Leading articles

THE VIENNA PSYCHOANALYST wants to give not only already internationally established psychoanalysts, but also still unknown psychoanalysts the opportunity to post a self-written and not yet published article on the FrontPage of our online magazine!

Our Users then can leave comments, ask questions or discuss the articles in our forum. Our aim is to provide an international platform where for the first time anyone interested in psychoanalysis can exchange ideas on certain topics.
Articles are welcome in German and/ or English.

If you are interested, please send your article to
leadingarticle@theviennapsychoanalyst.at


(For reasons of readability, the male form is used with personal names, however the female form is also always intended.)

In our interview series "in conversation with“, we will briefly present the authors of the leading articles. We want to give our users the opportunity to read the leading article from a different point of view.


This week we are very glad to welcome Karl Golling:

Born 1951 in Gars am Kamp, Lower Austria. Long stays in Asia, Australia and Africa as a child.
After the Psychology - Philosophy degree (Dissertation about ´Arbeiterbewußtsein in Tirol´)
in Innsbruck, long internship at the Binswanger clinic (Switzerland), Training as a psychoanalyst in New York.
Returned to Austria 1992, then studied at the Tavistock Institute in London. Since then, (mainly self-employed) active as an organization developer, psychoanalyst and university lecturer in Vienna. Study of the psychotherapy science (Dissertation about ´Neue Wege des Erlernen der Sprache der Psychoanalyse´) in Vienna. Currently: Head of psychoanalysis at the Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität.



DWP: What brought you to psychoanalysis?

Karl Golling: As a student, I have read in Vance Packard about psychoanalysis and its application in advertising. For me, it caused two things: Unbelief (There cannot be something like the described unconscious mind) and Fascination (if it does, I want to get to know his principles).


DWP: If you had the opportunity to talk with Sigmund Freud, what would be the topic?
Are there any specific questions?

Karl Golling: For me, Film as a medium is in mediating of psychoanalysis of great importance, not so for Sigmund Freud. Especially his conflict with Karl Abraham (through the representation of the unconscious mind in the film as a medium) ended rather abruptly through Abraham´s early death, for me that would be an explosive start for a lively discussion.


DWP: Fabric or leather couch?

Karl Golling: Fabric. A very expensive, elegant fabric. It´s after all the place where interwoven stories and dreams are presented. Since there are holes, and there are stagnations, and when something goes too well, then it’s greased. With me the stagnation and the holes are of importance in the history.


DWP: According to Bruno Bettelheim and the importance of fairy tales in childhood. Will you tell us your favorite fairy tale? And do you see parallels to your own adult life?

Karl Golling: As a child, fairytales were never my thing. I found many unfair, gruesomely and held my distance from them. As far as children´s literature, I rather recommend the works of Astrid Lindgren or Christine Nöstlinger.


DWP: I dream,….

Karl Golling: Sometimes a lot - sometimes less. A night without a dream is as if I had worked through the night. As if I had not experienced the night. Worthless. Sometimes they are beautiful, but mostly confusing at first, then a meaning-giving structure forms. Outlooks change / clarify.


DWP: What do you find good or particularly good in psychoanalysis and is there anything you do not like about it?

Karl Golling: Psychoanalysis is simple. It is the love for truth. And that´s good.


DWP: What challenges did you have to face during your analytic training?

Karl Golling: The analytical training puts relationships and family under enormous pressure. 3 or 4 times a week after work you have to go to your own analysis (often more than 1½ hours), then after that often in a seminar, coming home late in the evening with literature references and then someone waiting for you ...


DWP: Do you have a favorite Freud - quote?

Karl Golling: “The voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not rest till it has gained a hearing”
I remember this quote, especially during meetings where someone is louder and takes himself more important than another.


Thank you very much for this conversation, we are already looking forward to your leading article!



Contact information of the author:
Karl Golling