Origin of psychotherapy

History of Psychotherapy | Psych Central

Human beings have been talking about their inner lives and challenges with one another therapeutically for centuries.

Pinpointing the exact moment psychotherapy emerged as a discipline can be difficult. Did it begin the first time two friends met regularly to talk about life or was it when the first professional paper on the subject was written and published?

While we may never know where or when those first therapeutic conversations took place, we do have glimpses into history that can help us understand how psychotherapy has progressed through the years.

Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy. It can be any method used to help people living with emotional, psychological, or behavioral challenges.

The prefix “psycho” comes from the Greek language and means “soul” or “mind,” and it’s part of many words related to mental health, including psychotherapy.

People might seek psychotherapy for many reasons, including:

relationship conflict
professional challenges
personal doubts and fears
changes in behavior or mood
difficulty coping with stress
traumatic experiences
childhood events
mental health disorders

You might also seek psychotherapy as a form of relationship maintenance to keep up open lines of communication.

Many people attend regular therapy sessions, not because they have ongoing issues, but because they value guided communication.

Types of psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a varied discipline, and there’s no “one size fits all” for mental health treatment. You may benefit from singular therapy or a multifaceted approach.

Most people often have to try multiple modalities before finding what works best for them.

Psychotherapy can take many different forms, including:

cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
interpersonal therapy (IPT)
dialectical behavior therapy
psychodynamic therapy
psychoanalysis
supportive therapy
animal assisted therapy
creative arts therapy
play therapy (for children)

Many ancient cultures viewed changes in mental health as omens, curses, or signs from the gods. Ancient Greeks, however, are often cited as the first to treat mental disorders as medical conditions.

In Ancient Greece, philosophers were the first to explore the connection between mental health and medicine. Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle all expressed curiosity into the realm of what would eventually become psychotherapy.

As time went on, physicians of the age, like Galen and Hippocrates, further explored the link between mental state and medicine, rejecting beliefs that medical conditions stemmed from otherworldly influences.

But the insights gained by the Greeks took a step back when the Roman Empire fell and the Dark Ages began.

The Middle Ages swung back toward a common belief in the supernatural, and the teachings of the ancient world connecting mental health and medicine were temporarily lost.

Those with mental health conditions often suffered due to a lack of understanding. It may have been more common to view someone struggling with mental health as “touched by witchcraft” rather than a person living with a disorder.

Paracelsus (1493-1541), known as one of the great ancient contributors of medical chemistry, was one of the few physicians during his time who first advocated for the use of psychotherapy.

While the term “psychotherapy” hadn’t yet been developed, Paracelsus believed the most common cause of poor mental wellness was an emotional disconnect between a person and the world.

The mindset of the Middle Ages persisted until the Victorian Era, where traditional beliefs about family, home, and self shifted to a more modern ideal known as the Bourgeois family.

The Bourgeois family model supported social psychology and helped normalize many vital elements of mental health recognized today, such as equality.

As the concepts around mental health started to evolve, physicians sought words to describe what they were witnessing in practice, particularly during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) received some of the earliest recognition as a founder of psychotherapy.

Known for his process of “mesmerism,” he focused on treating patients by using hypnosis.

Around the same time Mesmer was exploring hypnosis, French physician Philippe Pinel (1745–1826) was credited with founding the field of psychiatry as he sought humane treatment for those living with mental health conditions.

Pinel disagreed with mainstream assumptions that mental disorders were caused by supernatural forces.

Walter Cooper Dendy (1794-1871) introduced the term “psycho-therapeia” during the 19^th century as he gained insight during his studies of the psyche and dreams.

However, it wasn’t until Josef Breuer (1842-1925) and Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) joined forces to investigate Breuer’s “talking cure” for nervous disorders that modern psychotherapy was truly born.

Freud and Breuer co-authored “Studies on Hysteria” in 1895 and are credited with formally founding psychoanalysis.

While both psychologists continued on their own paths developing psychotherapy methods and theory, Freud’s work laid the foundation for what was to come over the next 50 years.

Many of Freud’s apprentices went on to impact the history of psychotherapy in their own ways, contributing to the development of psychodynamic therapy:

Carl Jung
Alfred Adler
Otto Rank
Melanie Klein

In the 1950s, Carl Rogers continued the work of Freud’s successors and created the person-centered therapy approach.

By the 1960s, Aaron T. Beck had further expanded psychotherapy modalities by developing cognitive therapy, which led to what we know today as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Psychotherapy today is ever-evolving, much like it was centuries ago.

Many concepts and treatments are now backed by research, but the processes involved with treating mental health continues to expand.

Today, mental health professionals have access to volumes of empirical data and research backed by practice laws and diagnostic standards that were unavailable to scientists and therapists in the past.

As of the mid-1920s, psychoanalysis in the United States had to be medically qualified. By the late 1960s, psychoanalysts and clinicians benefitted from revolutionary diagnostic tools like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

A version of the DSM has been available since 1968 and offers criteria for diagnosing hundreds of mental health conditions.

In addition to gaining knowledge and evidence through time, modern psychotherapy can now reach more people through online formats. Thanks to the internet, you can:

find information on mental health diagnoses
seek support groups
search for psychotherapists and mental health support
participate in virtual psychotherapy sessions

The formal beginnings of psychotherapy are difficult to pinpoint, though it’s safe to say that human beings have been seeking support by talking with one another for millennia.

Our ancestors often viewed mental health conditions as the result of supernatural forces. Philosophers in Ancient Greece are often credited as the forebears of treating mental disorders as medical conditions, establishing the precursor to psychotherapy.

By recognizing mental health disorders as medical conditions, pioneers of the ancient world set the stage for contributions by visionaries like Pinel, Dendy, and Freud.

While modern psychotherapy is more widely available, understood, and supported now, stigma persists in some cultures and communities.

If you’re living with a mental health condition, it may help to understand that you’re not alone. Millions of people spanning human history have looked for ways to improve mental wellness.

