Psychoanalysis must come down from the pedestal to dialogue with critics, says Christian Dunker – 01/20/2024 – Ilustríssima

Last year, there was an intense reaction to the framing of psychoanalysis as pseudoscience in “What Nonsense!”, a work by microbiologist Natalia Pasternak and journalist Carlos Orsi.

The dispute motivated Christian Dunker, professor at the Institute of Psychology at USP, and Gilson Iannini, from the Department of Psychology at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), to write the answer book “Science Little Is Nonsense: Why Psychoanalysis Isn’t Pseudoscience” (Ubu), published in December.

The work starts from the criticisms of psychoanalysis that have come to light — derived from a debate that has been going on for decades around the world, according to the authors — to discuss, more broadly, the scientificity and effectiveness of the psychoanalytic field.

Dunker and Iannini invest on three fronts to counter the conceptualization of psychoanalysis as pseudoscience.

The authors present evidence to support that psychoanalysis has clinical results, state that a narrow belief in scientism guides some of the critics and argue that nonsense, seen as meaningless expressions in other areas of knowledge, are essential in psychoanalytic listening.

Dunker, guest of this episode, does not, on the other hand, make a blind defense of his colleagues: in his assessment, many Brazilian psychoanalysts have become accustomed to inhabiting an elitist condominium, refuse to dialogue with professionals from other fields and justify their practices and need come down from the pedestal to face the transformation that psychoanalysis must undergo in the coming years.

In a note sent by the Instituto Questão de Ciência, Natalia Pasternak and Carlos Orsi state that they consider “that their position on psychoanalysis has been extensively debated in recent months on the occasion of the launch of the book ‘What Nonsense!’, which contributed to the discussion about legitimacy scientific knowledge of psychoanalysis was highlighted in Brazil for the first time”.

“Eventual developments, such as the launch of new books that address this topic, are a reflection of this fact and good news, as they confirm that the points raised in ‘What Nonsense!’ are relevant and deserve to be debated.”

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