History vs. Sigmund Freud - Todd Dufresne

翻译人员: Meng Ren 校对人员: Carol Wang

Working in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century,

在 20 世纪初的维也纳，

he began his career as a neurologist

他掀开了作为神经学家的职业生涯，

before pioneering the discipline of psychoanalysis.

后来成为了心理分析领域的先锋人物。

He proposed that people are motivated by unconscious desires

他提出，人们被无意识的欲望

and repressed memories,

和受到压抑的记忆所驱使，

and their problems can be addressed

通过谈话治疗来认识那些内驱力，

by making those motivations conscious through talk therapy.

可以解决他们的心理问题。

His influence towers above that of all other psychologists in the public eye.

在大众心目中， 他的影响力远超同僚。

But was Sigmund Freud right about human nature?

但是，西格蒙德 · 弗洛伊德 对人性的认识真的正确吗？

And were his methods scientific?

他所使用的方法真的科学吗？

Order, order. Today on the stand we have… Dad?

肃静，肃静。 今天出庭作证的是···父亲？

Ahem, no, your honor.

咳咳，不是的，法官大人。

This is Doctor Sigmund Freud,

这是西格蒙德 · 弗洛伊德博士，

one of the most innovative thinkers in the history of psychology.

心理学史上最具开创性的学者之一。

An egomaniac who propagated pseudoscientific theories.

一个鼓吹伪科学理论的自大狂。

Well, which is it?

到底，是好是坏？

He tackled issues medicine refused to address.

他解决了医学无法解决的问题。

Freud’s private practice treated women

弗洛伊德的私人诊所

who suffered from what was called hysteria at the time,

接诊了当时身患歇斯底里症，

and their complaints hadn’t been taken seriously at all.

但得不到严肃对待的女性。

From the women with depression he treated initially

从最初深陷抑郁的女性，

to World War I veterans with PTSD,

到一战结束后得了 创伤后应激障碍的退伍老兵，

Freud’s talking cure worked,

弗洛伊德的谈话疗法 使他们的症状都得到了改善，

and the visibility he gave his patients forced the medical establishment

而且这种改善

迫使医学界权威们承认， 精神障碍并非凭空捏造的疾病。

to acknowledge their psychological disorders were real.

He certainly didn’t help all his patients.

当然，他并非帮到了所有病人。

Freud was convinced that our behavior is shaped by

弗洛伊德确信，

无意识欲望和被压抑的记忆 塑造了我们的行为，

unconscious urges and repressed memories.

He invented baseless unconscious or irrational drivers

他无中生有地为创伤幸存者捏造了 无意识或非理性的动机 ——

behind the behavior of trauma survivors— and caused real harm.

这种行为造成了真正的伤害。

How’s that?

He misrepresented some of his most famous case studies,

怎么回事？

他歪曲了自己的一些 最广为人知的案例研究，

claiming his treatment had cured patients when in fact they had gotten worse.

声称他的疗法治愈了病人， 而事实上病人的病情恶化了。

Later therapists influenced by his theories

受其理论影响，后来的治疗师们

coaxed their patients into "recovering"

诱使病人们“回忆”

supposedly repressed memories of childhood abuse that never happened.

那些未曾发生过的 被压抑的童年受虐记忆，

Lives and families were torn apart.

无数的生命和家庭因此分崩离析。

You can’t blame Freud for later misapplications of his work—

你不能把后人们的过错 怪罪在弗洛伊德头上——

that would be projecting.

那是过度推测。

Plenty of his ideas were harmful without any misapplication.

他的许多思想即使未被误用， 也是有害无益的。

He viewed homosexuality as a developmental glitch.

他将同性恋视为发育偏差。

He coined the term penis envy—

他还提出了“阴茎羡嫉”的概念——

meaning women are haunted for life by their lack of penises.

意指女性由于没有阴茎 而终生感到自卑难过。

Freud was a product of his era.

弗洛伊德是时代的产物，

Yes, some of the specifics were flawed,

是的，虽然有一些细节上的漏洞，

but he created a new space for future scientists to explore,

但是他开创了一个全新的领域 供未来的科学家们探索、

investigate, and build upon.

