Psychoanalysis emerged from the clinical intuition of Sigmund Freud and others who were convinced of the importance of psychological conflict for mental illness.

The resulting theories revolutionized the language of psychology by introducing concepts such as unconscious drives (libido), psychological conflict, and defense mechanisms (repression, sublimation). Likewise, Freud’s emphasis on infant-parent relations and human development have become central pieces in theories of psychology and mental illness ever since.

Importantly, psychoanalysis was not only a theory of the mind but also, crucially, a “talking cure”, representing a central application of psychological theory to clinical practice.

The considerable attention devoted to psychoanalysis in academic and non-academic circles, however, did not always reflect clear support. On the one hand, many critics of psychoanalysis were skeptical of its focus on sexuality and eager to introduce other concepts that could explain some of the same phenomena associated with mental illness. On the other hand, psychoanalysis’ reliance on intuition, subjective interpretation, and hand-picked case studies left psychoanalysis as an easy target of methodological criticism, with psychoanalysis coming to represent an Achilles-heel to those psychologists that wanted to see its new science as a bastion of methodological rigor.

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