Michael Shulman, co-author of the report and a psychoanalyst, said he reviewed the course catalogs of the 150 top-ranked American universities in U.,”Although the study of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis is typically associated with the field of psychology, today it is found everywhere but there, according to an American Psychoanalytic Association's report to be published next year.

Michael Shulman, co-author of the report and a psychoanalyst, said he reviewed the course catalogs of the 150 top-ranked American universities in U.S. News and World Report and found psychoanalysis to be more prevalent in the humanities and other social sciences than in psychology.

"Psychology departments continue to minimize teaching about it," Shulman said.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign does not have any psychoanalysts, said David Irwin, dean of the psychology department at the U of I. The department is heavily research-oriented rather than therapy-based, he said.

"At least at the University of Illinois, psychoanalysis is not something we emphasize," Irwin said.

Psychoanalysis has encountered hostility from other fields in psychology since the 1920s and never found a large role in American psychology, Shulman said.

Today, people interested in drama or novels in the humanities use psychoanalysis to find symbols and meanings of the unconscious, he said.

"The insight into the human mind through literature had a ready fit in the humanities," Shulman said. "People take for granted that the unconscious exists in the humanities."

The idea of the unconscious is much less accepted in psychology, he said.

However, psychoanalysis is alive and well in pop culture, specifically in the Comedy Central television show "South Park," Shulman said.

He said the underlying motives of self-deception, narcissism, sadism, lying and humiliating one's opponent are prominent in every episode of "South Park."

"Self-deception is a major psychoanalytic theme," Shulman said.

The field of psychoanalysis has dwindled in psychology because of the lack of empirical evidence, he said.

Since the 1950s, psychology has become more biologically oriented, whereas psychoanalysts rely on clinical experiences and case studies as evidence, said Michael Wierzbicki, associate professor and chair of the department of psychology at Marquette.

"Clearly there is a lot more research evidence that supports biological influences on emotional problems," Wierzbicki said.

Alice Eagly, chair of Northwestern University's psychology department, said psychoanalysis hasn't developed systematic tests, which explains why psychoanalysis is not as active in psychology departments.

"We're scientists, so we go into science," Eagly said.

The humanities play by a different set of rules when using psychoanalysis, Wierzbicki said. They interpret a person's behavior for underlying sexual and aggressive impulses. Accuracy is as not important as consistency or satisfaction of the client, he said.

"If that is a method used in the humanities to interpret film (or) religion, then sure, psychoanalytic theory is very useful for them," Wierzbicki said. "It provides a very rich way of thinking about human behavior."

While Freud is revitalized in the humanities, he won't be forgotten entirely in psychology, Eagly said. Freud exists as part of the intellectual history of psychology and will still be taught.

"We haven't forgotten about Darwin. We're not forgetting about Freud," Eagly said.

Shulman said the field of psychoanalysis will not be forgotten either.

"I don't think it's going to get any worse than it's been," Shulman said. "It's been bad in the psychology department for a long time."

There are about 5,000 to 8,000 psychoanalysts practicing in the U.S., he said.

In upcoming years, however, Shulman said students will demand that more psychoanalysis be taught in psychology departments.

The field of psychoanalysis is not dead, he said. The field will live on as long as people talk about it.

"People used to say rock 'n' roll is dead and did that happen?" Shulman said.

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