Sándor Ferenczi

A Contemporary Introduction

Alberto Fergusson, Miguel Gutiérrez-Peláez

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780367426750
• eBook ISBN: 9781000536133
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Salute mentale in psicologia

This book aims to present an up-to-date introduction and critical study of one of the most important psychoanalysts of all times, Sándor Ferenczi.

The book presents Ferenczi as a person; his discovery of psychoanalysis and his relationship with Freud; the theoretical and clinical novelties he introduced to psychoanalysis; his deep political and social commitment, striving for the democratization of psychoanalysis; and the great relevance of his thought and perspective for the future. It also talks about his repression in the history of psychoanalysis as well as his influence in the following generations of psychoanalysts. The reader will be presented with the most relevant historical milestones and concepts, with new insights regarding some of Ferenczi's most fundamental ideas (such as his trauma theory, his technical innovations or his developments regarding the end of analysis), as well as an informed viewpoint of his legacy, the contemporary readings of his work and the institutions and associations that continue following the path traced by l'enfant terrible of psychoanalysis.

This book will be of interest both for the novel reader who has had none or scarce contact with the person and/or work of Sándor Ferenczi, as well as to the psychoanalysts, clinicians and scholars, who have a deeper contact and understanding of the work of the Hungarian analyst.

Chapter 1 The democratisation of psychoanalysis. Sándor Ferenczi, from forced disappearance to resurrection

DOI: 10.4324/9780367854355-1

Throughout history, we find several examples of great thinkers who have been buried alive. This was especially true during the 20th century and amongst them, Sigmund Freud and Karl Marx constitute the most outstanding examples of that very peculiar phenomenon. We are talking, of course, of thinkers whose ideas are officially considered not valid without ever been really disproven. Sometimes, like in the case of Freud and Marx, those ideas together with their authors are buried alive, but not disappeared. Clear example of that is how the great Frankfurt school brought to light not only the two individuals, but also the intrinsic links between the two. Everybody talks about them, mainly against them, frequently without having read them. They were certainly not disappeared. In other cases, people and their ideas are not just buried alive. They are also subject to forced disappearance. Sándor Ferenczi was a clear example of that, until he had a forced resurrection mainly due to the publication of his Clinical Diary (1932) and to all that we learned through the analysis of Elizabeth Severn. It is worthwhile to remember some details about the way that Ferenczi's ideas disappeared in so far as it shows a procedure that has been used again and again in psychoanalytic societies belonging to the most diverse schools of thought.

It seems that Freud and other analysts played an active role in omitting the publication in English of Ferenczi's paper “Confusion of tongues between the adult and the child” (1932) (see Rachman, 1989). Ernest Jones told Ferenczi that he had translated the paper and that it would be published in the following volume of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. After Ferenczi's death in May 1933, Jones wrote to Freud telling him that he was against the publishing of the paper:

Since [Ferenczi's] death, I have been thinking over the removal of the personal reasons for publishing it. Others also have suggested that it now be withdrawn and I quote the following passage from a letter of Mrs. Riviere's with which I agree: ‘Now that Ferenczi has died, I wondered whether you will not reconsider publishing his last paper. It seems to me it can only be damaging to him and a discredit, while now that he is no longer to be hurt by its not being published, no good purpose could be served by it. Its scientific contentions and its statements about analytic practice are just a tissue of delusions, which can only discredit psychoanalysis and give credit to its opponents. It cannot be supposed that all Journal readers will appreciate the mental condition of the writer, and in this respect, one has to think of posterity, too!’ I therefore think it best to withdraw the paper unless I hear from you that you have any wish to the contrary” (unpublished letter, Jones Archives, London, cited in Masson, p. 152; Rachman, 1989, p. 199, Gutiérrez-Peláez, 2018.)

