Abstract
In his contribution to the 1956 Roundtable Discussions, Weiss considers the seeming gap between scientific progress and therapeutic effectiveness. He points to the splits that affect psychoanalysis – the split between soma and psyche and the split between science and humanism. He is concerned of losing the patient and the existential richness of human life, while being caught up in conflicting theories. Weiss is a proponent of a holistic and dynamic concept of human nature, in which the person is seen as a complex bio-psycho-social individual. In his view, the goal of treatment is helping the patient find his way to self-realization and the doctor–patient relationship is paramount in this process. Weiss emphasizes the therapist’s ability to enter the “inner world” of the patient, and to provide the experience of acceptance, which can allow for repression to be lifted and for discovering his own emotional insights, which leads to reintegrating repressed and rejected aspects of the self and makes self-realization possible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
When Frederick Weiss was a psychiatric resident at the Charité in Berlin, one of the foremost psychiatric services in the world at that time under Karl Bonhoeffer, he entered analysis with Franz Alexander, who was the first candidate to graduate from the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in 1921. Weiss trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institue, where he also met and worked with Karen Horney, one of the founders of the Berlin Institute (Rubins, 1978, p. 292). By the way, Karen Horney completed her psychiatric residency in 1909 at the Charité, also in the psychiatric service of Karl Bonhoeffer.
References
Alexander, F. (1950). Analysis of the therapeutic factors in psychoanalytic treatment. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 19, 482.
Allport, G. W (1955). Becoming. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Binswanger, L. (1947). Ueber psychotherapie. In Ausgewaehlte vortraege und aufsaetze. Berne: Francke-Verlag.
Braatoy, T. (1954). Fundamentals of psychoanalytic technique. New York: John Wiley.
Eckardt, M. H. (2006). Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 34, 5–12.
Editorial. (1967). In memoriam. Frederick A. Weiss 1898–1967. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 27, 209–209.
Ferenczi, S. & Rank, O. (1925). The development of psychoanalysis. New York: Nervous & Mental Disease Publishing Company.
Freud, S. (1936). An autobiographical study. London: Hogarth Press.
Horney, K. (1950). The road of psychoanalytic therapy. In Neurosis and human growth Chapter 14 (pp. 333–365). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huxley, J. (1951). Knowledge, morality, and destiny. Psychiatry, 14, 129–151.
Jacobi, J. (Ed.) (1951). Paracelsus: Selected writings. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd.
Martin, A. R. (1952). The dynamics of insight. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 12, 24.
Rubins, J. L. (1978). Karen Horney: Gentle rebel of psychoanalysis. New York: The Dial Press.
Sachs, H. (1953). Was this analysis a success? In Psychoanalysis as seen by analyzed psychologists: A symposium. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Slipp, S. (1999). From divergence to convergence in American psychoanalysis: The influence of Freud’s background on the splitting of the psychoanalytic movement. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry, 27, 503–514.
Weiss, F. A. (1952). Psychoanalysis and moral values. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 12, 40.
Weiss, F. A. (1954). Karen Horney: A bibliography. Papers, books, abstracts of papers and pamphlets. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 14, 15–18.
Weiss, F. A. (1957). What is effective in the therapeutic process? A round table discussion. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 17, 15–21.
Whitehorn, J. C. & Betz, B. J. (1954). Study of psychotherapeutic relationships. American Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 331.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper was originally presented at the Round-Table Discussion, “What is effective in the therapeutic process?” at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 1956. The panel was moderated by Bella S. Van Bark, M.D. Other presenters were: Elizabeth Kilpatrick, M.D., Lewis Wolberg, M.D., Marianne Horney Eckardt, M.D., Leslie H. Farber, M.D., Silvano Arieti, M.D., and Louis E. DeRosis, M.D. This paper was first published in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1957, 17:15–20, and is republished here.
1Frederick A. Weiss, M.D. (1898—1967) was a Training and Supervising Analyst of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis and a President of the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. He was also on the Editorial Board of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis and a Charter Member of American Academy of Psychoanalysis, founded in 1956.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weiss, F. WHAT IS EFFECTIVE IN THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS? A ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION. Am J Psychoanal 75, 194–203 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2015.8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/ajp.2015.8