Freudian Thought for the Contemporary Clinician A Primer
on Psychoanalytic Theory, 1st Edition
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Freudian Thought for the
Contemporary Clinician
A Primer on Psychoanalytic Theory
Robert Mendelsohn
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Robert Mendelsohn
The right of Robert Mendelsohn to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mendelsohn, Robert, 1943– author.
Title: Freudian thought for the contemporary clinician : a primer on
psychoanalytic theory / Robert Mendelsohn.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge,
2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021020041 (print) | LCCN 2021020042 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367774431 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367774417 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003171393 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Psychoanalytic counseling. | Psychoanalysis. | Freud,
Sigmund, 1856-1939—Influence.
Classification: LCC BF175.4.C68 M46 2022 (print) | LCC BF175.4.C68
(ebook) | DDC 150.19/52—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020041
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021020042
ISBN: 978-0-367-77443-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-77441-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17139-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003171393
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
This book is dedicated to Gordon Fredrick Derner (1915–1983),
my teacher, mentor, colleague and friend
Contents
List of figures ix
Foreword x
Preface xii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
1 The exploration of the neurosis and the early origins
of psychoanalysis 3
2 Dreams: psychoanalysis begins 10
3 Dreams: where psychoanalysis begins; an early structural
model of the mind 30
4 Sexuality and the “stages of development” theory 54
5 Psychoanalysis and the beginnings of a “theory of mind” 80
6 The beginning of ego psychology: the process of identification 95
7 Further explorations in ego psychology “Beyond the
pleasure principle” and the ego, the id and the superego 107
8 Anxiety and the Ego: a new theory of anxiety, a new theory
of defense and a new theory of object relations 123
9 Freud’s case studies I: hysteria 141
viii Contents
10 Freud’s case studies II: obsessional neurosis, phobia and
reconstruction 157
11 Conclusion: Freud’s psychoanalysis: a “talk therapy”
for the 21st century 178
Index 189
Figures
2.1 Hypothetical mother 13
2.2 Early model of the mind 16
3.1 Model of waking versus dreaming mind 32
6.1 The process of identification 103
7.1 Freud’s structural model of the mind 119
Foreword
These are challenging times for psychoanalysis. In the era of evidence-based prac-
tice and managed care, psychoanalytic ideas appear to have fallen out of favor
among contemporary clinicians, and among academics as well. But appearances
can be deceiving. Psychoanalysis has not disappeared, it has simply gone under-
ground – still influential, and still widely used, but not discussed as openly as it once
was. A number of scholars have documented the pervasive (albeit unacknowledged)
influence of psychoanalysis in contemporary clinical practice and research. More-
over, the powerful pull of psychoanalytic thought is not limited to clinicians and
researchers, but includes students as well. For many years, trainees at a behavior-
ally oriented doctoral program not too far from Adelphi have, sub rosa, sought out
opportunities for supervision from psychodynamically oriented clinicians to supple-
ment the behaviorally focused supervision they receive on campus. The behavior of
these incipient behaviorists reveals a simple but powerful truth: It is hard to imagine
being a clinical psychologist and not recognizing that patients are complex, con-
flicted, self-deceptive creatures – as are we all. The utility of psychoanalytic ideas
is beyond question, but a significant challenge remains: How can one present the
teachings of Sigmund Freud and others in a way that makes these ideas relevant and
compelling to the next generation of clinicians? How can one make psychoanalysis
relevant for psychologists today – especially psychologists early in their careers
who will be the caretakers of Freud’s legacy during the coming decades? That is the
challenge taken up by Dr. Robert Mendelsohn in this remarkable book.
Freudian Thought for the Contemporary Clinician: A Primer on Psychoana-
lytic Theory presents a series of 11 lectures delivered by Dr. Mendelsohn in The
Freudian Legacy, which has for many years been a required first-year course for
doctoral students in the Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University. The
course has attained what can only be called legendary status at Derner, and rightly
so. It is the experience that initiates the transformation of our incoming cohort
of students into psychodynamically informed clinicians, and eventually, clinical
colleagues. It’s an ambitious undertaking. In this course, and in these lectures, Dr.