From the lessons of the past, today’s professionals have many tools to help support you with psychotherapy modalities that may make a difference in your daily life.

If you need support, the American Psychologist Association’s psychotherapist locator can help connect you with a therapist, wherever you’re at in your mental health journey.

History of Psychotherapy | Psych Central

Human beings have been talking about their inner lives and challenges with one another therapeutically for centuries.

Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy. It can be any method used to help people living with emotional, psychological, or behavioral challenges.

The prefix “psycho” comes from the Greek language and means “soul” or “mind,” and it’s part of many words related to mental health, including psychotherapy.

People might seek psychotherapy for many reasons, including:

relationship conflict
professional challenges
personal doubts and fears
changes in behavior or mood
difficulty coping with stress
traumatic experiences
childhood events
mental health disorders

You might also seek psychotherapy as a form of relationship maintenance to keep up open lines of communication.

Many people attend regular therapy sessions, not because they have ongoing issues, but because they value guided communication.

Types of psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a varied discipline, and there’s no “one size fits all” for mental health treatment. You may benefit from singular therapy or a multifaceted approach.

Most people often have to try multiple modalities before finding what works best for them.

Psychotherapy can take many different forms, including:

cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
interpersonal therapy (IPT)
dialectical behavior therapy
psychodynamic therapy
psychoanalysis
supportive therapy
animal assisted therapy
creative arts therapy
play therapy (for children)

Many ancient cultures viewed changes in mental health as omens, curses, or signs from the gods. Ancient Greeks, however, are often cited as the first to treat mental disorders as medical conditions.

But the insights gained by the Greeks took a step back when the Roman Empire fell and the Dark Ages began.

The Middle Ages swung back toward a common belief in the supernatural, and the teachings of the ancient world connecting mental health and medicine were temporarily lost.

Paracelsus (1493-1541), known as one of the great ancient contributors of medical chemistry, was one of the few physicians during his time who first advocated for the use of psychotherapy.

While the term “psychotherapy” hadn’t yet been developed, Paracelsus believed the most common cause of poor mental wellness was an emotional disconnect between a person and the world.

The mindset of the Middle Ages persisted until the Victorian Era, where traditional beliefs about family, home, and self shifted to a more modern ideal known as the Bourgeois family.

The Bourgeois family model supported social psychology and helped normalize many vital elements of mental health recognized today, such as equality.

As the concepts around mental health started to evolve, physicians sought words to describe what they were witnessing in practice, particularly during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) received some of the earliest recognition as a founder of psychotherapy.

Known for his process of “mesmerism,” he focused on treating patients by using hypnosis.

Pinel disagreed with mainstream assumptions that mental disorders were caused by supernatural forces.

Walter Cooper Dendy (1794-1871) introduced the term “psycho-therapeia” during the 19^th century as he gained insight during his studies of the psyche and dreams.

Freud and Breuer co-authored “Studies on Hysteria” in 1895 and are credited with formally founding psychoanalysis.

While both psychologists continued on their own paths developing psychotherapy methods and theory, Freud’s work laid the foundation for what was to come over the next 50 years.

Many of Freud’s apprentices went on to impact the history of psychotherapy in their own ways, contributing to the development of psychodynamic therapy:

Carl Jung
Alfred Adler
Otto Rank
Melanie Klein

In the 1950s, Carl Rogers continued the work of Freud’s successors and created the person-centered therapy approach.

By the 1960s, Aaron T. Beck had further expanded psychotherapy modalities by developing cognitive therapy, which led to what we know today as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Psychotherapy today is ever-evolving, much like it was centuries ago.

Many concepts and treatments are now backed by research, but the processes involved with treating mental health continues to expand.

A version of the DSM has been available since 1968 and offers criteria for diagnosing hundreds of mental health conditions.

In addition to gaining knowledge and evidence through time, modern psychotherapy can now reach more people through online formats. Thanks to the internet, you can:

find information on mental health diagnoses
seek support groups
search for psychotherapists and mental health support
participate in virtual psychotherapy sessions

The formal beginnings of psychotherapy are difficult to pinpoint, though it’s safe to say that human beings have been seeking support by talking with one another for millennia.

By recognizing mental health disorders as medical conditions, pioneers of the ancient world set the stage for contributions by visionaries like Pinel, Dendy, and Freud.

While modern psychotherapy is more widely available, understood, and supported now, stigma persists in some cultures and communities.

If you’re living with a mental health condition, it may help to understand that you’re not alone. Millions of people spanning human history have looked for ways to improve mental wellness.

From the lessons of the past, today’s professionals have many tools to help support you with psychotherapy modalities that may make a difference in your daily life.

If you need support, the American Psychologist Association’s psychotherapist locator can help connect you with a therapist, wherever you’re at in your mental health journey.

History of psychotherapy

Ironically, scientific psychotherapy has not been around for many years. For the first time, the term "psychotherapy" (treatment of the soul) was used by D. Tuke in 1872 in the book "Illustrations of the Influence of the Mind on the Body", where one of the chapters was named that way, and the term "psychotherapy" became commonly used at the end of the 19th century. This was due to the discovery of psychoanalytic theory by Z. Freud, from that moment psychotherapy acquired the status of a science.

Until that time, the treatment of mental problems was approached either intuitively (shamans, medicine men), or radically (witch hunt, ship of fools), and most often simply in a charlatan way. It should be noted that psychiatry in the 20th century used inhuman methods of "treatment" of mental disorders. Drug treatment of the psyche, and, accordingly, the development of psychiatry is attributed to the beginning of the 18th century.

To date, the term "psychotherapy" combines more than 400 methods of individual and group work with the psyche. Here we will focus on the history of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, with which everything began, and after which psychotherapy became scientific.

