Psychoanalysis and History

Michael Balint's Word Trail: The 'Ocnophil', the 'Philobat' and Creative Dyads
Soreanu R
In this paper, I discuss how Michael Balint arrived at the concepts of 'ocnophil' and 'philobat', which refer to two kinds of object relations. I look at the correspondence between Balint and the classical scholar David Eichholz. The two crafted these words together in a passionate exchange of letters. By recognizing the importance of creative dyads in psychoanalysis, we gain more insight into the creation of psychoanalytic knowledge beyond the frame of individual authorship. I read the collaboration between Balint and Eichholz in its historical and theoretical context, particularly in relation to the Budapest School of psychoanalysis, where intellectual collaborations had an important place. The Budapest School was Michael Balint's first home, and it shaped his epistemic and psychoanalytic style. Balint constructed his psychoanalytic theories in a spirit of openness, maintaining a commitment to conversations between psychoanalysis and other disciplines.
Towards a history of operatic psychoanalysis
Carpenter A
This paper examines the history of the trope of psychoanalytic therapy in musical dramas, from Richard Wagner to Kurt Weill, concluding that psychoanalysis and the musical drama are, in some ways, companions and take cues from each other, beginning in the mid-19th century. In Wagner's music dramas, psychoanalytic themes and situations - specifically concerning the meaning and analysis of dreams - are presaged. In early modernist music dramas by Richard Strauss and Arnold Schoenberg (contemporaries of Freud), tacit representations of the drama of hysteria, its aetiology and "treatment" comprise key elements of the plot and resonate with dissonant musical soundscapes. By the middle of the 20th century, Kurt Weill places the relationship between analyst and patient in the foreground of his musical "Lady in the Dark," thereby making manifest what is latent in a century-spanning chain of musical works whose meaning centres, in part, around representations of psychoanalysis.
How sex became gender
Nye RA
This article argues that "sex" which had been commonly assumed in the West to refer to a permanent set of biological and behavioural traits particular to men and women, is gradually being replaced in general usage by "gender." Though feminist theorists attempted to attach a constructivist meaning to gender, a generation of developmental theorists, clinicians and analysts has imbued the term with the determinism and biological qualities formerly ascribed to "sex." The triumph of this materialist conception of gender is not assured, but it threatens our ability to think about gender identity as a historically-constructed category.
Introduction to William Stephenson's quest for a science of subjectivity
Good JM
In this introduction to the life and work of William Stephenson my aim is to provide a general overview of the development of his thinking and, more specifically, to highlight the importance he attached to the study of single cases. I also attempt to provide a context for an understanding of the significance of his "Tribute to Melanie Klein." Some of the principal reasons for Stephenson's marginal status in the discipline of psychology will also emerge in the course of the article. I begin by outlining some of the central notions in Q-methodology. The early sections of the article trace his roots in the north of England - the setting for his schooling and university training in physics - and then outline his encounters with Charles Spearman and Cyril Burt at University College London. The subsequent section deals with his time at the University of Oxford Institute of Experimental Psychology and the wartime interruption to his career. The next few sections take us across the Atlantic and describe some of the most significant features of his work on Q-methodology. these sections also record the difficulties Stephenson experienced before he eventually secured a tenured position at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. In the final section I attempt to situate Q-methodology in relation to some of the principal theoretical orientations in the human sciences.
Eternal hate and conscience: on the filiation between Freudian psychoanalysis and sixteenth and early seventeenth century Protestant thought
Westerink H
In his seminar on ethics Jacques Lacan suggests there exists a "filiation or cultural paternity" between Freudian psychoanalysis and a "new direction of thought" that starts with Luther's conceptualization of God's eternal hate of man, and is then futher continued in Calvinism. In this article this thesis is explored. The author argues that there is not only a familiarity between the Protestant doctrines of predestination and Freud's reconstruction of prehistoric events and primal scenes, but also that Lacan's views on conscience formation and his elaborations of the complexity of moral decisions resembles Calvinist thought on civil and spiritual conscience, and the longing for restoration of a lost image of God.
