Freud Quote by Frederick Crews
“Psychoanalysis will fade away just as mesmerism and phrenology did, and for the same reason - its exploded pretensions will deprive it of recruits”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Rise and Fall of Psychoanalysis, 1990
Psychoanalysis will become obsolete like past pseudosciences due to its exaggerated claims and lack of empirical support.
In simple terms: Psychoanalysis will fade.
Key Takeaway
Seek evidence‑based practices.
Themes
science
skepticism
psychology
Mood
critical
analytical
Type
academic
philosophical
When to use this quote
- therapy
- academic curricula
- public health policy
Key Concepts
methodology
historical trends
clinical practice
Questions to Reflect On
- What replaces outdated theories?
- How to ensure rigor in new approaches?
A Different Perspective
New therapies may fill its void, but also inherit similar flaws.
![“[Vestiges begins] from principles which are at variance with all sober inductive truth. The sober facts of geology shuffled, so as to play a rogue's game; phrenology (that sinkhole of human folly and prating coxcombry); spontaneous generation; transmutation of species; and I know not what; all to…” quote by Adam Sedgwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/76d/adam-sedgwick-38188_breeding_vestiges-begins-from-principles-which-ar_743932.jpg)
![“By what psychoanalyst friends tell me, in the field of the emotional subconscious, the emotional resistances to be overcome are no longer the ones most people felt in Freud's [..] day. The moralizing respectability and the fear of sex evidenced in Freud's day no longer exist. I am told that…” quote by Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3bc/massimo-piattelli-palmarini-26_freud_by-what-psychoanalyst-friends-tell-me-in_70209.jpg)
