It is to be regretted that some physicians, and among them many neurologists of excellent standing2, hesitate to accept the work accomplished3 in the domain4 of Psychopathology, confusing the latter with what parades at present under the name of psychoanalysis. Thus a well known physician writes to me:
“I think that the majority of men in general work (medical) do not separate Psychopathology from Psychoanalysis. Freud’s theories and the whole trend of psychoanalysis have been so turned into channels of distorted and perverted5 sexual life that it has blinded people to the fact that there are many dominant6 phases in mental life which are not sexual.[8] The ordinary, healthy minded, and vigorous practitioner7 sees a lot of motives8 in life that are not sexual, and where everything is twisted and turned to one side, to one ‘complex,’ he becomes indignant and disgusted, and condemns9 the whole broad subject of Psychopathology.” I think that the physician is right in his attitude.
As a matter of fact psychoanalysis, by which Freud and his adherents10 have baptized their sexual theories and metaphysical wish-speculations, should be regarded as savage11 and barbaric. Psychoanalysis is a sort of Astrology, full of superstitious12 symbolizations, dream vagaries13, and idle interpretations14, foisted15 on the credulous16, on those obsessed17 by sexual inclinations18, and on those suffering from sexual perversions19. It is idle and credulous to search in adults for “unconscious” memories of babies a few months old. Many take up psychoanalysis as a sort of mental masturbation which in the long run is sure to play havoc20 with their nerve and mind.
Psychoanalysis excites the curiosity of the vulgar just as for thousands of years Astrology held the interest of semi-civilized21 nations to the detriment22 of the science of Astronomy. Psychoanalysis belongs to the class of dangerous superstitions24, harmful to health, both social and individual. Psychoanalysis, like Palmistry or Oneiroscopy, that is, “interpretation of dreams,” imposes on the uncritical[9] sense of the credulous public. Freudian psychoanalysis should be openly declared as a fraud.
Lecky points out that superstitions are not destroyed by discussion. To start a discussion in an earnest way a common ground is required. What common ground is there between science and superstition23? Superstition should be left alone to die of inanition. There is no common ground between psychoanalysis and psychopathology. That is why it is just as impossible to argue with a psychoanalyst as with a Mormon or a Mohammedan. Anyone who does not accept the dogmas and superstitions of psychoanalysis is accused of “resistance of hidden complexes,” just as pious25 believers accuse sceptics of evil thoughts.
A famous professor of a well known eastern college asked me to continue my “good work” against psychoanalysis. But criticism of psychoanalysis is a thankless task. It is futile26 to discuss psychological and medical matters with psychoanalysts. For psychoanalysts care for nothing else but the fulfillment of sexual wishes. It is useless to argue with psychoanalysts, who as a rule possess no more critical sense than Mormon saints. Psychoanalysis is a sort of Mormonism. In the far West psychoanalysis is preached from the pulpits in churches. Psychoanalysis is a sex religion. One should combat it with ridicule27 and scorn. Psychoanalysis needs a Voltaire, a Molière, or a Swift.
[10]
The so-called present civilized humanity, and especially our populace, lives in an age of vulgarity. Success per se is the sole aim in life. Books by the thousands tell how to achieve “success,” how to fool the nerves, or how to deceive the mind. “Efficiency” and “success” fill home and school with all sorts of lucubrations and advertisements. Mental tests are supposed to help to success. Business success is the slogan. And success is only to the mediocre28 and the vulgar. Mediocrity writes for mediocrity, and is applauded by mobs of mediocrity. To teach the truth is a great privilege, but to deceive the ignorant and to debauch29 the young and inexperienced is a serious offence.
When science, literature, and art sink to the movie stage, why wonder at their triviality? When Government experts take seriously Freudian “Sublimation,” why blame the credulity of the layman30? When the Bureau of Education spreads far and wide pamphlets on mental tests, why wonder at the gullibility31 of the populace?
The tendency towards the rule of mediocrity in the twentieth century was observed by Tolstoy:
“About twenty years ago Matthew Arnold wrote a beautiful article on the purpose of criticism. According to his opinion, it is the purpose of criticism to find what is most important and good in any book whatever, wherever, and whenever written, and to[11] direct the reader’s attention to what is important and good in them.