"Operation Pied Piper": a psychoanalytic narrative of authority in a time of war
Farley L
The evacuation of British children during World War II is read alongside the legend of the "Pied Piper" after which the mass migration was officially named. While virtually every British account of World War II makes mention of the evacuation, most are silent on the question of its ominous title: "Operation Pied Piper." This paper traces the legend's key theme - on influencing and being influenced - as it surfaces in the writing of one child analyst and one social worker charged with the responsibility of leading a family of five hostels for British youth. At a time when Hitler's deadly regime reached unprecedented heights across the Channel, the legend of the "Pied Piper" becomes a highly suggestive metaphor for thinking about D. W. Winnicott and Clare Britton's writing on what authority could mean in the face of leadership gone terribly wrong. Quite another, profoundly intimate loss of leadership haunts their words as well: Sigmund Freud, in exile from Hitler's Europe and leader of the psychoanalytic movement, died in London just weeks after the first wave of Blitz evacuations. It is in this context that Winnicott and Britton articulated a theory of authority that could address the losses of history without at the same time demanding the loss of the mind.
The Berlin tradition in Chicago: Franz Alexander and the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis
Schmidt ES
Freud considered Franz Alexander, the first graduate of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute and an assistant in the Berlin Polyclinic, to be "one of our strongest hopes for the future." Alexander went on to become the first director of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1932 and modeled some of the Chicago Institute's mission on his Berlin experiences. He was also a researcher in psychosomatic medicine, a prolific writer about psychoanalysis and prominent in psychoanalytic organizations. As he proposed modifications in psychoanalytic technique, he became a controversial figure, especially in the elaboration of his ideas about brief therapy and the corrective emotional experience. This paper puts Alexander's achievements in historical context, draws connections between the Berlin and Chicago Institutes and suggests that, despite his quarrels with traditional psychoanalysis, Alexander's legacy may be in his attitude towards psychoanalysis, characterized by a commitment to scientific study, a willingness to experiment, and a conviction about the role of psychoanalysis within the larger culture.
Sandor Rado and the fate of the Berlin model in New York
Tomlinson WC
This paper examines the influence of the Berlin model on psychoanalytic education in New York through the person of Sandor Rado, who was recruited from Berlin to become the first Education Director at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute in 1931, and later went on to found the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. While the basic elements of the so-called tripartite model of psychoanalytic education were adopted in principle in New York prior to Rado's arrival, he had an enormous impact on the development and implementation of that curriculum, while attempting to modify it both theoretically and clinically, and became one of the focal points of the controversies that led to the break-up of that institute. He also sought to expand ties to American medicine and psychiatry and to research in general.
The Freudian subject and the Maoist mind: the diaries of Hermine Hug-Hellmuth and Lei Feng
Larson W
Although written in vastly different cultural contexts and periods, Hermine Hug-Hellmuth's "Diary of a Young Girl" (1919) and Lei Feng's "The Diary of Lei Feng" (1963) both to a large extent were written as concept pieces, with the goal of illustrating specific theories of the self. In the case of Hug-Hellmuth, the underlying theory is the Freudian sexualized unconscious mind, whereas for Lei Feng, it is Maoist revolutionary optimism. Additionally, both diaries have unusually strong inauthentic or 'fake' aspects. Although Hug-Hellmuth never admitted to writing the diary, most critics believed it came from her pen. Lei Feng's diary was revised through his own attempts to present himself as politically progressive, by editors, and through successive political movements that focused on the person behind the diary and made him one of the most widely-recognized figures in China. As such, the diaries are excellent windows into powerful and long-lasting ideological constructs.
José Bleger: Jew, Marxist and psychoanalyst
Plotkin M
The article analyses the trajectory of Dr. José Bleger (1922-1972), an Argentine psychoanalyst who tried to articulate his triple identity as a Jew, a Marxist, and a psychoanalyst. Bleger played a central role in the constitution of the 'psy movement' and, in more general terms, in the diffusion of a 'psy culture' in Argentina, a country that today is considered as one of the 'world capitals of psychoanalysis'. However, his trajectory showed not only the limits of his projects in the increasingly politically polarized Argentina of the 1960s, as well as their internal contradictions, but also the difficulties of articulating different identities in those agitated times. Through an analysis of Bleger's trajectory this article explores larger issues of Argentine political culture and their relations with the emergence of a psychoanalytic culture.
