Erich Fromm (1900–1980) viewed most people who live in a dehumanizing and alienating society as themselves dehumanized and alienated. We can be fully healed and whole, he believed, only within a culture that itself is moving toward becoming healed and whole. He offered not only innovations in psychotherapy but also a program for restructuring society along more cooperative, less alienating lines.

The aim of analysis, said Fromm, is to know oneself. The method is designed to help a patient discover and fathom his or her hidden total experience. “Hidden” means bringing what we have not known was within us into awareness. “Total” means knowing all of the self, not just bits and pieces. Ultimately, the goal of therapy is to have the patient fully exercise his ...