From a psychoanalytic perspective, here is what I think the article “Freud Save America” gets right and wrong. On a clinical level, there is a real threat to free association if political correctness blocks the ability of people to say what is on their mind without censoring. On the other hand, analysis can provide the space and time for people to reflect on their internal struggle between their own thoughts and what they think is now acceptable. However, analysis only works if people say everything without self-censoring.
As I have written in my book (Mis)Understanding Freud, there is a threat posed to analysis by a certain Left-wing idea that one can only be analyzed by someone who belongs to the same identity group. This misguided application of identity polit Continue reading A Response to Psychoanalysis and the Left: Comment by Bob Samuels