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 Pia Maria Jolliffe from Oxford, Great Britain:

She was born in Vienna. She went to the Sacred Heart school and completed a Master in Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna. Then, she went for two years to Geneva, where she also worked as consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2006, Pia went to Oxford where she received her DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy) in International Development in 2011. For her doctoral thesis, Pia spent 12 months among the Karen people in the highlands of northern Thailand. She revisited the Karen for her post-doc works several times. In 2016 her book “Learning, Migration and Intergenerational Relations. The Karen and the Gift of Education” appeared with Palgrave MacMillan.

DWP: What led you to deal with psychoanalysis, respectively with Freud and his achievements?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: My work with the Karen people, an ethnic minority group in the highlands of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. The longer I lived with the Karen, the more I was interested in their culturally significant symbols. Eventually these symbols appeared in my dreams. In Chiang Mai, I met Ulrike Gogela. Ulrike is a psychotherapist and a Jungian analyst. It was helpful to talk with Ulrike about my dreams.


DWP: Have you ever undergone psychoanalysis?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: No.


DWP: If you had the opportunity to talk with Sigmund Freud, what would be the topic?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: The faith and belief in God.


DWP: Fabric or leather couch?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: Fabric, please.


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?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: My favorite fairy tale is The Sleeping Beauty. Yes, there are parallels in my adult life as it also took me a long while to spiritually awake from sleep and to my husband William.


DWP: I dream, …

Pia Maria Jolliffe: …of water buffaloes and apple gardens…


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

Pia Maria Jolliffe: I find it particularly good that psychoanalysis engages with themes and topics that are often connected with shame and fear in society. This can have a real healing and liberating effect. What I like less is that (perhaps popularized?) versions of psychoanalysis give the impression as if everything was revolving around sex.


DWP: Do you have a favorite Freud - quote?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: No.


DWP:  Are there other psychoanalysts, in addition to Sigmund Freud, who you like to study?

Pia Maria Jolliffe: Yes, Carl Gustav Jung.


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