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ABSTRACT
After the foundation of psychoanalytic institutes in Berlin (1920), Vienna (1922), and London (1925), the Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute (1929–1933) was among the first European institutes. Its closure in 1933 at the hands of the National Socialists, along with the transformation of the Berlin Institute into a state-governed psychotherapeutic institute, obliterated for a long time all memory of psychoanalysis in Germany. In West Germany, Alexander Mitscherlich was able to found a new “Institute and Training Centre for Psychoanalysis and Psychosomatic Medicine” in Frankfurt in 1960, which was renamed the “Sigmund-Freud-Institute” (SFI) in 1964. The German Federal State of Hessen financed this foundation as an act of reparation for psychoanalysis. From 1995 onwards, the institute mainly focused on research and the training branch was given to the newly founded Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute (FPI). The SFI was now defined as a purely psychoanalytic research institute and remains the only state-supported institute devoted solely to psychoanalytic research up to the present. Due to the changes in the scientific world, it had to be structured in new ways over the last 15 years. The SFI is now an internationally and interdisciplinary well-known and productive psychoanalytic research institute.
Notes
* This article traces the landmarks of this development together with the prevailing content priorities.
1 After emigrating to the United Kingdom, Fuchs became known by the name of S.H. Foulkes for important contributions on group therapies.
2 The “Göring Institut” was the name used to refer to the “German Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy” founded by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936 and headed by Matthias Heinrich Göring, a cousin of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring [translator: Goering is the usual English spelling]. The Institute’s object was to establish a “New German therapy of the mind” (Neue Deutsche Seelenheilkunde) combining Freudians, Jungians, and Adlerians (Lockot Citation1985).
3 Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Aid to Citizens.
4 The Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion, or RAF) was a left-wing terrorist group founded in 1970, which disbanded in 1998. It was responsible for countless murders and kidnappings in West Germany.
5 There is insufficient space here for a complete review of the transformations and research activities of this period. A comprehensive account can be found in Leuzinger-Bohleber and Haubl Citation2011.
6 German acronym for Study of the Outcome of Long-Term Treatments in Chronically Depressed Patients.
7 German acronym standing for State Offensive for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence.
8 EVA stands for Evaluation of the two psychoanalytic preventive projects FRÜHE SCHRITTE [Early Steps] and FAUSTLOS [No Fists] at crèches.
9 STARTHILFE [Help at the Start] is a preventive programme undertaken at kindergartens and based on the concepts developed in the EVA studies mentioned above.
10 In the present context it is not possible to give a detailed account of other projects, such as that undertaken by Rolf Haubl and Tomas Plänkers on the consequences of the Cultural Revolution in China, or the translation of Freud’s works into Chinese (Plänkers Citation2013). The research projects undertaken by all members of the SFI (from 2002 to 2010) are summarized in Leuzinger-Bohleber and Haubl Citation2011.
11 Wallerstein describes the idea of an independent psychoanalytic centre of this kind as follows: “A basic structure for such a psychoanalytic center comprises a central governing board of directors, often with a majority of nonpsychoanalyst members, a full-time administrative director, and an array of component units: (1) an institute, for the training of psychoanalytic practitioners; (2) a psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program (with participants at times seeking full psychoanalytic clinical training upon completion); (3) a foundation, with fundraising responsibilities; (4) an office of professional affairs, responsible for outreach and collaboration, with a low-fee treatment clinic, including consultation and referral services, as well as extension courses for mental health professionals, for the legal and educational communities, and for the interested public; (5) an office for outreach and collaboration, with a low-fee treatment clinic, including consultation and referral services, as well as extension courses for mental health professionals, for the legal and educational communities, and for the interested public; (6) an interface program involving collaborative scientific and educational activities with academics and public policy makers, including formal university linkage to the extent feasible; (7) a formal research component including participants from any of the aforementioned programs, with relevant sponsorship and mentorship; and (8) a continuing long-range planning component. To the extent possible in each community, such a fully developed center would have strong linkages with the wider mental health professional community, with the broad cultural community (film series, book clubs with a combined psychoanalytic and literary criticism focus, etc.), and with academics from nearby universities who have psychoanalytic interests and perspectives. Individuals from each of these settings could be involved in collaborative teaching of the different student bodies within the psychoanalytic center” (Wallerstein Citation2007, 980).