energy.” [30]
In any case, whatever opinion one may have on the subject, everyone can agree that the phenomena of “transport,” “discharge,” and “transformation” of affective states, brought to light by psychotherapy, are of great theoretical interest and deserve the closest attention from psychologists.
Moral Character and the Revaluation of Neurotic Personality
Finally, I would like to draw attention to an important contribution made by psychotherapy to psychology, specifically to “individual psychology” and character psychology.
Psychotherapy is leading to a real revolution in the way we judge and appreciate the personality of patients with nervous and mental disorders. The prevailing opinion — not only among lay people but also among doctors, and even among neurologists and psychiatrists — is very unfavorable to patients. One need only open a textbook on psychiatry to find descriptions in dark colors of the selfishness, vanity, cruelty, and general immorality of hysterical women, and to read that various neurasthenic or psychasthenic symptoms, such as obsessive ideas and phobias, are signs of “degeneration.” The public and many doctors continue to treat nervous pains as “imaginary” or “exaggerated,” without understanding what a gross psychological error it is to call a subjective sensation of pain “imaginary.”
The deeper knowledge of the human soul of nervous people provided by psychic treatments has shown that these opinions are profoundly unjust. There is undoubtedly the type of depraved hysteric [31] described in treatises and known to the public thanks to famous trials, but this represents only a minority of cases. For every Tarnowska, [32] there are many, many hysterics with noble and elevated feelings. And I do not know what the concept of “degeneration” can mean — at least in the psychological sense — when it is applied to so many neurotics of superior spirit who struggle against their obsessions and phobias with a strength, constancy, and patience that few normal people possess.
Consider, for example, what Swiss psychiatrist Frank says after more than twenty-five years of psychotherapeutic practice:
[Psychoneurotics] “are capable of great self-sacrifice; they have, almost without exception, good and noble feelings; they are ethically elevated and very conscientious” — and further on he writes, “the feeling of compassion is very strong in them. This feeling often reaches such a high degree in them that they identify with those who suffer . . .” [33]
For my part, I can fully confirm Frank’s words. Among the many patients I have treated, I have found some people whose qualities I hold in the highest esteem and admiration. I too have found their compassion to be particularly intense; indeed, one patient — whose sincerity I have reliable proof of — placed compassion at the forefront when indicating the varying intensity of her feelings.
After all, if we remember that psychotherapy has shown that many nervous and mental disorders stem from emotional conflicts, this is not surprising. In fact, many of these conflicts arise precisely because of the sensitivity of the feelings and moral sensibility of the patient. From this point of view, nervous and mental disorders — which many psychiatrists, following Lombroso’s example, like to discover in great men [34] — acquire a very different meaning and value and, in my opinion, one that is much more accurate than that which is usually attributed to them.
The intellectual and moral character of a personality is in fact completely independent of the morbid symptoms that may afflict it, and which it may have in common with other inferior or truly degenerate personalities.
If it is true that Saint Teresa, Saint Catherine of Genoa, and many other noble religious figures were affected by hysteria, this should not in any way diminish our admiration for their spiritual gifts. Instead, we must modify our opinion of the character of “hysterical” people. If St. Francis had, as has been claimed, “degenerative somatic stigmata,” this certainly does not diminish our veneration for the Poor Man of Assisi, but rather shows that those stigmata do not always have the “degenerative” meaning attributed to them, and may lead us to modify our concept of “degeneration.” Finally, if it were true — as a certain French doctor claimed to prove — that Jesus, that sublime ideal of humanity, was mad, [35] it would only mean that madness is sometimes infinitely superior to the wisdom of normal people. . . including psychiatrists.
A complete revision of the problems concerning the relationship between moral character and nervous and psychic disorders is therefore necessary, a revision in which anthropological preconceptions are abandoned and the facts brought to light by a profound and complete psychological study of the personalities in question are taken into account. Psychotherapy has made and will certainly continue to make contributions of the utmost value to such a study.
Psychotherapy and the Collaboration of Medicine and Psychology
As I said at the beginning, the limitations of this presentation have allowed us only to touch briefly on some of the many important psychological problems addressed by psychotherapy; but I hope that even the little I have been able to say is enough to show how numerous and close the links are between psychic therapy and psychology. I also hope that it is clear how appropriate the collaboration between doctors and psychologists is, especially in this field: the former providing the latter with a wealth of observations and experimental data, and the latter in turn helping the former to interpret and coordinate that data in the best possible way.
Finally, I would like to strongly encourage doctors, especially young ones, to take a much greater interest in psychotherapy than they have done so far, especially in Italy. I assure you that if you study it seriously and practice it with enthusiasm, it will give you great and profound scientific, professional, and human satisfaction.
In this way, it will be possible to gain an ever deeper understanding of psychic life and, at the same time, ever greater effectiveness in the fight against very serious and painful ills, which are, in a certain sense, the most terrible because they undermine what is most precious in man: his soul.
