Following freud in Vienna the psychological Wednesday society and the Viennese psychoanalytical society 1902–1938

Abstract

Mühlleitner E, Reichmayr J. Following freud in Vienna. The Psychological Wednesday Society and the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society 1902-1938. Int Forum Psychoanal 1997;6:73-102. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-706X.

This study of the composition and structure of the Psychological Wednesday Society and the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society during its existence (1902 to 1938) is a contribution to the history of the psychoanalytic movement and an enlargement of the historiographical and empirical basis of psychoanalysis. Traditional opinions about the Wednesday Psychological Society and the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society which tend to be based on generalized observations about groups within the societies can be compared and corrected. The first chapter contains an overview of the development of the membership size: which persons were accepted in which year, the fluctuations of the membership size during this period. The following data on all 150 members is listed in the addendum to the text: first and last name, date and place of birth and death, duration of membership, and year and country of exile. This study, with the aid of tables and figures, presents the size and movement of the group and its structural tendency after World War 1 to become more homogeneous with regard to sex, age, religion and profession. Furthermore, it defines more closely the continuation and discontinuation of the movement. The fluctuations of the membership size are presented in the context of the history of the societies and in relation to the events in the history of this period. Information is given on the average age of members at admission to the group, duration of membership, on the relation of native and foreign members, and the hierarchy within the society. In a total overview of the period, a trend from the initial heterogeneous-harmonic group dynamic to a homogeneous structure is recognizable. The observations in connection with training psychoanalyses, later professional practice and scientific productivity show interesting sex-specific differences. Along with the special role which women played in theViennese Psychoanalytical Society, it is characteristic of this group, that for almost all members, psychoanalytical publications can be traced. The second chapter is concerned with the geographic origin, the familiar milieu and religious background. This field of study is also well known to the scientific Freud-biographic and can be expanded to all the members.Fifty psychoanalysts were, like Sigmund Freud, the daughters and sons of Jewish immigrants from countries of the Hapsburg monarchy. They moved to Vienna either with their parents or alone for school or university education or for professional training. The figures arrived at by the analysis of data regarding 150 members over the 36 year period show that one forth of the total number of members were non-Jewish. After the First World War, the percentage of Jewish members of the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society increased. The group of analysts became more homogeneous with regard to religion and the professional spectnim. Also included in the text are data on emigration, exile and the meaning of women's participation in the Viennese Psychoanalytical Society