There is no evidence of Freud's response to Jones’ and Riverie's petition, but the truth is that the paper was not published. It will be until 1949, 16 years later that a version of the paper in English, translated by Michael Balint, will be finally made public. Those who have been disappeared and/or buried alive are typically people that up to a certain point have been slightly ahead of their own time. We emphasise slightly, because they usually say things that are about to be said by others. They are let's say preconscious, to use Freud's language or the objective conditions for them to flourish are there, if we prefer to use the language of historical materialism. We find that ideas that have been buried alive and disappeared are many years later published by another analyst, frequently without quoting the initial one. It can be accepted that this can happen because of real ignorance, due precisely to the fact that they were in fact disappeared. Not every disappeared analyst has the luck Ferenczi had in being subjected to a process of resurrection. Many will probably remain disappeared forever like it happens in most wars. A colleague of ours, who read the manuscript of this book, said that our affirmation of disappearance would also be subject to a similar process of disappearance. We hope not, and if you are reading this right now, it certainly means that this did not happened.

Amongst other reasons, what we have just described led us to develop the concept of a “Viennese Psychoanalysis” to describe not only Freud's ideas, but the developments that happened during the early stages of psychoanalysis, including the first and second generation. Most of those contributions were certainly also buried alive and some were disappeared as we have stated. Ferenczi is an outstanding representative of that group, but certainly not the only one. The attitude, the energy, the connection with the real world that Viennese psychoanalysis had, which in fact did spread throughout other countries in the region, was later repressed in what Jacoby called the repression of psychoanalysis, especially when that repression created so called “orthodox psychoanalysis”, which was certainly not Freudian analysis as it was clearly shown by Beate Losher and Peter M. Newton (1996) in Unorthodox Freud. The revolution of psychoanalysis included not only a very active participation in politics and progressive social movements, but it changed forever all the human sciences including art and philosophy, and sociology, as it was nicely pointed out by Carlos Alberto Castillo Mendoza (2005). The importance that Ferenczi gave to the relation between psychology and the social was very deep. Adorno had already stated that Ferenczi was the most firm and free spirit within the psychoanalytic movement (Adorno, 1986, quoted by Castillo Mendoza, 2005, p. 56). Sociology had to rethink itself after Ferenczi. Partial disappearance of the ideas and emery of some psychoanalysts happened following similar dynamics in particular when they were forced to “behave properly” especially from a political point of view. This was, of course, dramatically increased once many of them had to fly into exile due to Nazi persecution. The case of Otto Fenichel, beautifully described by Russell Jacoby (1983), was of the most the typical examples.

Ferenczi began what we would like to call a process of democratisation of psychoanalysis in its theory, its technique and, up to a certain point, in the way Institutes and Societies function in psychoanalytic societies. His acceptance of mutual analysis is a much wider and I would like to say revolutionary concept, than what it has generally been accepted. Mutual analysis is present in every psychoanalytic process. Every analysand does it although it is done in a somewhat unconscious and covered manner. Frequently they use basically the same analytic technique that the analyst is using. What happened with Elizabeth Severn and Ferenczi is just a more explicit and open way to something that up to a certain way always happens in a somewhat clandestine way between them and later it became public. While writing this book, we became conscious of the way through which we have practiced mutual analysis in every analysis. Through our work with Accompanied auto analysis (later called accompanied self-rehabilitation) (Fergusson, 2015b), we practiced mutual analysis consciously in most instances. We came to think that this was something we did only while working with so-called homeless mentally ill people. We now acknowledge that we do it all the time in a not so explicit way. It is only through explicit mutual analysis or through Accompanied Auto analysis (self-rehabilitation) that the psychoanalysis can overcome its hierarchical and authoritarian attitude in theory, in practice and, as we pointed out, in the way our Societies function. On the other hand, it has been recognised by others that one of the earliest experiences in mutual analysis was that of Jung and Otto gross in 1908. Mutual analysis, and its implicit democratisation, implies that the idea that the analyst is the healthy person and the analysand is ill becomes irrelevant to the process and is easy to overcome. As analysts, we owe our gratitude to our analysands who are also inevitably also our analysts. All of us as analysands know perfectly well how we analysed our analysts, but that was never acknowledged. Ferenczi had the courage to be honest and call things by their name. He opened the door to the analysts to do the same thing.

Both the external and the internal world of Ferenczi was full of innovation and creativity. The fact that Ferenczi was the first university professor to be elected democratically says many things about those who elected him but also about him. But even more significant is the fact that in general analysts trained in different psychoanalytic institutes connected with the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) never really studied Ferenczi in depth, at least not as part of the official curriculum of their institutes. As we know, Ferenczi played a crucial role in organising the IPA.