In the years 1880-1882, J. Breuer treated a patient suffering from hysteria. This case, which is known in the psychoanalytic literature as "the case of Anna O", is historical, since Breuer first applied a new method to the treatment of his patient, which included the installation of hypnosis to reveal the origins of neurotic symptoms in a young girl. Breuer called the new method "cathartic" - from the ancient Greek word "katharsis" (purification).

Around the same time in Le Havre, P. Jean worked with a young girl by the method of psychological analysis. Through hypnotic suggestion, he was able to replace the truth with a lie so that the traumatic event of the past would not only be forgotten, but completely disappear from the patient's memory - this was how recovery was achieved. In this respect, Janet's psychological analysis can be called a "treatment with a lie. "

There was much in common between Breuer's cathartic method and Janet's psychological analysis - they both used hypnosis to investigate the causes of hysterical symptoms, they emphasized traumatic situations that caused the development of neurotic symptoms, it became obvious to both that in order to detect traumatic situations, it was necessary to study the periods preceding the disease the patient's life, including the early years of childhood. These attracted the attention of Z. Freud and formed the basis of his psychoanalytic research and therapeutic activities.

Before Freud came to psychoanalysis, he did research in the fields of physiology, histology and neurology, completed an internship in France and worked as a doctor, both with adult patients and with children. By 1892, Freud realized that his ability to hypnotize patients was not unlimited, and he was faced with a choice: either give up cathartic treatment or try to do it without the somnambulistic stage. Freud came to the assumption that patients know everything that is pathogenic to them, and the only question is to get them to say it. Elisabeth von R. (1892) was the first patient to be cured by Freud by waking suggestion, and by 1896 Freud had abandoned hypnosis.

There is no exact date for the opening of the procedure of free association, or psychoanalysis. It probably developed gradually between 1892 and 1896, steadily clearing itself of the hypnosis, suggestion, pressure, and questioning that accompanied it at the beginning. Here is how Freud described this method: “Without exerting any pressure, the analyst invites the patient to lie comfortably on the sofa, while he himself sits in a chair behind him, out of the patient's field of vision. He does not even ask him to close his eyes and avoids any touching, just as he avoids any other procedure that might remind him of hypnosis. The session, therefore, proceeds as a conversation between two people equally awake, but one of them refrains from any muscular exertion and any distracting sensations that might divert his attention from his own mental activity. In order to master the patient's ideas and associations, the analyst asks "permission to enter" into such a state as if they were talking aimlessly, incoherently, at random. The procedure of free association has come to be known as the fundamental or basic rule of psychoanalysis.

Freud recognized that the personal influence of a doctor can be extremely significant, and suggested that the therapist act as an educator, teacher, and spiritual father. At the same time, he was aware that under certain conditions the patient-physician relationship could be "unbalanced" - a factor that would turn the patient-physician relationship into the worst obstacle to further analysis. This is how Freud discovered the phenomena of resistance and transference, which at first he considered as interference in his work, but from 1912 onward, the consistent analysis of transference and resistance became a central element of the therapeutic process.

Well, Freud's main merit is the discovery of the structure of the human mental apparatus, where the unconscious plays the most important role. In 1933, Freud wrote that in psychoanalysis the main effort is to "strengthen the ego (consciousness), make it more independent of the superego (moral instance), expand the scope of perception and strengthen its organization so that it could appropriate a fresh portion of It (unconscious drives). Where It was, there I will be.” In Analysis Finite and Infinite, Freud states: "The business of analysis is to provide, as far as possible, good conditions for the functioning of the ego, only in this case will it fulfill its task."

The beginning of the wide recognition of Freud and psychoanalysis by educated society dates back to 1908-1920, when Freud's ideas began to really influence the character of the cultural development of the 20th century. The rapid development and formation of psychoanalysis into a separate science was facilitated by Freud's deep knowledge of history, cultural studies, and art. In many of his works, he gave a new psychoanalytic rethinking of these concepts.

It makes no sense to consider separately the types of psychotherapy. Suffice it to say that only Freud's psychoanalysis gave impetus to the development of a couple of dozen psychoanalytic methods and theories, among which is the analytical psychology of K.-G. Jung, A. Adler's individual psychology, W. Reich's character analysis, E. Erickson's epigenetic analysis, H. Sullivan's and C. Horney's neo-Freudianism, R. May's existential psychotherapy, E. Berne's transactional analysis and many others. Despite theoretical and methodological differences, these methods do not basically contradict each other and belong to depth or psychodynamic psychology and psychotherapy.

To date, no other theory has been found, except for psychoanalytic, which would scientifically explain the principles of the work of the human mental apparatus. Therefore, it can be argued that psychoanalytic psychotherapy is the most effective method of working with neuroses.

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HISTORY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY (SHORT OUTLINE) | is... What is HISTORY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY (SUMMARY)?

