EBT and the Abbreviating of Psychology: 

Linda J. Young, Ph.D.

In her paper, “EBT and the Abbreviating of Psychology,” Dr. Young approaches the topic of EBT from the perspectives of philosophy and epistemology, highlighting their relevance in discussing the evidentiary bases of different forms of psychology. She suggests that there is pressure within the discipline of psychology to validate and abbreviate psychological practice according to the demands of the EBT movement, and in so doing, to accept  without question the premises of a natural science, with its accompanying objectivist, positivist assumptions. These philosophical assumptions bear not only on the way data is interpreted and measured, but on the way researchers and clinicians determine that which constitutes ‘data’ and ‘evidence’ in the first place.

In her paper, Dr. Young attempts to articulate what she sees as the unique nature of the psychoanalytic enterprise, distinguishing it as an interpretive or hermeneutic science in distinction to a natural science. In her discussion, she urges psychoanalytic psychologists to maintain their ground in the EBT debate by not forgetting the unique ground upon which psychoanalysis stands. She explains how this ground includes, among other things, vital premises about individuality in contrast to the generic, about the importance of context in contrast to extractable, objectifiable ‘truths’ and about the inherent opacity and contradictoriness of human experience in contrast to more manifest, face value, identitarian notions of self identity. Her paper concludes with a clinical illustration with ‘evidence’ from the data of the consulting room. The material demonstrates the insurmountable difficulties that can be encountered, when the theoretical, philosophical and clinical assumptions of a psychoanalytic treatment are significantly different from those informing the research methodology used to evaluate such work.

Linda J. Young, Ph.D. is President of the Academy for the Study of the Psychoanalytic Arts and a Past Vice President of MSPP. She is the author of numerous papers presented at local, national, and international conferences. Dr. Young is a consultant at the V.A. Hospital in Detroit and has a private practice in Ann Arbor, Farmington Hills, and Northville.