This book is a way to pay tribute to Ferenczi. Many of us, who have shared his views and, most important of all, his attitude, have found in Sandor Ferenczi's life and work great examples that gives us the strength to carry on in a struggle that by its nature has to be a rather lonely one.

Chapter 2 Sándor Ferenczi's biographical outline

DOI: 10.4324/9780367854355-2

As an outstanding mind of the 20th century, Sándor Ferenczi condenses the passion for clinical practice, for the limits and potentiality of the human psyche, for psychoanalysis, the unconscious and madness. He was Freud's most exceptional disciple.

Sándor's father, Bernath Fränkel, was born in Krakov, Poland, and arrived at Hungary as a teenager. It seems he emigrated escaping from the anti-Semitic pogroms in Europe (Johnson, 2004, p. 436). Bernath was part of the patriotic forces who fought against the extension of the Habsburg Empire in Hungary: the failed Hungarian Revolution and the 1848–1849 independence war. This insurrection was swiftly appeased; nonetheless, Bernath remained in Hungary, settling in Miskolcz. Sándor's mother was Rösa Eibenschütz. She was also Polish, but grew up in Vienna.

Bernath obtained a job in a local bookstore owned by an American immigrant named Michael Heilprin. Located in the centre of the city, it specialised in the publication and divulgation of patriotic and radical literature (Stanton, 1997, p. 6). Afterwards, in 1856, Bernath bought the library, making it the family business.

The position of the Jews in Hungary changed during that time and their role was key both in the development of the country, as well as in the development of psychology and the intelligentsia of the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth.

In 1867, an emancipation bill granted equal civil rights to Hungarian Jews. The modernization of the economy needed the Jewish entrepreneurial spirit and soon their contribution to economic growth, as well as to art, science, and culture rose to unparalleled levels. Assimilation, secularization and conversion to Christianity became prominent trends among Hungarian Jews. Wealthy Jewish industrialists received titles of nobility from the Emperor-King Francis Joseph I. In this ‘golden age’ of the Hungarian Jewry (Patai, 1996) Budapest became a significant centre for Jewish culture. While anti-Semitism was an ever-present current, the Jewish population was assimilated and secularized beyond the European average (Nye, 2011) (…) [N]or modern Hungarian history and culture, nor the history of Hungarian psychology can be understood without understanding the significant role played by Jewish-Hungarians. (Szokolszky, 2016, p. 20)

Sándor was born on July 7, 1873, in Miskolcs (North of Hungary), into the intellectual ambiance of the library, which had grown up to become a place of cultural reference, being a meeting point for intellectual conversations and also small musical concerts. German was the official language of the Habsburg Empire, but a few years before Sándor was born, Hungary adopted the Hungarian as the official language. This led to a change in the writing of the family name from Fränkel to Ferenczi. Sándor was the eighth son of a total of twelve. When he was born, the family was composed by Enric, the oldest brother, Max, Sigmund (allegedly Sándor's favourite brother), Ilona, Maria, Joseph and Gizella. After Sándor, his siblings were Martiz-Caroline, Vilma (who died when Sándor was 8 years old), Lajos and Sofia.

Bernath died at the age of 58, when Sándor was 15 years old. His mother, Rósa, devoted most of her energy to the family business, and Sándor regretted not having had the attention from her that he wished. Little is known of Rósa, besides being the head of a numerous family and actively participating in the union of Jewish women of the city. After Bernath's death, she took active control of the library and of the family finances. She opened a second library in the nearby city of Nyiregyhaza. Ferenczi mentions in his correspondence, for example, in his letters with Groddeck that his mother was severe and that he received from her very little love (Ferenczi/Groddeck, 1921).

When he was 21, Sándor studied medicine, having great interest for both neurology and psychiatry, and received his M.D. from the University of Vienna in 1894, at the age of 21. He was quickly fascinated by the studies on hypnosis and hysteria, which he read about from French medical literature. He later enroled in military service in the Austro-Hungarian army and, later, continued his studies in neurology and psychiatry. As a young adolescent, Ferenczi had an interest in writing poetry, influenced by the German poet Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), and had begun to experiment with hypnosis as a high school student in Miscolcz. In his correspondence and in his Clinical Diary, Ferenczi mentioned sexual abuses and excesses he was subjected to: by a nanny who allowed his to caress her breasts and who later pressed his head between her legs, leading him to feel the fear of suffocation, and an event when he was 5 years old when a child a year older than him introduced his penis in Sándor's mouth.

