Almost a year ago I wrote a post on the dubious scientific status of psychoanalysis. One might think that this is an old and dated Popperian question, but in view of the influential position still occupied by psychoanalysis at least in some quarters, it remains a topical issue. In effect, via the Feminist Philosophers I came across this NYT article on a documentary which heavily criticizes psychoanalytic approaches to autism in France.
According to the article, psychoanalysis remains the standard approach to autism there, but not for particularly good reasons. In fact, the results seem to be quite discouraging (for example, a much smaller percentage of children with an autism diagnosis are sufficiently autonomous to be able to attend school in France than in e.g. the UK), and yet the grip of psychoanalysis remains strong – needless to say, arguably to the disadvantage of the children in question and their caregivers.
In the Feminist Philosophers’ post there is also a link to the documentary; it is well worth watching, but also quite depressing.
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