Leading articles

The Book

With a book in mind as we were developing the symposium, the participants were invited to select any relevant topic, of their own choosing and personal interest, but that the material had to be new, original and unpublished. The resulting essays were to tell stories that integrated theory, practice and history. To the core Burlingham collection, we then added over a hundred archival photographs from Thomas Aichhorn in Vienna, the Leo Baeck Institute in New York, the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna, the Freud Museum London and other institutional and private collectors. The book was originally due to be published by Karnac Books. It remains in the History of Psychoanalysis Series, but was issued by Routledge in January 2019. >> continue

Like so many New York stories, the Freud/Tiffany Project came from a chance encounter at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. About 6 years ago, I met Michael Burlingham, the grandson of Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham, just when he had started to inventory the objects and documents in the estate of his father. That would be Bob Burlingham, Dorothy’s eldest son. As a teenager, Bob had taken hundreds of photos and placed the celluloid strips of his photo and film negatives, horizontally, into an album. >> continue

“If society is in danger, it is not because of man’s aggressiveness but because of the repression of personal aggressiveness in individuals” (Winnicott, 1991)

The word aggression is derived from the Latin word "aggredi" (deponent), which can be either translated as "charge, attack" or"advancing/charging forward (something)". The first translation indicates the hostility (destructiveness) associated with this term, while the other emphasizes its constructive potential. Both versions are legitimate interpretations of the term aggression. It is precisely this ambiguity that makes the discussion about aggression so delicate. Most people associate aggression solely with destruction and anti-social behavior. The perception of one´s own aggressive impulses causes feelings of fear or guilt that must be repressed, split off or compensated as of counteractions. >> continue

Freud’s consulting room has become a familiar historic image with its carpet-draped couch, and as is well known, every surface was laden with ancient archaeological figurines. With affectionate irony, he called them “meine…alten und dreckigen Götter[1].” These figures represented to Freud a metaphor for psychoanalysis itself – digging for long-buried evidence of powerful but often unacknowledged truths. That they were gods presents an even deeper mystery, never plumbed directly by Freud himself, but suggesting the simultaneous fascination and aversion characteristic of a neurotic symptom. >> continue

In Part II, Dany Nobus discusses the Bloomsbury Group, the psychoanalytic tradition (or lack thereof) in the United Kingdom, Shakespeare and the status quo of mental health services.

When did psychoanalysis arrive in Britain? >> continue

In his interview with THE VIENNA PSYCHOANALYST, Professor Dany Nobus reconstructs the clinical history of Princess Alice of Battenberg and provides insight into the history of psychoanalysis.

What sparked your interest in Princess Alice of Battenberg? >> continue

William Shakespeare and Sigmund Freud.

“Everywhere I go, a poet has been here before me” (Sigmund Freud)

No analysis will ever do justice to the scope and literary brilliance with which William Shakespeare illustrated the depths of the human condition. His iambic pentameter, or blank verse, is said to mimic the rhythm of the human heartbeat. The key to understanding his plays is empathy as the famous playwright had a profound and unsurpassed understanding of the human psyche - a gift that inspired both great admiration and ambivalence in Sigmund Freud. >> continue

In the second epiosde of Finding Freud, we will visit the place, where Freud dreamt and interpreted his famous dream "Irma´s injection".

We will explore a historical site that bears great significance for psychoanalysis - Let us surprise you with our story!


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«Do your smuggling job,
the one you have always done,
and that was more than you believed
as the job of listening and answering .. ". (Baudouin, 1964)

1. Introduction

To conceive the complementarity of the Freudian agencies (Es, Ego and Super-ego) with the Jungian agencies (Persona, Shadow and Self) ...

«Fais ton métier de passeur, celui que tu as
toujours fait, et qui était aussi, plus que tu ne
croyais, métier d’écouter et de répondre… ». (Baudouin, 1964)

1. Introduction

Pour concevoir la complémentarité des instances freudiennes (Ça-Moi-Surmoi) avec les instances jungiennes (Persona-Ombre-Soi) ... >> continue

When the name Sigmund Freud falls, most people immediately think of psychoanalysis. However, Freud was already a popular researcher before developing psychoanalysis. Some of the key steps that have led him to develop psychoanalysis had already been made while working on his previous research areas, such as neurophysiology and psychopharmacology. >> continue

On famous psychoanalysts and their study of parapsychology.