Freud's Mexican readers
Gallo R
This essay presents an overview of artists and writers who read Freud's work in Mexico between 1920 and 1968. The focus is on cultural readings of Freud: non-clinical interpretations of psychoanalysis that applied Freud's theory to literary, artistic, philosophical, or religious questions. The essay focuses on Salvador Novo, one of the poets associated with the Contemporáneos group, and his reading of the "Three Essays in the Theory of Sexuality;" Raúl Carrancá y Trujillo, a judge and criminologist who used psychoanalysis in his work, including the trial of Trotky's assassin; Octavio Paz, a poet and intellectual who wrote an essay on Mexican history, "The Labyrinth of Solitude," as a response to "Moses and Monotheism;" and Gregorio Lemercier, a Benedictine monk who placed his monastery in group analysis. These unorthodox readings of Freud opened the door for some of the most daring intellectual experiments in the 20th century.
Postcolonial Freud: psychoanalysis in the French Antilles
Simek N
While Martinique and Guadeloupe were assimilated into the French state in 1946, traces of colonial power relations and economic structures persist despite the islands' current status as French 'départements' equal to any other. This article examines the contributions of Freud's thought to the shift in critical perspective that has allowed the continued "colonial" status of these islands, and the cultural alienation of its people, to be identified as a problem or phenomenon requiring analysis and rectification. Speaking of "postcolonial Freud" in this context is tantamount to asking: which postcolony for the French Antillean future, and which Freud for the thought emerging from this space?
Fixing Freud: the Oedipus complex in early twenty-first century US American novels
Tobin RD
Representations of Sigmund Freud in early 21st century US American novels rely on and respond to the image of Freud that emerged from investigations by Paul Roazen ("Brother Animal," 1969) and Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson ("The Assault on Truth," 1984), which cast doubt on the validity of the Oedipus complex. Relying on Roazen, Brenda Webster's "Vienna Triangle" (2009) links Freud's oedipal thinking to paranoia and male masochism. Working with Masson, Selden Edwards's "The Little Book" (2008) takes Freud to task for abandoning the seduction theory in favor of the Oedipus complex. Jed Rubenfeld's "The Interpretation of Murder" (2006) rethinks the Oedipus complex as a projection of adults onto their children. All three novels seek to celebrate Freud's understanding of the human psyche, while shifting the focus of the oedipal structure away from the murderous and lustful child toward the adult.
Phantasm of Freud: Nandor Fodor and the psychoanalytic approach to the supernatural in interwar Britain
Timms J
The paper examines the appearance of "psychoanalytic psychical research" in interwar Britain, notably in the work of Nandor Fodor, Harry Price and others, including R. W. Pickford and Sylvia Payne. The varying responses of Sigmund Freud and Ernest Jones to the area of research are discussed. These researches are placed in the context of the increasingly widespread use of psychoanalytic and psychological interpretations of psychical events in the period, which in turn reflects the penetration of psychoanalysis into popular culture. The saturation of psychical research activity with gender and sexuality and the general fascination with, and embarrassment about, psychical activity is explored.
Travelling the path from fantasy to history: the struggle for original history within Freud's early circle, 1908-1913
Cotti P
Between 1908 and 1913, Freud and his disciples debated different theories of the origins of mankind, which Freud analysed in the context of his theory of neuroses. Wittels was the first of this group to present, in 1908, what Freud labelled a "fantasy" on the subject. Wittels contemplated various prehistoric scenarios (such as a murder of the father by his children) which he postulated as potential explanations for the origin of man's conception of religion, law and state. Freud (1913) eventually conceived his own human prehistory which differed significantly from the ideas of Wittels and his other disciples (Jung, Tausk) and allowed him to claim he now held a "historical" point of view that his disciples were missing.