Psychotherapy, like any other branch of medicine, has its own history - as a science and practice of healing.
The development of science, including psychotherapy, is not a linear, but a complex, multifaceted process of development with returns to the stages already passed. The history of science traces the process of accumulation of knowledge, the evolution of ideas, the change of theories and the results obtained. She uses various "dimensions", considering them in the context of time. Having in its field of vision the entire spectrum of "dimensions", the history of science focuses on the main thing - on the development of the content side, which is of dominant interest to it.
When analyzing the history of psychotherapy, with constant attention to assessing its achievements and failures at each time stage, an inexhaustible reservoir of “materials” opens up for new directions, theories, concepts.
In the history of psychotherapy, two large (main) periods can be distinguished. The first, pre-scientific, covering millennia, and the second - only two centuries, XIX-XX centuries. — the scientific period of psychotherapy. The history of Russian psychotherapy is included as an integral part in the development of world psychotherapy. Description of the history of psychotherapy is based on two main criteria - the internal logic of the development of science itself and the influence of external socio-economic, cultural factors (the so-called historical background) on the development of psychotherapy as an aspect of psychiatry, and in a broad sense, medicine, psychology, pedagogy, sociology, philosophy .
An important regularity in the development of psychotherapy as a science emerging from healing, based on philosophy, located at the intersection of physiology, psychology, pedagogy and sociology, is its focus on developing a unified theory. In many ways, this was facilitated by psychoanalysis, behaviorism, existentialism, etc., but even today this problem has not been solved.
Within the scope of this edition, there is no need for a detailed discussion of the pre-scientific period of psychotherapy. It is permeated with magical practices based on the mythology of ancient cultures, theological interpretations, mysteries, "subtle feeling" and secret intuitive knowledge of adepts, belief in the existence of supernatural forces. It was these mystical aspirations that found their expression in many-sided and bizarre rituals - from unpretentiously simple to very complex, but always surrounded by an aura of mystery. With all the variety of mystical approaches, be it the booming gong in Egyptian temples, the frantic rhythm of the shaman's tambourine, the choral singing and dancing of African sorcerers, the smell and smoke of incense incense in Indian monasteries, the endless recitative of prayers, the flickering of candles and the brilliance of church decoration, the results of these techniques and funds are very similar. Behind all their mystery was often suggestion and self-hypnosis, developing against the background of an induced trance or hypnotic state. For centuries, mysticism has been the master of the interpretation of such phenomena, and of mental illness in general.
Theological medicine was replaced by metaphysical medicine, in which scientific-realistic approaches arose from time to time. Diseases, including mental ones, began to be regarded as phenomena of a natural order, and attempts were made to treat them appropriately. For example, in the writings of Soranus, who lived in Rome during the reign of Hadrian (2nd century AD), the following therapeutic techniques are described: , amusing stories and news; during the recovery period, one must be able to persuade the patient to go for a walk, do gymnastics, exercise his voice, forcing him to read aloud. At the same time, it is advisable to select a text containing errors in order to reawaken the critical ability in this way ... In the future, you can also use theatrical performances that can dispel sadness and dispel ridiculous fears.
Subsequently, in the Middle Ages, scientific thought in general and medical thought in particular again finds itself in the grip of mysticism and scholasticism. This was especially clearly noted during the early Renaissance with its trials of the mentally and nervously ill and the executions of witches. There were detailed manuals for diagnosing witchcraft and demonic possession (suffice it to recall The Hammer of the Witches, published in 1487 by the Dominican monks Sprenger and Istitorius). Throughout Europe, for centuries, the fires of the Inquisition burned, on which they burned alive depressive patients with ideas of self-accusation, persons with hysterical disorders in a twilight state, paranoids with delusions of persecution, and often with induced insanity, covering at times entire villages (the last "sorceress" died in 1782!).
And only in the 18th century, during the Great French Revolution, which stimulated fundamental changes in the entire structure of Central Europe and at the same time the progress of a number of sciences, including medicine, was a blow dealt to age-old superstitions associated with mental illness. It was during this period, in the era of Pinel (Pinel Ph., 1745-1826), that the truly scientific prerequisites for the further development of psychiatry in general and psychotherapy are laid. With the permission of the Central Bureau of the commune of Pinel, he removes the chains from the mentally ill in Bicêtre in 1793 years, which was a turning point in psychiatry - people with mental disorders began to be treated as ordinary patients who needed good treatment and treatment. Pinel laid the foundations for the therapeutic regime of stay and conditions for the mentally ill, which later, after a century and a half, served as the main prerequisites for the emergence of evidence-based environmental therapy, sociotherapy, and collective psychotherapy.
At the same time, in 1776, the first, very naive attempt was made to scientifically explain the therapeutic effect of suggestion in the form of Mesmer's theory of "animal magnetism" (Mesmer F.A., 1734-1815). The experiments of magnetizers excited the minds of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1841, an English physician, Brad J., was present at a speech by the magnetizer La Fontaine to expose the fraud of the mesmerist. What he saw made Brad re-visit these sessions and begin independent experiments. By fixing his gaze, Brad quickly put his acquaintance to sleep and carefully described the changes taking place with the subject. (It would be unfair not to note that gaze fixation was first used by the Portuguese Abbot Faria, who described it as a method of fascination as early as 1813. He called the condition caused by fascination "lucid sleep.") Brad's circle of subjects expanded, more and more precise details and methods of euthanasia. Brad believed that the state he caused was an artificial nervous sleep, resulting from concentration of attention and fatigue of the gaze. He defined this state with a special term - hypnosis, which, in fact, in Greek means sleep. Brad devoted his entire life to the study of hypnosis. He summarized his experience in the monograph Neurohypnology (1843), which describes in detail and in detail much of what was subsequently rediscovered a second time due to ignorance of Brad's works. Brad resolutely refuted fluid ideas about hypnosis and expounded his neurophysiological theory, according to which a hypnotic state arises with visual fixation. In the last years of his life, Brad allowed the development of a hypnotic state with verbal suggestion. He died in 1860. In the same year, several books were published in France, where the method of inducing artificial sleep and its therapeutic application was described in general terms.