“You will learn nothing from this paper of mine about the enigma of telepathy; indeed you will not even gather whether I believe in the existence of “telepathy” or not.” (Dreams and Telepathy, Sigmund Freud, 1922)

As connoisseur of ancient Greek language and literature, Sigmund Freud must have had a nodding acquaintance with “Philopseudes” by the satirist Lucian of Samosata (the inspiration for “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe), in which the sharp-tongued author wittily ridicules those who believe in the supernatural.
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The Vienna School of Psychoanalysis with its creator and main proponent Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) triggered significant interest in the U.S. and became particularly prominent when Freud visited the U.S. in 1909. Psychoanalytically interested Americans started to flock to Vienna after World War I until the Nazis took charge of the metropolis in 1938. By then, Sigmund Freud had already left the city and the country along with his daughter Anna (1895-1982) and many of their (often Jewish) friends and patients. >> continue

On June 4, a sculpture of Sigmund Freud created by Oscar Nemon was unveiled on the campus of the Medical University of Vienna. Prior to the unveiling, we talked to Sigmund Freud’s great-grandson Lord David Freud and Lady Aurelia Young, the sculptor’s daughter.


Interview with Lord David Freud:

What is your relationship with Vienna?

Lord David Freud: It´s a very complicated relationship because my father (Anton Walter Freud) and the rest of the family was thrown out of Vienna, and it was the fundamental cause of an underlying insecurity for him. It was very character-forming in a not very positive way. My father was very insecure wherever he lived. He never felt quite at home, that he belonged in the UK. >> continue

Two famous psychiatrists, who loved art and whose homes were made into museums.

Angelos Katakouzenos (1904-1982) was a pioneer and representative of the psychiatric science, as well as one of the greatest Greek intellectuals of the 20th century, who admired and respected the work of Sigmund Freud, ...


ΔΥΟ ΔΙΑΣΗΜΟΙ ΨΥΧΙΑΤΡΟΙ ΠΟΥ ΑΓΑΠΟΥΣΑΝ ΤΗΝ ΤΕΧΝΗ ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΣΠΙΤΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΓΙΝΑΝ ΜΟΥΣΕΙΑ

Άγγελος Κατακουζηνός (1904-1982): από τους πρωτοπόρους εκπροσώπους της ψυχιατρικής επιστήμης, αλλά και τους επιφανέστερους πνευματικούς ανθρώπους της ελληνικής διανόησης του 20ου αιώνα, που θαύμαζε και σεβόταν το έργο του πατέρα της ψυχανάλυσης Sigmund Freud, ... >> continue

We put psychoanalysis in Belgium under the magnifying glass.

I would like to give my sincere thanks to Johan De Groef and the psychoanalytic community in Belgium.

The development of psychoanalysis in Belgium is closely tied to the country’s complex history and diversity. Sigmund Freud himself once visited Brussels on his way to Paris, and describes the cosmopolitan city as follows:

"Brussels was beautiful, a huge city, splendid buildings, the street inscriptions French and Flemish [...] I came to a steep hill, where a building stood, of a mass development and column splendor, [...] I really thought it was the royal palace, [...] It was the Palace of Justice. [...] Moving on, I soon came to the Rue Royale and now a find followed the others, the monument of Egmont and Horn was the most beautiful." >> continue

Sigmund Freud lived in Vienna from 1860 to 1938 where he gained insights that would change the world. The zoologist and neurophysiologist Freud spent more than a decade researching the anatomy of the nervous system- first of lower, then higher animals, and finally the human brain. His research was groundbreaking. He found that the “higher” species develop from the lower forms they presuppose and regress to them again. Proof of this continuity confirmed Darwin´s theory that man is descended from animals (evolution) and was not created as a finished man (creativity theory). >> continue

"I am faithful to memories forever; to people I shall never be faithful"

The countless (1539!) as well as entertaining letters Freud sent to Martha Bernay still enjoy great popularity after their publication in 2011. They shed some light on a different side of Freud that didn’t quite correspond to the popular image. Here, the usually so serious psychoanalyst flirts, compliments and woos his beloved. >> continue

Sigmund Freud was a fan of the ancient Greek culture and had an excellent knowledge of the ancient Greek language. He was so familiar with it, that he wrote his diary in ancient Greek as a youngster.

