2i 4 CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE 



could be further from the truth. In point of fact, the 

 proposition it maintains is precisely the contrary of that 

 posited by psychoanalysis. In his "Drei-Abhandlungen 

 zur Sexualtheorie," Freud * clearly defines the neurosis 

 as the negation of abnormal sexuality. He distinctly says 

 that the neurotic and the sexual delinquent stand at exactly 

 opposite poles to one another. It cannot be too strongly 

 emphasized, therefore that the manner in which the pa- 

 tient's sexuality is related, according to Freud's interpre- 

 tation, to the etiology of neurotic disorders is one which, 

 far from incriminating him, wholly absolves him from 

 the stigma of abnormal sexuality. 



Still another very prevalent misapprehension is the 

 view that psychoanalysis is synonymous with the obtaining 

 of a general confession from the patient. 



Far be it from me to deny the time-honored psycho- 

 therapeutic axiom that an honest confession is good for 

 the soul. No one, I think, realizes better than the psycho- 

 pathologist the undoubtedly remedial effect which follows 

 on the unbosoming of some secret conflict in the mental 

 life. But the whole point in the psychoanalytic interpreta- 

 tion of the neuroses is that these disorders arise precisely 

 from conditions which render voluntary confession im- 

 possible, it being the nature of the disturbing element that 

 it remains of necessity wholly unknown to the patient 

 himself. 



The typical clinical picture confronting the psychoana- 

 lyst is that of an individual who, on examination, either re- 

 veals no evidence of disease whatever, or else presents a 

 condition which cannot be accounted for by any demon- 

 strable physical lesion. Indeed, it is not infrequent that 

 in the opinion of the ablest clinical experts he is pro- 

 nounced absolutely free from organic disorder. Often the 

 patient himself declares that he feels in excellent physical 

 condition, that he eats wholesomely, sleeps soundly, and 



1 Freud, Sigmund: Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, 

 Vienna, Deuticke, 1910. 