Brad's successor was the physician Liebault A. A. from Nancy, France, who in 1860 came across a book describing a new method of treating patients developed by Brad. Liebeault, having tested several options for lulling patients, proposed to induce a hypnotic sleep, suggesting to the patient the idea of falling asleep in a leisurely quiet voice. Liebeault divided hypnotic sleep into several degrees and carefully described the characteristic features of each of them. Liebeault's merit lies in the fact that he was the first to systematically use verbal suggestion for therapeutic purposes, focusing on the psychological aspects of hypnosis. In 1866, he summarized his observations in the book "Sleep and Similar States ...", where he defended the natural-scientific view of the nature of hypnosis. The medical community greeted this work with deafening silence. It was only in 1882 that the chief physician of the Faculty of Medicine in Nancy Dumont decided to use verbal suggestion in a hypnotic state to treat patients in the Marville Psychiatric Asylum. He invites Liebeau for cooperation, who willingly shares his experience. Soon this work attracted the attention of the professor of therapeutic clinic Bernheim (Bernheim H.). He uses hypnosis in his clinic and introduces it so widely into practice that treatment by verbal suggestion is used on an equal footing with other therapeutic methods. Bernheim had practiced hypnosis before that, relying on the Charcot technique (J. M. Charcot), but cases of hypnotization were rare, and using Liebo's techniques, Bernheim evoked a hypnotic state in 90% of patients. Around Liebeault, Bernheim, Dumont, and the then young researcher Boni, a circle of Nancy scientists was formed who were interested in the problems of suggestion and hypnosis, who shared the point of view of Liebeault and Bernheim that hypnosis is a psychologically normal phenomenon caused by suggestion. The circle of researchers grew, new facts appeared, and the base of theoretical foundations expanded. This is how the Nancy school of hypnosis, or the Bernheim school, arose.
Somewhat earlier in Paris, at the Salpêtrière hospital, Charcot, the famous neuropathologist of that time, studied the phenomena of hypnotism in connection with the verification of the theory and method of metal therapy. But Charcot began to study hypnosis especially intensively both in clinical observations and in special experiments after visiting the speeches of the magnetizer Donato. Charcot comes to the conclusion that hypnosis is a pathological state - an artificial hysterical neurosis. Doctors from all over Europe came to listen to the lectures of the famous Charcot with vivid demonstrations. Around Charcot are concentrated many prominent scientists of Paris. They conducted their research in the same vein, sharing in general the point of view proposed by Charcot. This is how the Salpêtrière school, or the Charcot school, arose.
Between the two scientific schools there was a fierce long-term struggle that unfolded on the pages of the medical press and congresses. By the nature of their views, the Salpêtrière school, headed by Charcot, was considered physiological, and the Nancy school, headed by Bernheim, psychological. The Salpêtrière school considered the hypnotic state as an experimentally induced neurotic disorder, or artificial neurosis, the various manifestations of which depended on the will of the experimenter. The methods of inducing a hypnotic state could be both physical and mental. According to the views of the Nancy School, hypnosis is a special mental state or dream caused directly by suggestion. The state of hypnosis can be induced in perfectly healthy people, and this state does not represent anything morbid, but, on the contrary, due to the increase in the susceptibility of a person to suggestions during the hypnotic state, the latter is an important and effective method of treating various disorders. Ultimately, the views of the Nancy School were supported by the majority of researchers in the field of hypnosis.
In Russia, many prominent scientists of their time were engaged in the study of hypnosis. By the 80s. 19th century Intensified scientific development of hypnosis as a therapeutic method belongs, which, in turn, had a great influence on the elucidation of the etiological role of psychogenic factors in the development of neuroses. Hypnosis was the beginning of all scientific psychotherapy, in all its variety of methods. In 1872, Tuke D. N. first introduced the term psychotherapy into scientific use. The apogee of interest in hypnosis was the First International Congress "Experimental and Therapeutic Hypnotism", held in Paris in August 1889.under the honorary chairmanship of Charcot. Liebeault, Bernheim, Dejerine J., Janet P., Forel A., Freud S., V. M. Bekhterev and many other well-known scientists participated in the congress, which confirmed the great interest and official recognition of this type of psychotherapy.
The Nancy School began to show less interest in hypnosis when it began to attach more importance to suggestion than to hypnosis itself. A pharmacist from Nancy, Coue E., who attended Bernheim's lectures, introduced autosuggestion, which suddenly became very famous. Kue at 19In 10, he opened his own clinic in Nancy, where he treated according to his own method. I.R. Tarkhanov, V.M. Bekhterev, A. Ya. Botkin, having developed their own original techniques. Modest in content, Coue's self-hypnosis formula was the starting point for starting the search for more effective ways of psychotherapeutic influences of the autogenic plan and formed the basis of such methods as autogenic training, biofeedback, relaxation, etc.
Since the end of 9In the 0s of the 19th century, as a reaction to the excessive expansion of hypnosis, fundamentally different methods of psychotherapeutic influences began to be developed. Speaking about the turn of the century, one cannot help but recall that it was a transitional time from postclassicism to modernity in literature and art, mathematics finally gives way to physics, and psychology is rapidly developing. This transitional time in Russia receives the poetic name "Silver Age".
In Switzerland, the neuropathologist Dubois (P. Dubois) is enthusiastically engaged in psychotherapy, he was familiar with the works of Charcot and Liebeault, visited Bernheim in Nancy, at one time was fascinated by hypnosis, but as observations accumulated, he completely moved away from hypnosis and suggestion, developed a method of rational psychotherapy , contrasted it with hypnosis and described it in the book "Psychoneuroses and their mental treatment". The direction of psychotherapy, laid down by Dubois, was undoubtedly fundamentally new and has not lost its significance at the present time. Rational psychotherapy as one of the elements is included in almost all types of psychotherapy, without it it is difficult to start any of its types. Du Bois's views have been criticized, primarily for avoiding emotional support for the patient. At 1910, the French neuropathologist Dejerine, criticizing direct suggestion, on the one hand, and rational psychotherapy, on the other, proposed a method of psychotherapy through persuasion, based on the patient's unconditional emotional trust in the doctor. The original psychotherapeutic method - "aretetherapy" was proposed in 1908 by the Russian therapist A. I. Yarotsky (see. ARETE THERAPY OF YAROTSKY), professor at the Medical Faculty of Yuriev University. This psychotherapeutic influence was based on the highest manifestations of spiritual life, namely, on the moral aspects of the human personality. The true cause of the disease, according to AI Yarotsky, is in the deep layers of spiritual life, with which he connected the role of the method he proposed in preserving and restoring human health.