Ο FREUD ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ

Ο Sigmund Freud ήταν λάτρης του αρχαίου ελληνικού πολιτισμού και άριστος γνώστης της αρχαίας ελληνικής γλώσσας. Τόση ήταν η εξοικείωσή του μαζί της, που έγραφε με άνεση στα ελληνικά το ημερολόγιό του, όταν ήταν νέος. >> continue

Tatoi: one of the most beautiful forests of Attica at the foot of mount Parnitha, with 47,427 acres, located at a distance of ca. 20 kilometers north of the center of Athens.

MARIE BONAPARTE: Η ΠΡΙΓΚΙΠΙΣΣΑ ΤΗΣ ΨΥΧΑΝΑΛΥΣΗΣ

Κτήμα Τατοΐου: ένα από τα ωραιότερα δάση της Αττικής στους πρόποδες του όρους Πάρνηθα, έκτασης 47.427 στρεμμάτων, που βρίσκεται σε απόσταση 20 περίπου χιλιομέτρων, βόρεια από το κέντρο της Αθήνας. >> continue

Etymologically speaking, the term "family" has its roots in Latin and refers in a figuratively sense to a housing community defined by marriage or ancestry. Frequently in today´s households, only two generations live together. >> continue

In the past few weeks, a promising story kept our editorial staff on the edge of their seats!

On a fine spring morning, I was invited out for a cup of coffee by a dear friend of mine at her new house in one of Vienna’s posher districts. At the time, I had no idea that my mind would be occupied with something fascinating in the coming weeks. My acquaintance led me through her new home and pointed to a place in the living area. She told me that this was the place were Freud’s couch used to stand, which had belonged to the previous house owner. Indeed?! I was surprised and wondered what she meant by that, and when that was supposed to have taken place. Completely unaffected by my reaction, she added, "Well, two years ago." My acquaintance is not psychoanalytically inclined and merely knows that I work in the field, which is presumably the reason why she told me about it en passant. It took me a while to process this information, before confiding the story to a trusted expert. Could it be possible that Freud’s Couch did not make it to London? Perhaps only the carpet? Our editorial staff picked up the trail - so what exactly had been in this house up until two years ago? We were determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.



Il divano di Sigmund Freud è veramente a Londra?

Le ultime settimane erano davvero eccitante per la nostra redazione!

Durante una bella mattina di primavera, sono stata invitata per una tazza di caffè nella nuova casa di una amica in uno dei quartieri più belli di Vienna. A quel momento non sospettavo che alla fine di questa visita la mia mente sarebbe talmente occupata nelle prossime settimane. La mia conoscente mi ha guidato attraverso la sua nuova casa e indicò su un posto nel soggiorno. Mi racconto che questo è il luogo dove si trovava il divano di Freud, che era in possesso del precedente proprietario della casa. Davvero?! Ero sorpresa e le chiese che cosa volesse dire, e quando tutto questo era occorso. Completamente ignorando la mia reazione, ha aggiunto: "Beh, due anni fa." La mia amica non ha niente a che fare con psicoanalisi e sapeva solo che io lavoro con essa. Questo è probabilmente il motivo per cui me lo ha raccontato cosi casualmente. Mi c´è voluto un po’ di tempo per digerire queste informazioni, e poi ho confidato la storia a un esperto di fiducia. Potrebbe essere possibile che il divano di Freud non era arrivato fino a Londra? Forse solo il tappeto? La nostra redazione seguì queste tracce. Cosa c’era in questa casa due anni fa? Volevamo andare a fondo di questo mistero. >> continue

The historian and political scientist Dr. Peter Pirker tells the story of Sigmund Freud´s grandchild Anton Walter Freud and his adventurous life as a refugee and SOE agent.


