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PSYCHOTHERAPY
BY
HUGO MÜNSTERBERG
M.D., PH.D., LITT.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY
NEW YORK
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
1909
Copyright, 1909, by
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
All Rights Reserved
Published, April, 1909
Second Printing, May, 1909
RECENT BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
- Psychology and Life, Boston, 1899
- Grundzüge der Psychologie, Leipzig, 1900
- American Traits, Boston, 1902
- Die Amerikaner, Berlin, 1904
- Principles of Art Education, New York, 1905
- The Eternal Life, Boston, 1905
- Science and Idealism, Boston, 1906
- Philosophie der Werte, Leipzig, 1907
- On the Witness Stand, New York, 1908
- Aus Deutsch-Amerika, Berlin, 1908
- The Eternal Values, Boston, 1909
TO
MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE
DR. FRANZ PFAFF
PROFESSOR OF THERAPEUTICS IN
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
This volume on psychotherapy belongs to a series of books which I amwriting to discuss for a wider public the practical applications ofmodern psychology. The first book, called "On the Witness Stand,"studied the relations of scientific psychology to crime and the lawcourts. This new book deals with the relations of psychology tomedicine. Others discussing its relations to education, to socialproblems, to commerce and industry will follow soon.
For popular treatment I divide applied psychology into such various,separated books because they naturally address very different audiences.That which interests the lawyer does not concern the physician, andagain the school-teacher has his own sphere of interests. Moreover thedifferent subjects demand a different treatment. The problems ofpsychology and law were almost entirely neglected. I was anxious to drawwide attention to this promising field and therefore I chose the form ofloose popular essays without any aim towards systematic presentation ofthe subject. As to psychology and medicine almost the opposite situationprevails. There is perhaps too much talk afloat about psychotherapy, thewidest circles cultivate the discussion, the magazines[Pg viii] overflow withit. The duty of the scientific psychologist is accordingly not to stirup interest in this topic but to help in bringing this interest frommere gossip, vague mysticism, and medical amateurishness to a clearunderstanding of principles. What is needed in this time of faith curesof a hundred types is to deal with the whole circle of problems in aserious, systematic way and to emphasize the aspect of scientificpsychological theory.
Hence the whole first part of this book is an abstract discussion andits first chapters have not even any direct relation to disease. I amconvinced that both physicians and ministers and all who are inp