“Such a criticism seems to me indispensable in our time of newspapers, periodicals, books, and advertisements. Such a criticism is requisite32 for the future of the cultured world.
“Printing has for some time served as the chief instrument for the diffusion33 of ignorance among the well-to-do (the middle classes, especially the so-called new women).
“Books, periodicals, especially the newspapers, have in our time become great financial undertakings34 for the success of which the largest possible number of purchasers is needed. The interests and tastes, however, of the largest possible number of purchasers are always low and vulgar. For the success of the press it is necessary that the productions should respond to the demands of the great majority of the purchasers, that is, that they should touch upon the low interests and correspond to the vulgar tastes. The press fully36 satisfies these demands, which it is quite able to do, since among the number of workers for the press there are many more people with the same low interests and vulgar tastes as the public than men with high interests and refined taste.
“The worst thing about it is that the reading of poor works corrupts37 the understanding and taste. Good works can no longer be appreciated.
“In proportion as newspapers, periodicals, and[12] books become more and more disseminated38, the value of what is printed falls lower and lower, and the class of the so-called cultured public sinks more and more into a most hopeless, self-contented, incorrigible39 ignorance....
“A striking example is that of the English prose writers. From the great Dickens we descend40 at first to George Eliot, then to Thackeray, to Trollope; and then begins the indifferent manufacture of a Rider Haggard, Kipling, Hall Caine, and so forth41.
“Still more striking is this fall noticed in American literature. After the great galaxy42, Emerson, Thoreau, Lowell, Whittier, and others, everything breaks off suddenly, and there appear beautiful editions with beautiful illustrations and with beautiful stories and novels which are impossible to read on account of absence of all meaning.
“The ignorance of the cultured crowd of our times has reached such a pass that great thinkers and writers of former times no longer satisfy the highly refined demands of new men (and new women).
“The last word of philosophy is the immoral43, coarse, inflated44, disconnected babbling45 of Nietzsche. Senseless, artificial conglomeration46 of words of decadent47 poems is regarded as poetry of the highest rank. The theatres give dramas, the meaning of which is not known to any one, not even to the author.”
[13]
What would Tolstoy have said had he witnessed the full blown art of our movies?
What the movies and literature accomplish in the world of art and letters, that is what psychoanalysis and mental tests achieve in normal and abnormal psychology.
The mediocrity of the modern man is akin35 to the vulgarity of the ancient freedman, so well described by Petronius in his type of Trimalchio. Both, the greedy freedman and the “efficient” freeman, have the same deleterious influence on the course of civilization.
Our age is not the age of Democracy, but of Mediocrity. It is in such an age that sensationalism, movies, and psychoanalysis are apt to flourish like green bay trees.
The reader will find that I often turn to Social Psychology. This is requisite. As I carry on my work on nervous ills I become more and more convinced that a knowledge of Social Psychology is essential to a clear comprehension of nervous ills.
The number of cases given in the volume will, I am sure, be of great help to the reader. For the concrete cases, carefully studied by me, bring out distinctly the mechanism48, the factors, and the main principles of nervous ills.
I address this volume to the reader who wishes to learn the truth, not to those who are in search for ever new amusements, or for the “best seller” of the[14] year. I hope that this work will prove of value to the thoughtful physician and of interest to the cultured layman.
I further hope that my reader will not be offended by my statements about superstitions. I address myself to the liberal-minded reader who does not care to follow the herd49.
Boris Sidis
Maplewood Farms,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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1
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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5
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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6
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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foisted
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| 强迫接受，把…强加于( foist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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perversions
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| n.歪曲( perversion的名词复数 )；变坏；变态心理 | |
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havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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detriment
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| n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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layman
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| n.俗人，门外汉，凡人 | |
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gullibility
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| n.易受骗，易上当，轻信 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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undertakings
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| 企业( undertaking的名词复数 )； 保证； 殡仪业； 任务 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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corrupts
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的第三人称单数 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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disseminated
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| 散布，传播( disseminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incorrigible
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| adj.难以纠正的，屡教不改的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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conglomeration
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| n.团块，聚集，混合物 | |
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decadent
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| adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的 | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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