How did you learn about Anton Walter Freud and what made you interested in the topic?

Peter Pirker: I came across Anton Walter Freud while doing research about the role of Austrians in British Intelligence, namely the Special Operations Executive. This included deserters of the Wehrmacht as well as Jewish people, and political opponents that were driven out of Austria by the Nazis in 1938. After detention and deployment in the pioneer corps of the British army, they were recruited by the SOE as they had agreed to undertake dangerous missions behind German lines to support the fight against the Nazis. I was particularly interested in the history of resistance – both from deserters of the Wehrmacht and refugees in exile who decided to make an active contribution towards crushing National Socialism. Initially, I had a list of Austrians who were part of the SOE. Most of them used pseudonyms – cover names they had adopted In British exile for their own safety, so that they wouldn´t be identifiable in case of being taken captive. Among the few agents who didn´t change their names was Anton Walter Freud. For me, he was one of those easiest to identify, and with the help of another refugee, Eric Sanders, I got in touch with Anton Walter Freud. Eric Sanders is now 97 years old and the last living Austrian refugee who was part of the SOE. After 1945, Eric Sanders organized the reunions, if you will, the annual veterans´ meeting, and ran a small archive on the Austrian division of the SOE. That´s how I got in touch with Anton Walter Freud through Eric Sanders in 2003. At the time, I was preparing for a trip to England to interview a number of Germans and Austrians who had joined the SOE. I didn´t get a chance to meet Walter Freud as he had passed shortly before our arranged appointment in 2004. However, after writing him a letter, we had a long phone conversation. Essentially, he tried to assess who I was, my background and my reason for being interested in his story. Both the questions he asked and his opinion on Austria and Austrian society were quite interesting. >> continue

Here’s a typical day in Freud’s life. From Monday to Saturday, Freud woke at 7:00. His wife Martha would have already laid out his daily items, from toothbrush to clothing. After dressing, Freud ate breakfast and then sat for the barber who, on daily house calls, trimmed his beard. Freud’s housekeeper, Paula Fichtl, showed patients into the waiting room in his home office at 19 Berggasse, where Freud saw patients from 8:00 or 9:00 until 1:00. At 1:00 Freud ate the big meal of the day, sometimes in the presence of guests, and from 2:00 to 3:00 went for a brisk walk along the Ringstrasse – not quite Kant in his regularity, but close. During these walks, often trailing one of his children, Freud might stop for personal items like cigars and a newspaper, or drop off the mail. And at times his friendly followers, knowing his schedule, would catch up with him along the route. By 3:00 Freud was back at work and would see patients until as late as 9:00. After that it was a late supper, maybe a game of cards or conversation with his sister-in-law, Minna, or maybe he’d take another walk. After that Freud returned to his office where he edited, wrote, read, and researched his ideas, finally closing his day by answering his often-voluminous correspondence. In time Freud’s works would be collected in 23 (actually incomplete) volumes, while his correspondence, estimated to run to 35,000 letters, would appear posthumously in at least two dozen published volumes. Freud’s day ended at 1:00am – and sometimes later. Then he got up again at 7:00. >> continue

Royal Visitors! Prince Charles and Camilla pay Vienna a visit on their European tour. With Freud’s emigration to Great Britain, psychoanalysis gained popularity in England. What connects psychoanalysis with the British Monarchy? A story about brave spies and eccentric princesses.