A peculiar method of psychotherapy was proposed by the German physician Marcinowski J. in 1909 (see PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH WORLD OUTLOOK ACCORDING TO MARTSINOWSKI), the essence of which was the formation of a healing spiritual worldview in patients, as a result of which the patient rises above his suffering, burdened personality and begins to see himself as a particle of humanity as a whole and of all Nature in general. By returning the personality of a suffering patient to the bosom of universal and spiritual values through the realization of one's individuality and the inherent value of one's own existence, a change in painful ideas is achieved, a decrease and disappearance of nervousness and anxiety. Psychotherapy with ideals takes place in a warm and open atmosphere, which disposes the patient to confidential communication with the doctor.
Comparing the methods of psychotherapy of Dejerine and Marcinovsky with some modern approaches, one can see something in common with both the humanistic school and the existential trend in psychotherapy.
In 1895, Breuer (J. Breuer) and Freud publish the joint work "Studies in Hysteria", which describes the psycho-cathartic method of treating hysterical disorders. To achieve a therapeutic effect, the patient in a hypnotic dream was asked to recall the events that allegedly caused this or that symptom. Breuer called the phenomenon of getting rid of a symptom during memories in a state of hypnotic sleep about a psychotraumatic situation "catharsis" (see Breuer's PSYCHOCATARSIC METHOD). Freud believed that Breuer's method of cathartic response gave him the key to understanding hysteria. In the same year, Freud abandoned the use of hypnosis and began to develop a psychotherapeutic system based on identifying the characteristics of a person's experiences and actions due to unconscious motives - psychoanalysis. Freud was thoroughly introspective, and much of his theoretical reasoning was based on his own neurotic disorders. Freud's ideas gained popularity among students, medical practitioners, artists and writers, educated people of that time. However, his theoretical ideas about the dominance of the sexual in human life caused harsh criticism from the scientists of the world. Freud was the first theorist to point out the importance of the study of childhood for understanding the nature of the human psyche. Between 19From 00 to 1910, Freud's professional position was significantly strengthened, private practice flourished, international recognition came, and the ranks of followers expanded.
In 1911, due to theoretical differences with Freud, the Society leaves one of his favorite students Adler (Adler A.) - the founder of individual psychology, whose ideas began to spread throughout Europe. Adler argued that a person's goals and expectations influence behavior more than past experience, and the main motive is to achieve superiority and adapt to the environment. He emphasized the significant influence of society on each person and the great importance of social interests - a sense of community, cooperation and altruism.
Adler rejected the antagonism of the conscious and the unconscious in man. He was one of the first to draw attention to the role of improper family upbringing - emotional rejection and connivance - in the emergence of neuroses. In 1914, the Swiss psychiatrist Jung also left Freud (Jung C. G.), whom the first considered his spiritual son and heir to the psychoanalytic school. Jung developed his own analytical psychology, in which he interpreted libido not as sexual energy, but as vital energy in general, where sex is present as one of the components. He introduced the concept of the collective unconscious as the deepest level of mental activity containing archetypes (the innate experience of past generations).
In 1914, the world was shaken up by the First World War, which involved not only the countries of Europe, but also the United States. Watching this carnage, Freud develops the thesis that aggression is the same motivating force as sex. This was another turning point in the system of psychoanalysis and complemented Freud's theory of the general mental development of man. Psychoanalysis acquired the status of a complete and integral theoretical system, which included theories of the general mental and psychosexual development of a person, the psychological origin of neuroses and psychoanalytic therapy. Subsequently, the followers of psychoanalysis developed their own theories, based on these three solid foundations. In addition to Adler's individual psychology and Jung's analytical psychology, Freud's psychoanalysis was the basis of Stekel's active analytical therapy (Stekel. W.), Rank O.'s volitional theory, Sullivan H. S. interpersonal psychotherapy, Reich's characterological analysis (Reich W.), intensive psychotherapy Fromm-Reichmann (Fromm-Reichmann F.), ego analysis Klein (Klein M.), characterological analysis of Horney (Horney K. ), humanistic psychoanalysis (Fromm E.) and many others. The period of creation of these theories spans decades both before the Second World War and after it. In the last years of his life, Freud in his works paid more and more attention to the psychoanalytic interpretation of the development of society. Psychoanalysis has influenced not only psychiatry and psychology, but also literature and art, cultural studies, anthropology and sociology. It is no coincidence that Freud is ranked among the outstanding scientists of the 20th century. After the Nazis came to power in Germany, their official position on psychoanalysis was reflected in the public burning of Freud's books on May 19.33. Many Jews, students of Freud, psychologists and psychoanalysts, emigrated to other countries, mainly to the USA, starting already in 1934. Freud remained in Vienna until 1938, and when the German troops entered Austria, he left for England , where he died in 1939. Since then, the United States has become the world center of psychoanalysis.
In Russia, interest in psychoanalysis was mediated by the clinical testing of Freud's hypotheses and had both its supporters and opponents (see PSYCHOANALYSIS IN RUSSIA).