His first job as a doctor was with patients with sexually transmitted diseases in the Rókus Hospital and in the Elizabeth hospital for the poor, granting medical service to the less-favoured population and to prostitutes. In 1899, when he was 26 years old, he published the first of many articles in the Gyógyàszat (“Therapy”) journal, article that he entitled “Spiritismus” and which shows how, from very early, Ferenczi took risks in his writing and displayed creative ideas. Gyógyàszat was edited by Miksa Schäcter, which was one the first important intellectual figures for Ferenczi. His interest in these first years of academic publishing revolved around human sexuality, the understanding of hysteria, love, sexual perversions, dreams, homosexuality, unconscious processes, the relation between the body and the mind and the evolution of the human psyche (Erös, 2004, p. 126). It is in this period that he reinforced his interest and study in the French literature on hypnosis and was probably the moment he first came in contact with Freud's work, though he seems to have read it superficially at that time. Schäcter asked Ferenczi to write a commentary of Freud's book, The interpretation of dreams (1900), for the journal. Ferenczi read the work and concluded that it was not a book worth taking seriously. This will change dramatically after his acquaintance with Gustav Jung, and later Freud himself, which we will describe later.

During most of his professional life, and before he married Gizella, Ferenczi lived in the Royal Hotel in Budapest. The hotel's coffee shop became an important location for intellectual gatherings. Prominent representatives of the Hungarian intelligentsia, such as the poets and writers Dezső Kosztolányi and Sándor Márai (Mészáros, 2010, p. 69), the journalist and writer Frigyes Karinthy, the painter Róbert Berény (member of the “Group of the Eight”), psychoanalyst Lajos Levy, entrepreneur and philanthropist Antal Freund Tószeghi (known as Anton von Freund), neurologist and psychoanalyst Imre Hermann, musician and composer Béla Bártok, philosopher György Lukács, anthropologist Géza Róheim (Jiménez Avello, 1998, p. 44), Karl Mannheim, and art historian Arnold Hauser, as well as members of the “Galileo Group,” the “20th Century Group” and the “Radical Intellectuals,” amongst other, were frequent participants in the gatherings at the café.

As stated by Szokolszky (2016)

Ferenczi was also involved in radical socialist circles, as a devotee of social change. At the turn of the century intellectuals hotly debated ways of modernization and fighting backwardness. Young sociologists and politicians led by Oszkár Jászi believed in positivist science and were in favour of radical social reforms, including land ownership […]. Representatives of this intellectual tapestry not only were decisive in culture, but many of them entered politics during the short-lived revolutionary governments after the First World War. (p. 25)

It was this interest of psychoanalysis in the social sphere and its effect outside the clinic that led to the projects of the free policlinics in Europe. The first one was founded in Berlin and was inaugurated in 1920 (Danto, 2005). The second policlinic, founded in Budapest, had to wait until 1931 to finally function. The clinics offered free psychoanalytic therapy to people who could not afford it. They were also places for psychoanalytic training, conferences, meetings and group interventions, and arouse great intere...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The democratisation of psychoanalysis. Sándor Ferenczi, from forced disappearance to resurrection
• 2 Sándor Ferenczi's biographical outline
• 3 Ferenczi's encounter with psychoanalysis
• 4 Ferenczi as a translator and divulgater of Freud's work
• 5 The concept of “Introjection”
• 6 Ferenczi's introduction of technical innovations
• 7 Thalassa and bioanalysis
• 8 The end of analysis
• 9 Ferenczi's interest in the psychology of the child: upbringing and education
• 10 Ferenczi's latest writings. The effect of “confusion of tongues” and his Clinical Diary
• 11 Ferenczi's trauma theory
• 12 Splitting as a psychic defence
• 13 The repression of Ferenczi's work and the return of the repressed
• 14 Ferenczi's legacy and place in the world today
• 15 What is the relevance of Ferenczi in the future?
• Epilogue
• References
• Index