Alice of Battenberg (25 February 1885 – 5 December 1969)

Alice of Battenberg was perhaps Freud’s most famous royal patient along with Marie Bonaparte. Congenitally deaf, Alice was the mother of Prince Philip and mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II. She and her husband Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark were forced to flee the country after a defeat against the Turkish army with Prince Andrew escaping execution only by a hair’s breadth with the help of Princess Alice’s royal relatives. The family moved to the outskirts of Paris, where Alice’s behavior became increasingly eccentric. The princess immersed herself in spirituality – religion and mysticism soon became crucial parts of her life. She was convinced she was in touch with Buddha and Jesus Christ and even claimed to have healing powers. She started to practice the art of hands-on healing to the point of exhaustion, was obsessed with occultism and believed herself to be saint-like. Eventually, Alice’s gynaecologist Dr. Lourus was consulted, who said she was showing signs of a psychosis and sent her to Dr. Ernst Simmel, a former colleague of Freud, to Tegel to undergo psychoanalysis – Dr. Simmels diagnosis: Paranoid Schizophrenia. >> continue

Dear Readers!

THE VIENNA PSYCHOANALYST is pleased to present today the first article written by our editor Sabrina Zehetner.

Enjoy reading!

In an age of political conflicts and intense, public scrutiny on the internet, satire as Enfant Terrible has become ubiquitous. Looking back on a long history of ridicule and political dissent, satire - like psychoanalysis - discusses social taboos and human agency – satire on the couch.


Satire 2.0

The John Oliver Show, SNL, The Stephen Colbert Report, The Onion und Kate Beaton’s cartoons, the New Yorker and Charlie Hebdo – the list of modern satire is inexhaustible and multifaceted while the satirists’ motives are as diverse as their targets. It is not surprising that satire as a genre – as is the case with the majority of European cultural history – happens to be another child of ancient Greek poetry. At the English court, it was aristocrats such as the notorious John Wilmot (The 2nd Earl of Rochester) who could afford making fun of English royalty and its lifestyle. In its obscenity, however, these satirical works were in no way inferior to their modern successors. In France, the birthplace of the caricature, satirists the likes of Charles Philipon faced imprisonment for expressing dissent and criticizing royal agency. Later, during the French revolution, the genre played a significant role in empowering citizens through political engagement. As the court ceased to be the cultural center and the readership became increasingly heterogeneous, satire evolved into an independent art form. Finally part of the mainstream media, satire enjoyed great popularity and regular publication. The golden age of grand-scale satire written by the likes of Swift, Pope or Molière belongs to the past and gave way to Memes and Late-night-TV. In the digital age, where politicians find themselves under public scrutiny 24/7, leaders present the perfect target for satirists – paradoxically, the virtual reality both demands and persecutes authenticity. Good satire combines humor with informed critique. An audience only derives pleasure from satire when the irony is understood as such – if not due to opposing political views or misleading social critique, the genre ceases to be effective and even runs the risk of representing the very thing it set out to criticize. Why do we derive pleasure from an art form known for its obscenity and hostility? A number of modern critics refer to Freud, according to whom, the sadistic pleasure is gained through rhetoric violence while others link the release of aggression to the source of pleasure. Surprisingly, psychoanalysis has never properly addressed satire despite its topicality. >> continue

Intersubjectivity in psychoanalysis

As a result of dealing with the theory and technique of psychoanalysis, I came across the "theory of intersubjectivity" which brought me closer to my goal. I want to give a small insight. A definition that I find succeeded puts the patient and analyst at the center of understanding and shows that "psychoanalysis tries to illuminate phenomena that occur within a specific mental field, which through the intersection of two subjectivities - of the patient and the analyst - is constituted" (Atwood and Stolorow in Donna M. Orange et al. 2001, 11).

Subjectivity is presupposed in the theory of intersubjectivity. More precisely, it is about two or more different subjectivities and the interaction between these (cf. Donna M. Orange et al. 2001,11). The point is to understand that we can work and understand psychoanalytically only within the intersubjective field, that means, we "have to check the theories, the prejudices and assumptions that underpin our own subjectivity" (Donna M. Orange et al. 2001, 13). It is argued, "that relational contexts reciprocally constitute each other: As literary theorists sometimes say, the writer creates the reader, and the reader let the writer emerge" (Donna M. Orange et al 2001, 13). >> continue

Ferenczi´s contribution

On the question what psychoanalysis is, Freud once replied: "A conversation between two … people. [...] Nothing else goes on between them they just talk to each other" (Freud in Haynal, 2000, 11).

