The next time you have a disturbing dream of killing your roommate or falling from the sky, the place to explore your subconscious might not be in a psychology classroom.
Discussion of psychoanalysis is no longer confined to the realm of psychology. In fact, according to a report in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association (JAPA) that will be published in June 2008, while psychoanalytic theories are thriving in a range of fields from English to philosophy, discussion of Sigmund Freud's theories is seen as "desiccated and dead" by many psychology departments and textbooks.
The study examined 150 public and private universities highly ranked by the U.S. News and World Report, finding that out of the 1,175 courses that referenced psychoanalysis in their course descriptions, 86 percent were offered in fields other than psychology.
"[Most] psychology majors are not interested in psychoanalysis," said senior Jay Singh, the president of the Tufts Psychology Society.
The slow and steady disappearance of Freud from psychology classes represents a shift over the past several decades, before which psychoanalysis was one of the discipline's main focuses.
At Tufts, the psychology department does offer a course that focuses on psychoanalysis, though it is only offered once every two years. Other courses in the department, such as "Theories of Personality" and "History and Systems of Psychology," both touch on Freudian themes such as the subconscious.
According to Singh, psychoanalysis is currently viewed as a "cultural artifact." He explained that psychology departments have lost interest in psychoanalysis for many reasons, primarily a decreased interest among students in pursuing careers in the field.
"Many students aren't interested in psychoanalysis, because the career options are much narrower," Singh said.
Sophomore Pete Millar, who plans to major in psychology, said that he will not be pursuing studies in psychoanalysis because it is such a limited field.
"Psychoanalysis is not a practical field. It's just intensive," Millar said. "It requires a certain personality and a lot more dedication and money [than other subfields of psychology]."
The relevance of psychoanalysis has come under question, because it is not supported by the same empirical evidence as approaches to psychology. While cognitive behavior therapy, a field very popular among students, can produce concrete numbers to demonstrate its successes, psychoanalysis can only rely on case studies.
The length of therapy also deters both students and patients. Psychoanalysis presents a long path to recovery, especially in today's quick-fix society,. The shortest treatment could be six months, but psychoanalysis is ultimately supposed to be a lifelong process.
"Unfortunately, many students look for an approach that will explain everything," Singh said.
Professor of Psychology David Harder said the controversial nature of Freud's theories and the subconscious has also deterred universities from tackling psychoanalytic theories in the psychology classroom.
"People aren't comfortable with more hostile and sexual discussion. They are much more comfortable to talk in behavioral terms," Harder said.
With these negative interpretations of psychoanalysis resounding in university classrooms, psychoanalysts worry that the loss of Freudian ideas in university curricula will mean a misuse and further misunderstanding of psychoanalytic theories in the future. To combat the lack of interest in psychoanalysis, the American Psychoanalytic Association has created a task force to study university approaches to psychoanalysis and increase student exposure to psychoanalytic theory.
While Freud's theories may be disappearing from classrooms, supporters of his work need not worry that his theories are disappearing completely. According to the JAPA study, psychoanalytic theory is alive and well in a different environment: literature.
At Tufts, English courses from "The Modern Mind" to "Horror Stories" include Freud in their syllabi.
"A lot of themes in literature fit really well with Freudian theories," Singh said. He explained that taking a psychoanalytic approach to studying a text allows the reader to approach not just the themes of the work, but to more deeply understand the author who wrote it.
"Using psychoanalysis to study literature is nothing but beneficial. It provides a skeleton to build off of," Singh said.
But Harder said that the study of psychoanalysis in the English classroom should be viewed as entirely separate from psychology.
"These discussions of psychoanalysis happen separate from psychology, so in the end, they don't really affect each other," Harder said.