Mendelsohn casts a wide net: In addition to discussing psychoanalytic theory and
therapeutic technique, he weaves into his presentation issues related to gender,
culture and diversity, empirical research (from outside psychoanalysis as well as
within) and contemporary challenges in diagnosis, assessment and treatment.1
Foreword xi
It will not take long for the reader to notice one of this book’s most compelling
features. Because Dr. Mendelsohn’s lectures (including the students’ questions
and comments, and the dialogue that ensues) are presented almost verbatim – that
is, transcribed during four consecutive years (the fall semesters of 2017, 2018,
2019 and 2020) and then integrated so that they maintain sequence and rhythm –the
book has a spontaneous, in-the-moment immediacy that one rarely finds in discus-
sions of Freud’s work. In his Preface Dr. Mendelsohn notes that one goal of his
course is to help students experience what it was like to walk in Freud’s shoes.
The reader will experience something similar, and they will also experience what
it is like to be one of Dr. Mendelsohn’s students, and to walk in his shoes as well.
After reading an earlier draft of this manuscript, my first reaction was that
Freudian Thought for the Contemporary Clinician has many of the best features
of a live album. And no wonder: Prior to becoming a psychologist Dr. Men-
delsohn was an accomplished musician, collaborating with Al Kooper and with
the Ronettes, among others. Dr. Mendelsohn still plays the drums in his spare
time; music is still a key part of his life. It also informs what he does in the class-
room, and as Dr. Mendelsohn notes in the book’s Preface, “My musician days
helped me to become a performer, a skill that I hope has added to my teaching
abilities.” This unique blending of musical sensibility and psychological insight
illuminates every chapter of this book.
It is rare to find a master clinician who is also a master teacher, but Dr. Men-
delsohn is such a person. In reading these chapters one not only benefits from Dr.
Mendelsohn’s clinical wisdom but also appreciates his thought processes, and
those of his students, as ideas and issues get worked out in the moment, during
the course of each lecture. The process is not always straightforward. Like clinical
work, teaching may occasionally lead down an unpredicted path, or circle back
to take up an issue that had seemed, at first glance, to be fully resolved. But that’s
part of the challenge, and that’s part of the fun, and as any musician can tell you,
if someone should happen to break a guitar string, or a drumstick takes flight
midsong, the band plays on.
Robert Bornstein
Distinguished University Professor
Adelphi University
Note
1 Dr. Mendelsohn is not the first to see value in committing the spoken word to written
form as a way of capturing the essential truths of psychoanalysis. In fact, there is a long
history of presenting seminal psychoanalytic ideas and concepts in the form of a series
of lectures, the first being Freud’s Five Lectures on Psychoanalysis, based on his talks at
Clark University in 1909. This was followed by Freud’s Introductory Lectures on Psy-
choanalysis, originally delivered at the University of Vienna in 1915, and later, toward
the end of his career by 1932 New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (which were
actually not lectures at all, but by this time Freud had recognized the power of presenting
his ideas in lecture form). Anna Freud, Rudolf Steiner, Joseph Sandler, Ernest Hilgard,
Ralph Greenson, and others also published psychoanalytic works based on talks pre-
sented to various professional and lay audiences.
Preface
My goal for this book is to make Freud’s theories accessible to the uninformed
reader. The book is a series of transcribed and edited lectures presented to first-
year doctoral students in clinical psychology during the fall semesters of 2017,
2018, 2019 and 2020 in a course known as The Freudian Legacy. This course is
required of all beginning doctoral students in clinical psychology at the Derner
School of Psychology of Adelphi University. I had long wondered why so many
of Freud’s ideas been either co-opted or discarded.
Here are two reasons: (1.) Freud’s language is arcane, and (2.) Freud lived and
worked within the cultural mores of more than a century ago. With regard to this
second reason, Freud was a Jew who spent most of his life in an anti-Semitic
country (Austria). It was not until the year 1867 (when Freud was 11 years old)
that the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I gave the Jews the right to vote
(Beller, 1990). Freud credited his Jewish background and outsider status with
helping to develop and maintain a different perspective, and hold onto it despite
opposition. Freud attempted to apply psychoanalysis to cultures outside western
Europe but was unsuccessful.
A bit of my history
My academic interest in Freud began in the 1970s when I joined the faculty at The
Derner School of Psychology of Adelphi University, working with Drs. Donald
Milman and Gordon Derner. However, my exposure to Freud goes much further
back, to the early 1950s (I was born in 1943), when my mother’s younger sister,
Aunt Mildred, would tell me stories about Herr Professor Dr. Sigmund Freud.