It soon turned out that this definition was more than insufficient, especially in terms of technique. "Freud has worked passionately for theoretical research, but the technique, the practice and the unique relationship were not always the focus of his interest" (Haynal, 2000, 13).

André Haynal presented in his book that there were problems associated with the technique, and that it had a double ambiguity: "In his technical writings he establishes rules, while he seems to devalue them elsewhere and says those rules are like bridges for > Beginners < [...] The second ambiguity - perceived or real - is in the contradiction between Freud’s practice as we know it by his case reports and from testimonies, and his > official < position as it appears in his writings on the technique" (Haynal, 2000, 1). >> continue

Despite some emphatic claims to the contrary, psychoanalysis was never simply a method for the treatment of mental disorder. Almost from its inception, psychoanalysis was – and to this day, remains – a rich and evolving approach to interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences. It is also, beyond a doubt, a social movement whose growth and decline, fluctuations and internal conflicts warrant careful scrutiny and reflection in their own right, irrespective of how analytic clinicians practice their craft. This dimension of the history of psychoanalysis has traditionally been neglected by clinicians, and is often over-emphasized by critics of psychoanalysis, who sometimes study the history of the discipline in order to discredit, rather than to strengthen or improve it.

A striking feature of the psychoanalytic movement was its odd combination of revolutionary and conservative elements. On the one hand, thanks to Freud, psychoanalysts had revolutionary insights into the nature of human sexuality and psychic functioning; insights that could potentially bestow greater insight and self-knowledge, liberating patients suffering from neurotic symptoms of one sort and another. On the other hand, since the creation of the International Psychoanalytic Association, the IPA’s executive branch often greeted innovations at the level of theory or practice quite warily, being reluctant to deviate from Freud’s own ideas. Indeed, for the first half century or so after the IPA was established, fidelity to Freud was frequently invoked as a criterion of intellectual probity or worth, while disagreements with Freud on fundamental issues were interpreted as signs of resistance or of latent psychopathology. As a result, those who lacked an appropriate amount of Freud piety, or deviated too far from the prevailing consensus among the key players in Freud’s circle could find themselves excluded, or simply left of their own accord. >> continue

For a short while, it appeared I had a bright future in psychoanalysis:  Thanks to my friendship with the formidable Kurt Eissler, I was offered a position with the Freud Archives. In fact, I was to take over from Eissler in a year or two.  Meanwhile, he wanted me to work with Anna Freud so that eventually her home could become a research center for Freud studies.

So in 1980 I met Anna Freud and developed a working relation with her and a sort of friendship.  Apart for my work for the Freud Archives, I was interested in researching the reasons why Freud seemed to have changed his mind about child abuse:  at first he believed his patients remembered real abuse; later he changed his mind and decided that almost all sexual abuse, especially if the father was accused, could only be a fantasy, or a screen memory, that is a memory that screened an early desire for the parent of the opposite sex. >> continue

Application, deepening and turning away from the application of hypnosis techniques

Josef Breuer, the creator of the cathartic method, whose name is for that reason indissolubly linked with the beginnings of psycho-analysis. (See Freud1925g) Freud describes him as "a man of rich and universal gifts, and his interests extended in many directions far beyond his professional activities". (Freud 1925g) Freud became acquainted with Breuer in 1881 at the Physiological Institute where they soon became friends. Freud wrote about Breuer

„My friend and helper in my difficult circumstances. We grew accustomed to share all our scientific interests with each other. In this relationship the gain was naturally mine.” (Freud 1925j)

1892 Freud described a "case of Hypnotic Healing," a woman who complained about classical hysterical symptoms such as vomiting, anorexia nervosa, insomnia, over excitation, which prevented her to breastfeed her child. After two treatments, the patient gave up on the symptoms. Freud repeated the same thing a year later, after the birth of her second child. Freud said that with hysteria the patient would not be aware of its resistance. The patient had a permanent exhaustion what Breuer called a hypnotic state. (See Freud 1895d)