The internal logic of the development of domestic psychotherapy corresponded to the theoretical studies of such leading world-famous scientists as academicians V. M. Bekhterev and I. P. Pavlov (Nobel Prize winner 1904), who continued to develop the doctrine of nervism, the foundations of which were laid by I.M. Sechenov and a galaxy of outstanding Russian doctors of the 19th century. - S. G. Zybelin, M. Ya. Mudrov, I. E. Dyadkovsky, G. A. Zakharyin, V. A. Manassein, S. P. Botkin. The experimental study of higher nervous activity in the laboratories of I.P. Pavlov, the identification of types of nervous activity (the physiological equivalent of temperament), the relationship between the first and second signal systems led to the theoretical substantiation of experimental neuroses, which I.P. Pavlov transferred to the clinic of nervous diseases. Thus, the methodological foundation of the pathophysiological theory of neuroses and their psychotherapy was laid. This trend is called Pavlovian psychotherapy. Its representatives used in practice experimental data on the emergence and extinction of conditioned reflexes, the concepts of inhibition, irradiation, induction, and phase states. These terms describe the psychotherapeutic process itself. Pavlovian psychotherapy attracted the attention of many physicians and researchers who, in theory and practice, developed and supplemented it with new data. B. N. Birman developed in 1930s deep analytical-dialectical psychotherapy, assigning the leading role to the correction of the perverted target socio-reflex setting of a neurotic personality through socio-reflexotherapy. K. I. Platonov in systematic experimental studies studied hypnosis and its use for therapeutic purposes, based on the physiological effect of verbal stimuli on the cerebral cortex. Explanation, persuasion and suggestive influence, influencing the dynamics of cortical processes, change the patient's consciousness, his emotional sphere, endocrine-vegetative and other physiological processes in the desired direction. A significant contribution to the development of the Pavlovian school in psychotherapy was also made by P. I. Bul, M. S. Lebedinsky, I. E. Volpert, A. P. Slobodyanik, A. M. Svyadoshch, V. E. Rozhnov and many others.
The well-known psychotherapist S. I. Konstorum (1890-1950) enjoyed great authority in psychiatric circles in Moscow. He developed an original approach, which he called activating psychotherapy, which had as its goal the restructuring of an inadequately experiencing and reacting psyche, not only and not so much by verbally addressing the patient's intellect and emotions, to his worldview and worldview, but through changing and correcting his worldview. Activating psychotherapy by S.I. Konstorum included an explanation of the role of purposefulness and the patient's will to health, the reversibility of existing disorders in combination with suggestive psychotherapy. The results of the scientific and practical activities of S.I. Konstorum were published in the book "Experience in Practical Psychotherapy" in 1959, already after his death (see BIOPSYCHOTHERAPY BY CONSTORUM).
In the 1930s-1940s in Leningrad, pathogenetic psychotherapy was developed, the theoretical basis of which was the psychology of relations by V. N. Myasishchev (1893-1973). A student of V. M. Bekhterev, A. F. Lazursky, M. Ya. conventional understanding, considering personality as a system of functions. On the basis of the psychology of relations V. N. Myasishchev in 191939 formulated the clinical and pathogenetic concept of neuroses, according to which the main pathogenic link in the occurrence of neurotic disorders is the contradictions in the tendencies and capabilities of the individual with the requirements and opportunities provided by the environment and perceived by the individual as insoluble. The theoretical positions of V. N. Myasishchev were developed by his associates, students and followers E. S. Averbukh, E. K. Yakovleva, T. Ya. Khvilivitsky, R. A. Zachepitsky, A. Ya. Straumit. These were the origins of the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) personality-oriented school of psychotherapy (see PATHOGENETIC PSYCHOTHERAPY OF MYASISCHEV).
Let's go back to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1913, in the United States, the journal Psychological Review published an article by a young professor at Hopkins University, Watson J. B., in which he criticized the structural and functional psychology that dominated at that time, and called for considering psychology as an objective experimental field of the natural sciences. , whose main theoretical task should be to predict human behavior and control behavior. From this moment, behaviorism begins its development as a separate direction in psychology, antagonistic to the psychoanalytic system and defining the theoretical foundations of behavioral psychotherapy. The conditioned reflex theory of I. P. Pavlov and the theory of combination reflexes of V. M. Bekhterev had a significant influence on the formation of behaviorism. IP Pavlov demonstrated in his experiments that higher nervous activity can be described in terms of physiology, on experimental animals and without involving the concept of consciousness. The conditioned reflexes of IP Pavlov provided science with a basic element of behavior through which it was possible to study the complex and multifaceted human behavior in the laboratory. Watson took this idea and made it the basis of his program. IP Pavlov noted with satisfaction that Watson's work and the further development of behaviorism in the USA are convincing confirmation of his ideas and methods. V. M. Bekhterev published his ideas about associative reflexes in the seven-volume book Fundamentals of the Teaching on the Functions of the Brain (1903-1907). He believed that higher-level behavior could be explained as a combination or accumulation of lower-level motor reflexes. Thinking processes have a similar character in the sense that they depend on the internal actions of the speech muscles - this position was developed later by Watson. Fundamentals of the Doctrine of the Functions of the Brain was translated into German and French in 1913, at which time Watson read the book. Watson's behaviorism was an attempt to build a science free from mentalistic concepts and subjective methods, a science as objective and sensible as physics. This meant that all areas of behavior had to be considered in objective stimulus-response terms. Watson developed a program for the improvement of society - an experimental ethics based on the principles of behaviorism. Although this program never achieved its intended goals, Watson himself is widely recognized as the founder of a major scientific school.
By 1930, behaviorism was already a well-known scientific school and further continued its development in the works of the neo-behaviorists Tolman (Tolman E. C.), Hull (Hull C. L.) and Skinner (Skinner B. F.), based on principles of Bridgman's operationalism (P. U. Bridgmen). Tolman in 1932 described his own system of behaviorism, which determines the purposefulness of behavior, introduced the important for behaviorism concept of an intermediate variable and latent learning, which had a great influence on the further development of learning theory. Hull supplemented the theory of learning with the law of primary and secondary reinforcement, introduced the hypothetical-deductive method into science, as he considered it the only adequate method of behaviorism. The most influential figure in neobehaviorism for several decades was Skinner (his general recognition came in the post-war years). He put forward the concept of operant learning, according to which the body acquires new reactions due to the fact that it itself reinforces them, and only after that an external stimulus causes reactions. Skinner considered human speech to be verbal behavior, and, like any behavior, it is subject to reinforcement, prediction and control. Views on the nature of the learning process have gone beyond the laboratories and embodied in the concept of programmed learning. From 1950s methods of operant conditioning spread to psychotherapeutic practice and embodied in behavioral psychotherapy, the main goal of which was the formation and strengthening of the ability to act, the acquisition of techniques that improve self-control. The very term "behavioral psychotherapy" went down in history from 1953 to the 1950s and 1960s. - the period of formation of behavioral psychotherapy as an independent direction. The works of Volpe (Wolpe J.) and Lazarus (Lazarus A. A.) in South Africa, Shapiro (Shapiro D.) and Eysenck (Eysenck H. J.) in England, Azrin (Azrin N. N.) and Aillon (Ayllon T.) in USA led to the growing popularity of behavioral therapy in 1960-1970s, when it became one of the leading areas of world psychotherapy. A powerful impetus for the further development of behaviorism and behavioral psychotherapy was the social cognitive theory of Bandura (Bandura A.), which determined the social behavioral approach in psychology. Social learning, according to Bandura's theory, is formed through observation. The mere observation of the model makes it possible to form new stereotypes of behavior that were previously absent in an animal or a person. Later this led to theoretical generalizations, called the concept of self-efficacy.
