Deep Analysis
- Author:
Charles Berg, M.D. London.
oeorge/nen anu unwin. i>t/. rp. zoi. us. uu.
Contrary to the usual custom the publisher’s note printed on the dust cover of this book is less a laudatory puff than an intelligible explanation of the reason the book came to be written. Apparently the author, who has already published a collection of short casehistories, found himself dissatisfied with this method of popularizing psychotherapy, and sought to remedy its defects by giving a detailed account of a single case in which a complete analysis was carried out. His book, therefore, deserves attention for two reasons, first, that the ” complete ” analysis of any case is a somewhat rare event, and second, that the author has chosen the difficult course of trying to popularize psychotherapy by giving an intimate and detailed account of an analytical situation. The task is a difficult one, not only because it calls for skill in presentation,?in particular a sense of balance and an eye for essential details?but because even a dictaphone record of an analysis cannot convey to the lay reader the emotional nuances of that unusual type of human relationship which exists in the ” therapeutic group of two Nevertheless, although Dr Berg makes perfectly clear what he means by the term ” deep “?namely an analysis of unconscious motivations and conflicts? the title he has chosen may give rise to some misunderstandings. From time to time, even in official analytical circles, the word ” deep ” has been used to suggest that some particular form of analytical technique, or particular set of interpretations has been regarded, mostly it is true by their sponsor, as going ” deeper ” than those of less fortunate or less gifted colleagues. Apart from the fact that this usage smacks of selfsatisfaction, it is based on a misunderstanding of the nature and function of the unconscious and, after some rather acrimonious discussions, the consensus of analytical opinion was that the term should be discreetly dropped. The psycho-therapeutist may rest assured that if his analysis has ventilated the unconscious sources of conflict and has resolved his patient’s unconscious transference, both positive and negative, he has in the metapsychological sense been deep enough in all conscience. It remains to consider how far the author has achieved his main aims; how far the method he has chosen will succeed in conveying the nature of analytical processes to the unoriented reader; how far the technique he has described can be regarded as representative of the Freudian approach. As to the first point, a great deal depends on the reader. Dr Berg has obviously tried hard to create the necessary atmosphere, and to convey it to his reader in an interesting way, but, with the best will in the world, he can scarcely avoid shocking the innocents and inflicting some tedium on the oriented. Actually the case he describes is that of a rather tedious young man, presumably American to judge from his outlook, without any of the’ symptomatic features calculated to attract the reader with an appetite for psychoneurotic sensations. Indeed it would be fair to say that the most useful aspects of Dr Berg’s record depend not so much on his detailed and spontaneous presentation, or on the emphasis he lays on the transference, as on the author’s capacity to give a systematic outline of the case. This in turn depends on his secondary elaboration of the process of analysis. All case histories are as much records of the analyst’s mental approach as of the patient’s material. And if DrBerg’s outline appears at times a little too diagrammatic, if the phases appears to run a little too much ” according fo plan ” there’s no great harm in that.
Some comments here and there, especially on the ” wisdom ” of the Id and on the racial content of the Universal Unconscious, may have been due to the author’s deSire to give literary expression to tendencies that are notoriously hard to particularize. But in describing the derivatives of this Universal Unconscious he does create the impression that he is a little more thoroughpaced and more Jungian than Jung. These lapses from Freudian outlook do not, however, obtrude themselves, and it is abundantly clear that Dr Berg has a sincere belief in and a good understanding of Freudian techniqueWhether the reader will be satisfied with or cavil at his aim and methods, he must admit that the author has a flair for case presentation and an obvious zest for this form of literary expression. And since the former accomplishment is by no means common amongst psycho-therapeutists, we must be grateful to him both for his efforts and for his example. E. G.
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