Relocating the Nexus of Psychopathology and Treatment: Thoughts on the Contribution of Erich Fromm to Contemporary Psychotherapy

  • Erich FROMM's work in psychology and social theory includes an analysis of the contradiction in Sigmund Freud's thought between bourgeois patriarchal morality and radical demystification; however, FROMM's work contains its own contradiction between generative theory of social character and an idealistic concept of the >productive< individual. FROMM introduced the concept of >social character<, basing it on existential necessities imposed by the socioeconomic system, and interpreted Freud's theories as revealing some of the motivational basis for the individual's pursuit of this imposed behavior, while rejecting Freud's pessimistic concept of human nature. However, FROMM's concept of the productive person is an ideal type without clinical or historical grounding. It does not offer an adequate basis for resolving the problems of neurotics, but in fact is likely to encourage submission to them, blocking the attainment of positive relationships to social institutions and situations.

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Metadaten
Author:Michael Bambery, Steven Abell
Parent Title (English):Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, Volume 36, (No. 4, 2006), pp. 175-182.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2006
Release Date:2012/12/13
Format:no copy existent / keine Kopie vorhanden
IdNo:Bambery_M_and_Abell_S_2006
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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