Freud in Trieste: journey to an ambiguous city
Gandolfi L
This article provides an insightful exploration of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and the city of Trieste. Through an analysis of the correspondence between Freud and his friend Eduard Silberstein, Gandolfi follows those places visited by the future father of psychoanalysis and analyses their link to Freud's life. The journey to Trieste is considered as an experience that played a fundamental role in his future decisions as well as in the development of some of his psychoanalytic theories. The article eventually relates the ambiguous nature of the city - a peculiar space in with North and South, East and West converge - to Freud's own Triestine experience, that not only remits to his initial scientific researches, but also symbolizes a first significant contact with the world of sexuality.
Space travels of the Wolfman: phobia and its worlds
Campbell J and Pile S
In this paper, we present a spatial reading of Freud's famous case study, "The Wolfman" (1918). By reading the Wolfman and his phobias spatially, we want to show how psychoanalysis is not a linear story of personal development, but reveals instead the unconscious estates and competing places that our desires both travel in, but also get stuck and waylaid in. The unconscious "estates" that the Wolfman travels through, constituting his phobias, is something we aim to illuminate. These worlds are not simply "many," they are specific -- but they nonetheless unfold in plural and non-linear ways. Phobias are the policemen of our desires keeping us safe and at home, within certain boundaries. And yet the Wolfman's phobias, his unconscious territories are arguably spaces that need opening up, not hypnotizing away. As Freud travels alongside the Wolfman through his worlds, he can never by sure where he is, where they are. And this is a good thing because if space travel in psychoanalysis is going to work, it has to be alive to the uncanny nature and the uncertain boundaries that constitute our desires. As a touchstone case study in psychoanalysis, the Wolfman's case points to the very uncertainty with which analysis must proceed. Psychoanalysis, in this view, is more about companionable travelling, without either a fixed point of origin or a predetermined destination, than about knowing where you have been, where you are and where you are going; more about creating a geography of possibilities than about determining which ones should or should not be taken.
Karl Abraham in New York: the contributions of Bertram D. Lewin
Thompson NL
Bertram D. Lewin (1896-1971), a leading member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in the late 1920s. Lewin's thinking was deeply influenced by Karl Abraham, whose delineation of the oral stage of libidinal development provided the theoretical foundation for Lewin's highly original psychoanalytic papers on mania, sleep and dreams. These contributions and his articulation of the oral triad -- the wish to eat, the wish to be eaten and the wish to sleep -- are reviewed and the stimulating influence his thinking exercised on his analytic colleagues is noted.
Mysteries of nature
Molnar M
This article examines a group photograph of the Psychiatry and Neurology section of the 66th Meeting of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors in Vienna, 24-30 September 1894 which Sigmund Freud attended. The society's origins in Naturphilosophie are indicated and a number of the participants are identified on the photo. They and the events at the conference are related to Sigmund Freud's work at the time and to his gradual abandonment of anatomy and of heredity and degeneration as significant aetiological factors in the neuroses. Philosophical problems, such as how phenomena should be described and how 'nature' is conceptualized, are also considered in the light of their implications for Freud's life and thought at that period.
Anaclitic therapy in North America psychoanalytic and psychiatric practice in the 1950s-1960s
Raz M
Anaclitic therapy, a little-known chapter in the history of North American psychoanalysis and psychiatry, sheds light on the prevailing trends and therapeutic approaches common in the 1950s and 1960s. It touches upon major junctions in the history of psychoanalysis and psychiatry, such as the therapeutic use of regression, the usage of biological measures in conjunction with psychoanalysis, the relationship between therapist and patient and eclecticism in North American psychiatry. By following the brief history of this form of therapy, this article affords a glimpse of the history of some of the significant issues practitioners in psychoanalysis and psychiatry faced at the time.
Research into witchcraft in psychoanalysis and history
Gerlach A
Witchcraft and witch-hunting have been a topic for numerous historical and psychoanalytical research projects. But until now, most of these projects have remained rather isolated from one from the other, each in their own context. In this article I shall attempt to set up a dialogue between psychoanalysis and history by way of the example of research into witchcraft. However, I make no claim to covering the different psychoanalytical and historical approaches in full. As a historical 'layman', my interest lies in picking out some of the approaches that seem to me particularly well suited to contribute to reciprocal enhancement.