Nina Saadat

Initial Thoughts and Expectations

8/18/2020

The mixed messages I received about Freud and his work prompted me to choose him
as my topic. I first learned about him in my AP Psychology class in high school. Our teacher
explained that Freud was an eccentric genius, responsible for the foundation of modern
psychology and psychotherapy, and a lot of uncomfortable ideas about childhood development
and incest. When I started taking psychology classes in college, Freud was mentioned in
passing, as a mentor of Carl Jung's, for example, but never thoroughly discussed. If anything,
Freud was the butt of many psychology students' jokes.
Recently (at least to my knowledge), Freud underwent a relevance resurgence on the
internet and among public intellectuals. Some, including Jordan Peterson, evoke Freud in their
argument that the Modernist philosophical era was more fruitful in terms of scientific insight into
the human condition than the current Post-Modern era.
My understanding of Freudian psychoanalysis is vague. When I think about it, I imagine
an odd reclining couch and pointed questions about a patient's dreams, but that's the limit of my
impression. I do not know anything at all about transactional analysis.
I expect to learn a lot in the process of completing this project. I have already learned
that Freudian psychoanalysis is considered pseudoscience. Before, I thought it was an early
hypothesis - a historically essential but obsolete idea. I did not believe it worked, but I didn't
know anyone else did. I am looking forward to researching its components and gaining a
thorough understanding of both psychoanalysis and transactional analysis. I am most excited to
read about its modern relevance in terms of practice - are there still Freudian psychoanalysts
out there? What do their patients intend to obtain? Why don't they choose modern, accredited
psychotherapy?