Mildred heard these stories from Dr. Theodore Reik, her teacher and mentor (he
referred to Mildred as his protégée). Reik received a Ph.D. degree in psychol-
ogy from the University of Vienna in 1912. His dissertation was only the second
psychoanalytic dissertation written, coming one year after one penned by Dr. Otto
Rank. After receiving his doctorate, Reik devoted several years to studying with
Freud. Freud financially supported Reik and his family during this time. Reik
was himself psychoanalyzed by another of Freud’s early students, Dr. Karl Abra-
ham (Falzeder, 2002).1 Reik’s most important book, Listening with the Third Ear
Preface xiii
(Reik, 1948), describes how psychoanalysts intuitively use their own unconscious
minds to decipher the unconscious of their patients.
With Mildred for my academic inspiration, I finished my undergraduate studies
in New York (and also left my other career as a rock and roll musician playing
drums in music clubs in New York City).2 In 1964 I began doctoral studies in
clinical psychology, and in 1969 I received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst,3 (Harmatz et al., 1975; Mendelsohn
& Harmatz, 1977) and then spent a year teaching psychology at Hobart and Wil-
liam Smith Colleges, in Geneva, New York. In 1970 I returned to Long Island;
for several years I was Supervising Psychologist at the Nassau University Medi-
cal Center while pursuing postgraduate study in psychoanalysis at another Long
Island institution, Adelphi University. At Adelphi I completed two postdoctoral
training programs: a four-year postgraduate program in psychoanalysis and a
three-year postgraduate program in group psychotherapy. In 1976, while a post-
doctoral student, I also began teaching an introductory course (now called The
Freudian Legacy, it was previously known simply as The Freud Course) to all
first-year students in Adelphi’s clinical psychology doctoral program.
I have been teaching Freud’s ideas to bright, talented and demanding doctoral
cohorts continuously for 46 years. I have been fortunate to work in an intellectu-
ally supportive environment at The Derner School of Psychology, to have had
coursework and clinical presentations with visiting professors such as Drs. Lewis
Aron, Habib Davanloo, Reuben Fine, James Grotstein, Earl Hopper, Masud Kahn,
Otto Kernberg, Robert Langs, Donald Meltzer, Stephen Mitchell, Adam Phillips,
Harold Searles, Peter Sifneos, Hyman Spotnitz, Vamik Volkan, John Warkentin,
Alexander Wolf, and Benjamin Wolstein. I also enjoyed clinical supervision with
Dr. W.R. Bion (Mendelsohn, 1978).4
The Derner School of Psychology at Adelphi University has been my profes-
sional and intellectual home for much of my lifetime. I cherish all of the mentors,
colleagues, students and friends that I have made along the way.
Note
1 Karl Abraham May 3, 1877–December 25, 1925) was an influential German psycho-
analyst and a collaborator of Freud who called Abraham his “best pupil” (Falzeder, E.
2002).
2 My college student days also included time as drummer for the rock and roll singing
group The Ronettes. The Ronettes were a girl group from New York City and they
became one of the most popular rock and roll groups of the 1960s; one of the Ronettes’
most famous songs (recorded after I left for my graduate studies) is “Be My Baby.”
When I played in their band, the musicians included Al Kooper-leader (rhythm guitar),
Paul Harris (piano), Harvey Brooks (electric bass) and Elliot Randall (lead guitar). Our
band backed The Ronettes at the Café Bizarre in NYC around the years 1962/1963. My
final professional gig (meaning that I was paid in money) was in a band playing at the
1964 World’s Fair in Queens, New York. For many years I had convinced myself that
the name of that band was The Greenmen, but about 15 years ago, when I emailed Al
Kooper and wrote about these memories, he confirmed all of them, but corrected me
xiv Preface
about this last fact; the name of my final group was The Clubmen . . . but I was paid
in green. My musician days helped me to become a performer, a skill that, I hope, has
added to these lectures, but may not have done a lot for my memory.
3 My doctoral training in clinical psychology combined behavioral and psychodynamic
approaches (Harmatz & Mendelsohn, 1975, Mendelsohn & Harmatz, 1977).
4 Dr. Bion supervised several of my cases, one of these appears in the article, Mendelsohn,
R. (1978) “Critical factors in short-term psychotherapy: A summary”
References
Beller, Steven. (1990). Vienna and the Jews, 1867–1938: A cultural history. Cambridge:
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Falzeder, E. (Ed.) (2002). The complete correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Karl
Abraham (1907–1925). London: Karmac Books.
Harmatz, M. G., Mendelsohn, R., & Glassman, M. L. (1975). Gathering naturalistic, objec-
tive data on the behavior of schizophrenic patients. Psychiatric Services, 26(2), 83–86.
Mendelsohn, R. (1978). Critical factors in short-term psychotherapy: A summary. Bulletin
of the Menninger Clinic, 42(2), 133–143.
