Pierre Janet and Sigmund Freud. Preceding Psychoanalysis. Introduction
Pierre Janet (1859–1947) studied under Jean-Martin Charcot in the Psychological Laboratory at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. He first published the results of his research in his 1889 philosophy dissertation and his 1892 medical dissertation, “L’état mental des hystériques.” He earned his medical degree in the following year, 1893.
In 1898, Janet was appointed lecturer in psychology at the Sorbonne, and in 1902, he received the chair of experimental and comparative psychology at the Collège de France, a position he held until 1936. From 1913, he was a member of the Institut de France and was a central figure in French psychology during the first half of the 20th century.
Janet’s Theories
Janet was one of the first people to assert a connection between events in a subject’s past life and their present trauma, coining the terms “dissociation” and “subconscious.” His investigation of the “magnetic passion” or “relationship” between the patient and the hypnotist anticipated later accounts of the transference phenomenon.
In the 20th century, Janet developed an extensive model of the mind concerning energy, efficiency, and social competence, which he elaborated on in publications such as “Obsessions and Psychasthenia” (1903) and “From Anguish to Ecstasy” (1926). His focus on the construction of personality in social contexts led to comparisons with the social behaviorism of George Herbert Mead, which explains Lacan’s early praise of Janet for admirably demonstrating the significance of persecutory feelings as phenomenological moments in social behavior.
Hysteria and Dissociation
Janet’s Observations on Hysteria
Most of Janet’s contemporaries believed that hysteria was solely linked to sexual trauma, but Janet proposed a more nuanced understanding. He suggested that dissociation could result from different origins such as trauma, overwhelm, the incapability to integrate information, and the presence of rigid ideas about the world he referred to as fixed ideas. This holistic view on hysteria and dissociation laid the foundation for Janet’s therapeutic technique, which focused on uncovering and resolving underlying stressful experiences.
A significant contribution of Janet to psychology was his observations on hysteria and exploration of dissociation. Whilst working for Jean-Martin Charcot, Janet observed patients affected by hysteria. This condition was characterized by paralysis, seizures, and amnesia without observable or measurable physical cause. It was in these patients that Janet observed the phenomenon of dissociation.
The Concept of Dissociation
Dissociation is described as a mental process where parts of information are separated from the individual´s conscious awareness. In other words, these people are not consciously aware of the things they experience in the present moment but mentally dissociate from the here and now. For example, he experienced patients with hysteria displaying gaps in memory of specific events, especially those related to trauma. Also, he observed patients exhibited trance-like states where patients seemed to be disconnected from their environment.
Janet’s Influence on Freud’s Findings
Freud, motivated by Janet’s work, integrated many of Janet’s ideas into his theories. Janet’s concept of dissociation was foundational for Freud’s theories on repression and the unconscious mind. Freud described repression as a defense mechanism to keep distressing experiences, thoughts, or feelings from being processed in the awareness but instead, repressed in the unconscious mind. This repressed information could, according to Freud, cause mental distress later in life. Freud incorporated the exploration of the unconscious mind with the goal of resolving inner conflict as a key practice in his psychoanalysis. Freud suggested that unconscious conflicts and desires that often arise in childhood influence behavior and could induce psychological stress.
Trauma and the Unconscious Mind
Janet’s Insights into Childhood Trauma
Janet believed that mental trauma was a large contributor to mental health problems. He stated that early traumatic experiences in life could lead to the development of problematic psychological symptoms. These are for example dissociative states, gaps in memory, or an altered perception of reality. Janet’s ideas on trauma and its effect on the human psyche greatly influenced Freud’s later work on the role of childhood experiences on mental health in adulthood.
Childhood Trauma and Psychosexual Development in Freud’s Psychoanalysis
Freud acknowledged the significance of childhood experiences and their impact on psychological development. Freud’s theories on psychosexual development related childhood experiences, especially sexual or aggression-related, to the development of personality. He specified between critical stages and how disturbances during these stages could lead to specific psychological problems later in life. He suggested that unresolved conflicts and childhood trauma could cause mental illness or emotional distress later in life.
Trauma and the Unconscious
Freud stressed trauma’s profound effect on the unconscious mind. Traumatic experiences, he argued, are suppressed in the unconscious, shaping behavior unknowingly. Introducing new terms, Freud broadened our comprehension of consciousness and unconsciousness. Among these are the famous id, ego, and superego.
Janet and Hypnosis
One of Janet’s critical therapeutic techniques was hypnosis, which he used to discover and clear up unconscious conflicts. Janet believed that hypnosis facilitated access to the unconscious mind that could reveal repressed memories and emotions. Through hypnosis, Janet aimed to integrate fragmented factors of the self and resolve underlying mental conflicts.