The subsequent departure from the original paradigm of behavioral psychotherapy (stimulus-response), considering cognitions as intermediate variables, as structuring and regulatory components of emotional, motivational and motor processes, reflects the theories of Ellis (Ellis A.) and Beck (Beck A. T.). In rational-emotional psychotherapy, the main intermediate variable is rational and irrational cognitions. In cognitive psychotherapy, the defining variable is realistic and unrealistic (associated with errors in cognitive inferences) cognitions. Both Alice and Beck recognize the relationship of cognitive and behavioral variables with the dominant value of the former. From their point of view, the center of the impact of psychotherapy should be intermediate cognitive variables.
An attempt to integrate cognitive and behavioral approaches is associated with the name of Meichenbaum (Meichenbaum D.). His works can be viewed as a further development of the ideas of A. R. Luria and L. S. Vygotsky on inner speech. The method of self-instruction developed by him, vaccination against stress are ways of mastering inner speech in the form of self-verbalization.
This is the direction of the work of Mahoney (Mahoney M. J.), considering cognitive variables and their modifications as the main object and goal of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy.
At the turn of the 1960s-70s. 20th century in American psychology, a new direction is emerging, called humanistic psychology. This trend arose as a counterbalance to the behaviorism-psychoanalysis dilemma and opened up a new look at the nature of the human psyche. The main principles of the humanistic trend are to recognize the leading role of conscious experience and the holistic nature of human nature with an emphasis on free will, spontaneity and the creative power of the individual. Maslow is considered the founder of the humanistic direction (Maslow A. H., 1908-1970) and Rogers (Rogers C. R., 1902-1987). The desire of the individual for self-actualization, according to Maslow, is the highest human need. Pathology, on the other hand, is the weakening of a person, the loss or unfulfillment of human capabilities. Unlike Maslow, Rogers came to the concept of a person's desire for self-actualization through understanding the experience of working with emotionally unbalanced children during his years in the counseling room of the Society for the Prevention of Violence against Human Beings. Rogers is best known for his client-centered psychotherapy, which he developed at 1940-1950s The basis of client-centered psychotherapy is a positive belief in the innate tendency of a person to develop their optimal abilities. The rapid growth of interest in humanistic psychotherapy falls on the 1960s and 1970s, when millions of people signed up for meeting groups, sessions for developing the ability to feel, courses for unlocking a person’s potential, etc. The humanistic direction itself, as a third force in psychotherapy, is the least homogeneous and combines such diverse methods as Gestalt therapy (Perls F. S.), Sartre's existential psychoanalysis (Sartre J.-P.), Daseinanalysis (Binswanger L.), logotherapy (Frankl V. E.) ), Schorr's psychoimaginative therapy (Shorr J.), Whitaker's empirical psychotherapy (Whitaker S. A.), Janov's primary therapy (Janov A.), Lowen's bioenergetic analysis (Lowen A.), structural integration Rolf (Rolf I.), transcendental meditation, Zen psychotherapy, psychedelic psychotherapy and a number of other methods.
After World War II 1941-1945 our country has experienced the second wave of state-ideological pressure. He did not bypass science and medicine.
The joint Pavlovian session of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR in 1950, followed by a scientific discussion in 1951 at a joint meeting of the extended presidium of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and the Plenum of the Board of the All-Union Society of Neuropathologists and Psychiatrists, revealing "ideological distortions and errors ”, led to a decrease in the role of psychology and its applied branches, its replacement by the physiological doctrine of higher nervous activity by I. P. Pavlov, who died at the age of 1936. Instructive "meetings" were held at the highest level with the aim of restructuring psychology, transferring it to physiological soil that was unproductive for this science. And only after the well-known events of 1953, during the "Khrushchev thaw", did the revival of scientific psychology and psychotherapy begin in our country. In particular, the journal "Problems of Psychology" began to be published, where the country's leading psychologists made program articles. In 1956, V. N. Myasishchev published the work “On the Significance of Psychology for Medicine” in this journal. It can be said that physiological reductionism regarding psychology in medicine was overcome only after the Conference on Research Methods in the Pathophysiology of Human Higher Nervous Activity and Medical Psychology in 191962. More favorable conditions developed for the development of medical psychology and psychotherapy. At the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR in 1962, a problematic commission "Medical Psychology" was created, headed by V. N. Myasishchev. At the same time, monographic works by major domestic psychologists began to appear. Conditions arose for the further development of the personality-oriented school of psychotherapy. A circle of promising scientists rallied around V. N. Myasishchev, who developed the concept of pathogenetic psychotherapy of their teacher - E. K. Yakovleva, B. D. Karvasarsky, V. A. Murzenko, V. K. V. A. Tashlykov, G. L. Isurina, Yu. Ya.60s and early 1970s, especially after the introduction of specialization in medical psychology at universities. Active inter-institutional scientific cooperation with Polish, Czech and German psychotherapists had a great influence on the further development of psychotherapy in our country. The beginning of close contacts with psychotherapists from Eastern European countries was laid by the working group on psychotherapy, created at the First International Symposium of Socialist Countries on Psychotherapy, which took place in Prague on 1959
Departments of psychotherapy were opened in medical institutes for the improvement of doctors in Kharkov, Moscow and Leningrad.

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