Mendelsohn, R., & Harmatz, M. C. (1977). Length of stay and behavior patterns of hospi-
talized schizophrenics. Psychiatric Services, 28(4), 273–277.
Reik, T. (1948). Listening with the third ear. New York: Grove.
Acknowledgments
I am fortunate to work in an intellectually supportive environment at The Derner
School of Psychology at Adelphi University, to have been mentored by the late
Drs. Gordon Derner and Donald Milman, to work with psychoanalytic/psychody-
namic scholars such as Drs. Jacques Barber, Robert Bornstein, Laura Brumariu,
Wilma Bucci, Morris Eagle, Jerold Gold, Mark Hilsenroth, Karen Lombardi,
Christopher Muran, Joseph Newirth, Michael O’Loughlin, George Stricker, Kirk-
land Vaughns and Joel Weinberger. I am also appreciative of the work done by
a number of psychoanalytic authors who have looked deeply into both Freud’s
ideas and his personal life, and have made him accessible to me so that I can
make him accessible to my students. In this regard I am particularly grateful to Dr.
Reuben Fine (1963)1 for his books and his seminar at Adelphi University, where
he showed a depth of understanding of Freud’s theories. I am also appreciative of
the work of Dr. Ernest Jones (1957),2 whose biography of Freud is both compre-
hensive and emotionally gripping. This is no surprise; Jones worked closely with
Professor Freud during much of the master’s life and work.
Please note that Figure 2.1 is included with permission from Blue Q, designers
and manufacturers of products that are profound, interesting and funny!
For their work in recording, transcribing and editing these lectures, I would like
to thank the following doctoral students: Firouz Ardalan, Nicole Belletti, Jessica
Kovler, Margaret Peebles-Dorin and Elizabeth Uribe. This book would not have
been possible without your efforts.
I especially wish to thank Dr. Jacques Barber, Dean, and Dr. Chris Muran,
Director of Clinical Training, who urged and encouraged me to undertake this
project.
I want to thank my editors at Routledge: Alexis O’Brien has championed this
project and been a cheerleader for me from its beginning; and Alec Selwyn, Adam
Woods, Ellie Duncan and Susannah Frearson all helped to smooth the manu-
script’s transition to Routledge.
John Knecht’s editorial assistance has been invaluable; I don’t know what I
would have done without him!
Drs. Richard Billow and Joel Weinberger have been generous in every way in
offering both editorial and much-needed theoretical/scientific advice, and many
xvi Acknowledgments
of their suggestions that have been incorporated into this book. Dr. Robert Born-
stein has also offered editorial, theoretical and scientific advice; his generosity has
touched me beyond words.
I want to thank the students who have enriched my professional life and allowed
me to a part of theirs as they learned to become psychology scholars and clinical
practitioners. Each of you has touched me and I have learned so much from you
over the many years that I have been teaching Freud’s ideas to you. I will briefly
mention only a few of you, although all of you have made me proud:
Anthony Bossis, Ph.D., is a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU
School of Medicine investigating the effects of psilocybin, a naturally occur-
ring compound found in specific species of mushrooms.
Peter Caproni, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Clinical and
School Psychology and Director of Training in the Postdoctoral Residency
Program at Nova Southeastern University.
Francine Conway, Ph.D., is Chancellor/Provost and Distinguished Professor of
Psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea, Ph.D., specializes in clinical work with survivors of
sexual abuse. In 2002, Frawley-O’Dea was the only psychologist to address
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as they crafted a response to
the sexual-abuse crisis in the Church.
G. Rita Dudley-Grant, Ph.D., MPH, ABPP, is a clinical psychologist in private
practice with Island Therapy Solutions and a member of the Behavioral Health
Advisory Council in the Virgin Islands.
Jerold Gold, Ph.D., is a professor at the Derner School of Psychology of Adelphi
University and one of the founders of the field of psychotherapy integration.
Beverly Greene, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychology at St.
John’s University.
Bruce Hillowe, Esq., Ph.D., is an attorney emphasizing mental health care law
and health care law.
Lavita Nadkarni, Ph.D., is the director of forensic studies at the University of
Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology. She has participated in
and provided specialized training in the assessment of psychological sequelae
of torture and other forms of human-rights abuse.
Lourdes Rigual-Lynch, Ph.D., is director of mental health services at New York
Children’s Health Project of Montefiore Hospital. She joined a federal team of
mental-health professionals to meet the family of Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez-
during an international custody and immigration controversy involving the
governments of Cuba and the United States. She also consulted on the transfer
of Gonzales to his home in Cuba.