1895 Freud published together with Josef Breuer "Studies on Hysteria" afterwards he used for the first time the cathartic method on a certain Mrs. Emmy. (Freud 1895d) There was no thorough investigation and Freud seemed to have actually relied heavily during the treatment on a direct therapeutic suggestion, which he as usual connected together with massage, baths and rest. (Jones 1982) >> continue

In the eighties and nineties of the 19th century both the galvanic and the faradic electricity played an important role in the diagnostic and therapeutic Neurology. Thus Freud occupied himself also with this area:

„In the distance shone the great name of Charcot; so I formed a plan of first obtaining an appointment as University Lecturer on Nervous Diseases in Vienna and of then going to Paris to continue my studies.” (Freud 1925d)

Freud had his first contact with hypnosis as a student:

„While I was still a student I had attended a public exhibition given by Hansen the ‘magnetist’, and had noticed that one of the subjects experimented upon had become deathly pale at the onset of cataleptic rigidity and had remained so as long as that condition lasted. This firmly convinced me of the genuineness of the phenomena of hypnosis.(Freud 1925d)

In 1885/86 Freud went to Paris, where he met Charcot and worked in his clinic for 17 weeks. Charcot made a powerful impression on Freud and the Salpêtrière was rightly called the Mecca of neurologists. (See, Jones 1982) Freud described Charcot with:

„(…) to the magic that emanated from his looks and from his voice, to the kindly openness [...] to the willingness with which he put everything at the disposal of his pupils, and to his life-long loyalty to them.“ (Freud 1925d)

Very soon a close contact was established with Freud due to a translation of a publication of Charcot: >> continue

Dear Readers!

Unfortunately due to scheduling reasons, Prof. Alfred Pritz was unable to release his article.
"It is postponed but not canceled!"
THE VIENNA PSYCHOANALYST therefore is glad to present an article of its editor Désirée Prosquill.
We hope you are not too disappointed in this change of plans and we hope you will still enjoy the new article.
In this article, you can read about the relationship between Felix Salten, the author of "Bambi. A Life in the Woods", and Sigmund Freud.
For a week, the author too will be available in the forum for questions and discussions.

Kind regards
DWP



Felix Salten and Sigmund Freud


The article, which Felix Salten wrote in the journal Neue Freie Presse on January 1st, 1925, is chronologically considered the first evidence that Salten knew of Sigmund Freud for sure and that he had at least roughly knowledge of his theories.

“In future, when world history is not written after the bloody wars, but according to the intellectual achievements of the people, it must be, that neither the Marne battle nor the battle of Tannenberg, but the theories of Freud, Einstein´s theory, the research results of Steinach, the invention of insulin as great victories praised. Then one will be able to measure in such findings and achievements, such as the airplane or the radio, the growth of human power, in such events one will be told the history of mankind. Then one will be able to call the first quarter of the twentieth century a great time, or at least one can say that it was the interesting start of a new great era." {Salten, Felix: in: NFP vom 1.1.1925, S. 2. Morgenblatt.}

Even though Beverley Driver Eddy indicates without further explanation in her book, that Salten had only a "passing interest" {Eddy, Beverley Driver: Felix Salten: Man of Many Faces. 2010 Ariadne Press. S. 152.} in Freud’s theories, this passage nevertheless shows how highly Felix Salten thought about the Freudianism at that time, in fact so highly that he even uses them in the first place in the ranking of the "modern miracles". >> continue

It is truly gratifying that from now on there will be an online magazine called "The Vienna Psychoanalyst". At first, I gladly accepted the request to write a leading article for it. However, when I tried to answer the questions, especially the first one - "What fascinates you about psychoanalysis? c- I soon realized that I do not know the answers to some of the questions. For the first question, "What fascinates you about psychoanalysis?", I have no appropriate response, because I believe that it no longer is “the psychoanalysis”, whatever that was or should be. This made me think..
Back to "Der Wiener Psychoanalytiker"-Who other than Sigmund Freud should it be?
But, why still and again Freud? >> continue