Notes:
[1] . This article, with a few additions and changes, is the text of a paper on the psychological problems of psychotherapy, presented and discussed given as a lecture at the Circle of Psychological Studies, Florence, March 24, 1913 and then repeated at the Second Conference of the Italian Society of Psychology, March 29, 1913. Psiche was a journal of psychological studies, edited by Assagioli, which was published in Florence, Italy, from 1912-1915.—Ed.
[2] . The author’s own notes are shown as found; this editor’s notes are indicated by —Ed. Editor’s interpolation in the text are shown in [brackets]. The Editor has also had reference to a typed English translation found in the Assagioli Archives, probably made by Kenneth Leslie-Smith. -Oath.
[3] . Leopold Löwenfeld (1847-1923) was a German physician, —Ed.
[4] . L. Löwenfeld, Lehrbuch der gesammten Psychotherapie [Complete Textbook of Psychotherapy] (Wiesbaden, Bergmann, 1897), pl —Author’s Note.
[5] . Some information can be found in the volume by J. Camus and P. Pagniez, Isolement et Psychothérapie [Isolation and Psychotherapy] (Paris, Alcan, 1904), pp. 5-82 and in Portigliotti’s manual on psychotherapy (Milan, Hoepli, 1903), pp. 25-122. —Author’s Note.
[6] . Johann Christian Reil (1759-1813) was a German physician who made a seminal appeal for the establishment of modern psychotherapy in the early 19th century, particularly through his 1803 work Rhapsodieen über die Anwendung der psychische Curmethode auf Geisteszerrüttungen (“Rhapsodies on the Application of the Psychic Cure Method to Mental Disorders”). -Oath.
[7] . In the mid-19th century, specifically beginning around 1841–1843, Scottish surgeon James Braid (1795–1860) made a concerted appeal to establish a scientific foundation for what he initially termed “neuro-hypnology.” -Oath.
[8] . Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault (1823–1904) was a French country physician who, in the mid-19th century, spearheaded an appeal for the establishment of a scientific form of psychotherapy. -Oath.
[9] . Paul Charles Dubois (1848–1918), a Swiss neuropathologist and professor at the University of Bern, established a form of “rational psychotherapy” in the late 19th century. He argued against the prevailing purely biological or hypnotic treatments of his time, instead advocating for a “moral treatment” that appealed to the patient’s intellect, reason, and willpower. -Oath.
[10] . The School of Nancy (École de Nancy), led by Hippolyte Bernheim and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault in the late 19th century, was a prominent school of hypnosis that argued that hypnosis was a normal, suggestible psychological phenomenon, rather than a pathological state. -Oath.
[11] . Hippolyte Bernheim (1840-1919) was a French physician and neurologist, known for his theory of suggestibility in relation to hypnotism. -Oath.
[12] . Boris Sidis (1867-1923) was an American psychopathologist and psychiatrist who founded the New York State Psychopathic Institute and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.—Ed.
[13] . Joseph Breuer (1842-1925) was an Austrian physician whose “cathartic method” was a major initiating factor for psychoanalysis, developed by Breuer’s friend and collaborator, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). -Oath.
[14] . This paragraph refers to Dumeng Bezzola (1868-1936), Swiss psychiatrist; Ludwig Frank (1860-?), German physician; Alfred Adler (1870-1937), Austrian doctor and psychotherapist; Paul Charles Dubois (1848-1918), Swiss neuropathologist; Alfred Moll (1862-1939), German neurologist; Morton Prince (1854-1929), American physician; and Joseph Déjerine (1849-1917) French neurologist. The Emmanuel Movement (1906-1929) was a pioneering initiative, founded by Rev. Dr. Elwood Worcester at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston, that blended religious faith with psychotherapy to treat “nervous disorders,” alcoholism, and addiction through spiritual healing, counseling, and self-help; it influenced later groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) by introducing concepts like fellowship and spiritual recovery.—Ed.
[15] . M. Isserlin, “Bewegungen und Fortschritte in der Psychotherapie,”[”Movements and Advances in Psychotherapy”], Ergebnisse der Neurologie u. Psychiatrie, 1, 1911, pl —Author’s Note.
[16] . Zeitschrift für Psychotherapie und medizinische Psychologie [Journal of Psychotherapy and Medical Psychology], herausg. von A. Moll (Stuttgart, Widow), Vol. IV, 1909-1913. —Author’s Note.
[17] . Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse [Central Journal of Psychoanalysis], edited by S. Freud (Vienna) (Wiesbaden, Bergmann), Vol. I-III, 1911-13. (From December 1912, this journal came under the direction of W. Stekel). – Internationale Zeitschrift für ärztliche Psychoanalyse [International Journal of Medical Psychoanalysis], edited by S. Freud (Leipzig and Vienna, H. Heller), I, 1913. —Author’s Note.