Free Association
Janet also developed the approach of free association, in which patients freely verbalize their minds and associations without censorship. Janet believed that by free association, unconscious concepts would come to the surface. He proposed free association to heal unconscious conflicts and promote mental recovery.
The Integration of Janet’s Ideas into Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice
Freud incorporated Janet’s therapeutic techniques into his psychoanalytic theory and practice. By bringing new principles like transference and dream analysis into therapeutic theory and practice he elaborated on earlier theories. However, Freud’s foundational therapeutic techniques of hypnosis and free association owed their inspiration to Janet’s pioneering insights.
Freud’s “The Interpretation of Dreams”
In Freud’s “The Interpretation of Dreams” (1899), he built upon Janet’s concepts. Introducing novel therapeutic principles, Freud delved into dream symbolism and unconscious conflicts. Freud believed that dreams are greatly impacted by the unconscious. He wrote that dreams are the “Royal Road to the Unconscious,” providing insights into hidden desires, fears, and conflicts buried within the unconscious.
Janet’s Psychological Analysis versus Psychoanalysis
The history of Janet’s influence on the development of psychotherapeutic methods cannot be told without addressing his conflict with Sigmund Freud, a conflict that significantly impacted the understanding of trauma and dissociation.
Freud interned with Charcot at the Salpêtrière from October 1885 to February 1886. He was deeply moved by the work there, particularly by Charcot, who impressed him so much that he wrote to Martha: “No other person has ever made such an impression on me as he has.” Paris seemed overwhelmingly advanced both professionally and scientifically. Although Janet did not yet hold a position at the Salpêtrière at that time, his “psychological automatisms” were widely discussed. Freud maintained close contact with Charcot, spoke French (having also translated Charcot’s texts), so it is unlikely that Janet’s ideas escaped him. Freud’s later claim that he had never met Janet personally may have been factually correct, but likely not professionally. What happened?
French psychiatry had made a series of significant observations, coined terms, and developed therapeutic concepts. Freud was quite influenced by French concepts; Otto Breuer was even more inclined towards these concepts than Freud. Janet particularly noted at an international conference in London in 1913 that Freud, who was becoming increasingly famous, had adopted several of Janet’s ideas. Janet was hurt that Freud consistently omitted him in his publications and cleverly formulated concepts in a way that made them seem original.
Janet argued against Freud and the Vienna School of Psychoanalysis by stating that not all psychological disorders could be solely attributed to sexual causes, as this was too narrow. Freud and his colleagues responded that they worked with a very broad concept of the “sexual.” This episode is interesting because Janet insisted on the significant impact of trauma, including rape and sexual abuse within the family, then referred to as “childhood sexual seduction.”
Initially, Freud shared this view. However, in Vienna, he faced a precarious situation as he was keen on spreading and establishing his method. At that time, the majority of scientists were men, and professional societies were male-dominated, leading to resistance against this perspective. Freud himself became uncertain: Could so many girls have really experienced sexual abuse? Wolfgang Wöller suggests this as another reason Freud distanced himself from the now negatively perceived term “dissociation,” preferring instead to speak of “defense.” This was a setback for recognizing sexual assaults and rape as causes of psychological disorders, a perspective that persisted for a long time.
Since the late 1990s, Janet’s writings have gained attention in the German-speaking world, after being almost forgotten. Curiously, during those years, the Janet Society in France ceased to exist, but some psychotherapists in Germany and earlier in the Netherlands began to engage more deeply with his work, leading to the founding of the German Pierre Janet Society in 2001. The founders believed Janet’s perspective was broader than Freud’s and that he was more modest in his explanatory claims. Freud’s concept of “drive impulses” followed a more endogenous model, subjectivizing what more likely resulted from socio-cultural conditions and experiences.
The conflict between Janet and Freud
There was some controversy surrounding the origin of ideas between Pierre Janet and Sigmund Freud which surfaced during the 1913 Congress of Medicine in London. Freud had previously acknowledged his debt to Janet, acknowledging the theory of hysterical phenomena put forward by Janet and elaborated in collaboration with Josef Breuer. However, Freud was careful to highlight differences in their views.
In 1911, Freud, discussing the neurotic’s withdrawal from reality, referenced Janet’s observation of a loss of “the function of reality.” Even in 1930, Freud incorporated Janet’s term “psychological poverty” into his work on civilization. Despite these acknowledgments, Janet, in his 1913 report on psychoanalysis, asserted that many terms in Freud’s psychoanalysis were his old concepts renamed, emphasizing the superiority of his “psychological analysis.” This claim sparked heated responses from Freud’s followers, leading to a cooling of Freud’s attitude towards Janet. In lectures held by Freud in 1915 and 1916, Freud expressed initial credit for Janet’s insights into neurotic symptoms but later felt Janet had taken too much credit.