研究和建设。

Modern therapy techniques that millions of people rely on

数百万计的人们 所依赖的现代治疗技术

came out of the work he started with psychoanalysis.

脱胎于他所开创的精神分析。

And today everyone knows there’s an unconscious—

如今，人人都知晓无意识的存在 ——

that idea was popularized Freud.

一个弗洛伊德普及的想法。

Psychologists today only believe in a “cognitive unconscious,”

当代心理学家仅认同 “认知无意识”，

the fact that you aren’t aware of everything going on at a given moment.

即一个人无法在某个特定时刻 对周遭的全部事物产生意识。

Freud took this idea way too far, ascribing deep meaning to everything.

弗洛伊德对这一概念过度依赖， 将所有事物都赋予了深层意义。

He built his theories on scientific ideas that were outdated even in his own time,

他将自己的理论建立在 彼时已经落后的科学理念上，

not just by today’s standards—

更别提以今天的标准来看了——

for example, he thought individual psychology

比如，他认为个体的心理

is derived from the biological inheritance of events in ancient history.

是由古代重大事件 造成的生物遗传衍变而来。

And I mean ancient—  like the Ice Age or the killing of Moses.

我指的“远古”是 像冰河时期或摩西杀戮那么遥远。

Freud and his closest allies actually believed these prehistorical traumas

弗洛伊德和他最忠实的拥趸们相信，

这些史前的创伤事件 持续地影响着人类的心理。

had ongoing impacts on human psychology.

He thought that the phase of cold indifference to sexuality

他认为一个人在青春期 表现出的性冷漠

during pubescence was literally an echo of the Ice Age.

也是源于冰河时期的影响。

With fantastical beliefs like these, how can we take him seriously?

我们如何能严肃地看待 提出如此荒诞设想之人？

Any renowned thinker from centuries past

数世纪前的著名思想家

has ideas that seem fantastical by today’s standards,

都会提出在今天的标准下 看来荒诞不经的猜想，

but we can’t discount their influence on this basis.

然而我们不能 就此否定他们的影响力。

Freud was an innovator linking ideas across many fields.

弗洛伊德是能把多个学科的思想 串联起来的创新者。

His concepts have become everyday terms

他所提出的概念已经应用到了 生活的方方面面，

that shape how we understand and talk about our own experiences.

塑造了人们理解和谈论 个人体验的方式。

The Oedipus complex? Ego and id? Defense mechanisms? Death wishes?

恋母情结？自我与本我？ 防御机制？死亡驱力？

All Freud.

这些都是弗洛伊德提出的。

But Freud didn’t present himself as a social theorist—

但是弗洛伊德并不认为 自己是社会理论家——

he insisted that his work was scientific.

他坚称自己的理论是科学的。

Are you saying he… repressed inconvenient facts?

你是说他······避开了 不利于自己的事实？

Freud’s theories were unfalsifiable.

弗洛伊德理论具有不可证伪性。

Wait, so you’re saying he was right?

等等，你是说他没错?

No, his ideas were framed so that there’s no way to empirically verify them.

不，他的设想无法用实验证实。

Freud didn’t even necessarily believe in the psychoanalysis he was peddling.

弗洛伊德甚至都不一定相信 自己所兜售的精神分析理论。

He was pessimistic about the impact of therapy.

他对谈话治疗的效果 也持悲观态度。

What! I think I need to lie down!

什么？ 我想我得躺一会儿！

Many of Sigmund Freud’s ideas don’t hold up to modern science,

弗洛伊德的许多想法 与现代科学相悖，

and his clinical practices don’t meet today’s ethical standards.

他的治疗实践 也不符合今天的道德标准。

At the same time, he sparked a revolution in psychology and society,

但与此同时，他驱动了 心理学和社会的变革，

and created a vocabulary for discussing emotion.

建立了一套 用于谈论情绪的词汇。

Freud made his share of mistakes.

弗洛伊德的确犯了许多错误。

But is a thinker responsible for how subsequent generations

但是一个思考者

应该对后人如何 实践他们的想法负责吗？

put their ideas to use?

Do they deserve the blame, credit, or redemption

当我们审视历史时，

他们应该受到批判、 嘉奖，还是救赎呢？

when we put history on trial?