[18] . Revue de psychothérapie et de psychologie appliquée [Journal of Psychotherapy and Applied Psychology], dir. Bérillon (Paris) I -XXVII, 1886-1913. —Author’s Note.
[19] . Psihoterapia [Psychotherapy], pod. edit. NA Vuirubova, (Mosca), I-IV 1910-1913. —Author’s Note.
[20] . Journal of abnormal psychology, editor M. Prince (Boston, Badger ), I – VII, 1906–1913. —Author’s Note.
[21] . Of course, I do not use the term “experiment” here in the particular sense intended by Wundt, which has been abandoned by almost all psychologists, including those who came out of his school. —Author’s Note.
[22] . However, I do not wish to be misunderstood on this point. I too consider it extremely useful to show patients that chance and arbitrariness do not reign in psychic life, but that, on the contrary, every thought, every feeling, every act has effects that are governed by precise psychological laws. But I find it very useful to add to this that the human soul is much vaster and richer than our ordinary consciousness knows, that there are precious talents and powerful energies within it, and that these can be awakened and used for one’s own good and that of others by means of vigorous and decisive acts of will. —Author’s Note.
[23] . Moreover, this fact had already been discovered by popular common sense, which had noticed that the sight of appetizing food makes one’s mouth water. —Author’s Note.
[24] . The cases of Miss Beauchamp and CBA, both studied by Prince, are extraordinarily demonstrative in this regard, in which personality changes — both spontaneous and provoked for therapeutic purposes by the doctor — instantly produced the disappearance or appearance of various symptoms, such as weakness, fatigue, headache, and various other pains, etc. (For further details and bibliographical references, see “La psicologia del subcosciente”, II. and “Personalità alternanti e concoscienti,” in Psyche, I, 1912, no. 3). —Author’s Note.
[25] . Prince’s 1906 book, The Dissociation of the Personality: A Biographical Study in Abnormal Psychology, (New York, Longmans, Green and Co., 1905) was one of the first discussions of what is now termed dissociative identity disorder. -Oath.
[26] . M. Prince, ibid, p. 288 ff. —Author’s Note.
[27]. This happens much more often than is commonly believed. From the new, predominantly “psychological” conception of nervous and mental disorders, which is becoming increasingly accepted, it is clear that in the past, diagnoses of nervous “exhaustion” were greatly exaggerated, and therefore so were prescriptions for rest. —Author’s Note.
[28] . Associationism is the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one mental state with its successor states. It holds that all mental processes are made up of discrete psychological elements and their combinations, which are believed to be made up of sensations or simple feelings. In philosophy, this idea is viewed as the outcome of empiricism and sensationism. The concept encompasses a psychological theory as well as comprehensive philosophical foundation and scientific methodology. This concept is first found in Plato and Aristotle, and was supported by many western philosophers, such as Hobbes Locke, Hume, Priestly, and Mill. -Oath.
[29] . La psicologia contemporanea [Contemporary Psychology], 2nd ed., p. 244. For a more extensive discussion of “psychic energy,” see the powerful work by G. della Valle, Le Leggi del lavoro mentale [The Laws of Mental Work] (Turin, Paravia, 1910), especially Chapter VII. —Author’s Note.
[30] . Those wishing to explore these topics further may consult the numerous publications of the psychoanalytic school (see bibliography in Psiche, I, 1912), the writings of Prince and his school (published largely in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology), and Janet, etc. On “affective complexes,” see especially CG Jung, Über die Psychologie der Dementia Praecox [On the Psychology of Dementia Praecox] (Halle, Marhold, 1907), Chapter II: “There Gefühlsbetonte Komplex und seine allgemeinen Wirkungen auf die Psyche.” [“The emotional complex and its general effects on the psyche.”] —Author’s Note.
[31] . At the time of the writing of this article “hysteria” was still in use as a term to denote ungovernable emotional excess, and it was widely assumed by men that women were predisposed to it, which was considered to be a diagnosable physical illness.—Ed.
[32] . The notorious trial of Russian Countess Maria Tarnowska in Venice in 1910, and her conviction of murder, attracted a lot of media attention. Her trial included a Freudian analysis of her personality and motives. -Oath.
[33] . Affektstörungen: Studien über ihre Ätiologie und Therapie [Affective disorders: Studies on their etiology and therapy] (Berlin, Springer, 1913) p. 4. —Author’s Note.
[34] . Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) was an Italian physician and criminologist, who developed an “anthropological theory” that criminality was inherited, and that criminality could be identified by traits or physical defects. However, it appears that other psychiatrists and authors were responsible for documenting mental health issues in great historical persons. – Oath.
[35] . French physician and psychologist Charles Binet-Sanglé (1868-1941), chief physician of the Paris police, wrote a four-volume work titled La Folie de Jésus [The Madness of Jesus], 1908-1915. – Oath.