At the 1913 medical congress in London, controversies arose regarding whose ideas came first: those of Janet or Sigmund Freud. Prior to this date, Freud had freely acknowledged his debt to Janet, particularly in his work with Josef Breuer. Freud had written that “the theory of hysterical phenomena was first formulated by P. Janet and elaborated upon by Breuer and myself.” He further stated that “we followed his example when we took the splitting of the mind and the dissociation of the personality as the core of our position,” but he also carefully noted where “the difference between our view and Janet’s lies.”
In 1911, Freud wrote about the neurotic’s withdrawal from reality: “Even such a fact could not escape the observation of Pierre Janet. He spoke of a loss of the ‘function of reality,'” and as late as 1930, Freud relied on Janet’s expression “psychic poverty” in his work on civilization.
In his 1913 report on psychoanalysis, however, Janet argued that many of the novel terms in psychoanalysis were merely old concepts that had been renamed, pointing out that his own “psychological analysis” preceded Freud’s “psychoanalysis.” This provoked furious attacks from Freud’s followers, and thereafter, Freud’s attitude towards Janet cooled. In his lectures from 1915-16, Freud said, “For a long time, I was willing to give Janet a great deal of credit for illuminating neurotic symptoms because he viewed them as expressions of Idées Inconscientes that dominated the patients.” However, after what Freud considered Janet’s retraction in 1913, he said, “I think he unnecessarily forfeited a lot of credit.”
The accusation of plagiarism was particularly hurtful to Freud. In his 1925 autobiographical sketch, he vehemently denied plagiarizing Janet and still refused to meet Janet in 1937, stating, “When the slander was spread by French writers, I had listened to his lectures and his stolen ideas, which he could have put an end to with a single word,” but he did not.
A balanced judgment might be that Janet’s published ideas indeed formed part of Freud’s starting point, but Freud later developed them in his own unique way.
Freud’s Accusations of Plagiarism
Freud faced accusations of plagiarism, a charge that deeply stung him. In his 1925 autobiographical sketch, Freud denied plagiarizing Janet. Freud refused to meet Janet in 1937 because Janet did not deny this presumed plagiarism. A nuanced assessment suggests that while Janet’s ideas formed part of Freud’s starting point, Freud substantially developed and diverged from them in his unique fashion. However, the acknowledgment of influences does not erase the evolution and individual contributions each made to the field of psychoanalysis.
Conclusion: Janet’s Legacy and Recognition
janet founded psychological analysis, from which Freud’s psychoanalysis later developed. Janet inspired numerous key concepts in individual psychology and analytical psychology, both of which were acknowledged by Adler and Jung. More importantly, Janet was the first body psychotherapist and a predecessor of Wilhelm Reich. Janet understood the connection and relationship between breathing and emotion, and, along with Charles Richet (who inspired Charcot’s studies on hysteria in the decades before Freud), conducted extensive research on breathing patterns in neuroses. Janet worked with massage and the restructuring of movement. He recognized that psychological analysis is a psycho-physical process and that analysis must always be followed by a synthesis of the previously fragmented and dissociated states of the neurotic patient. Janet’s extensive works were largely neglected until they were rediscovered through modern research on post-traumatic stress disorders, where Janet’s insights were recognized as particularly significant.
The Overshadowed Pioneer
In the history of psychology, Sigmund Freud is known as the father of psychoanalysis. However, history regularly overlooks the large contributions of Pierre Janet to the sector. Pierre Janet was a pioneering psychologist whose ideas extensively influenced the development of Freud’s psychoanalysis. For this reason, he was often named the “French Freud”. Freud’s charismatic persona, writings, and institutional impact propelled psychoanalysis to the forefront of psychological discourse, which left Pierre Janet to the function of a footnote in records. However, modern-day students are increasingly interested in Janet’s pioneering insights and their enduring relevance to our expertise on the human mind.
Janet’s Enduring Impact
In the end, Pierre Janet’s thoughts preceding Freud’s psychoanalysis had been groundbreaking in their exploration of dissociation, trauma, and the unconscious. Janet’s conceptual framework laid an important basis for Freud’s later theories and maintained to tell present-day understandings of mental phenomena. While Freud’s legacy may additionally dominate the records books, we owe a debt of gratitude to Janet for his pioneering contributions to the sector of psychology and his enduring impact on our know-how of the human psyche.
Increase of Interest in Janet’s Work
In recent years, there has been an increase in interest in Janet’s work. Researchers started revisiting his theories on dissociation, trauma, and unconscious thoughts. Modern developments in neuroscience and psychodynamic therapy reevaluated the mechanisms underlying dissociative processes and their implications for mental health. Janet’s emphasis on the impact of child trauma in shaping mental functioning is in line with modern attachment theories and trauma-related therapeutic methods.