Wow! What a Wonderful Project!

• The Roles of Control Mastery Theory in a New Model of REM Dreaming by Vic Comello, 5/8/97
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    • Psychobiography of Freud by Vic Comello, 5/11/97
      
      

Vic, this is extraordinary! I love it. Seeing Freud through the eyes of Control Mastery Theory rather than through the eyes of Freudian theory. I'm sure he will be seen as a much more decent human being inasmuch one of the most important aspects of Control Mastery Theory, according to my understanding of it (and I always welcome corrections!) is the fundamental notion that so much apparent disruptiveness in one's social adaptation is essentially a manifestation of misdirected altruism expressed in a painful adaptation to a psychologically unsupportive but demanding environment.

When I think of Freudian theory, I think of two Freudian theories--the early id-analysis and the post-1929 ego-analysis--with the first lending itself more easily to derogatory interpretations of human motivation.

Ego-analysis was more congenial to the view that troubled human beings were not fundamentally ridden with disreputable id impulses but were instead too much disposed to expect to be in external danger for having fundamentally natural inclinations. The later ego-analysis was discovered so late in Freud's life that all the theoretical implications and changes in technique that these implications would require would have to be left for others to develop. I think that only a handful of theorists, however, have grappled with these practical difficulties associated with Freud's change in thought. I believe the early Freudian theory has not only dominated many of the preconceptions of the psychotherapy field--even among those who profess not to be at all Freudian--but has also reinforced a cultural ethos that sees human beings as fundamentally flawed (original sin and that sort of thing).

There are three direct paths that Freud's more generous (post-1929 ego-analysis) view of human nature took that I have been able to find. If anyone is interested I would detail what I consider to be those three paths, but for purposes of this posting I want to say that Control Mastery Theory is one of these paths viewing human beings in a much more benevolent light than pre-1929 Freudian id-analysis is capable of seeing human beings.

What is so interesting to me about your work, Vic, is that you can now use your Control-Mastery analysis of Freud's own personal development to explicate the intricacies and intimate details of the internal emotional and intellectual struggles that, I believe, made possible Freud's theoretical change. And in a circular fashion it was these theoretical changes that forshadowed the eventual development of Control Mastery Theory. How neat that even Freud himself can be seen as a more decent fellow when looked at through the lens of a theory that is partly a highly developed and modified descendent of his own more accepting later theory.

Any more details you would care to give about Freud's personal development viewed through your analysis would be eagerly enjoyed.

P.S. Your observation that we live in burdensome times with little real psychological support is shared by many, including Theodore Millon, a leading researcher in the area of personality and psychopathology. He has a wonderful chapter in which in presents his view of the the grim realities contributing to the lack of psychological support in today's overall social climate. The chapter is titled "On the genesis and prevalence of the borderline personality disorder: A social learning thesis." It appears in the book Personality and Psychopathology: Building a Clinical Science, by Theodore Millon (1996, John Wiley and Sons).

• Psychoanalyzing Freud by Vic Comello, 5/11/97