Erwin Levy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erwin Levy (born April 11, 1907 in Graudenz , West Prussia , † November 10, 1991 in New York ) was a German-American psychiatrist , gestalt theorist and psychoanalyst .

life and work

Erwin Levy completed his medical studies at the University of Berlin in 1931 with a thesis on "Work turnover, especially in myxedema and anorexia" . Then he was - at the same time with Wolfgang Metzger - assistant to the founder of Gestalt psychology , Max Wertheimer in his time at the University of Frankfurt . In view of the seizure of power by the National Socialists, Levy fled from Germany via Paris to the USA in 1933, where he worked again with Max Wertheimer at the New School of Social Research in New York . Levy also worked as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at various hospitals and in private practice in New York.

Levy published a number of works on gestalt theory and psychopathology , including the research on mania , schizophrenic thought disorder and the paranoia theses of Heinrich Schulte that emerged from his collaboration with Wertheimer . In his publications he endeavored to achieve a critically reflected integration of psychoanalytic and gestalt theoretical concepts. For example, in 1956 in the American Journal of Psychotherapy, in his article Some Problems Concerning Ethics and the Super-Ego , he criticized the classic superego conception of psychoanalysis and proposed an alternative based on gestalt psychology. His work played a decisive role in the development of Gestalt theory psychotherapy .

Erwin Levy is the older brother of the singer and actress Irmgard Levy (who was also born in Graudenz on February 15, 1914), who worked under the stage name Irmgard Andersen. She also left Germany in 1933, initially to the Netherlands, where she worked on cabaret in Scheveningen (among others with Max Ehrlich in 1934). She later followed her brother to the United States.

selected Writings

  • 1931: On the problem of labor turnover, especially with myxedema and anorexia . Journal of All Experimental Medicine, 78, 764-795.
  • 1936: A Case of Mania with its Social Implications . Social Research, 3 (1936), 488-493. German translation 2000: A case of mania and its social implications . Gestalt Theory, 22, 20-26.
  • 1943: Some Aspects of the Schizophrenic Formal Disturbance of Thought . Psychiatry, 6, 55-69. German translation 1997: Some aspects of schizophrenic formal thought disorder . Gestalt Theory, 19, 27-50.
  • 1956: Some Problems Concerning Ethics and the Super-Ego . American Journal of Psychotherapy, 10, 217-240.
  • 1986: A Gestalt theory of paranoia. Introduction, comment and translation of 'Heinrich Schulte' . Gestalt Theory, 8, 230-255.

literature

  • Gerhard Stemberger (Ed.): Mental disorders in the I-world relationship. Gestalt theory and psychotherapeutic disease theory . Vienna: Verlag Wolfgang Krammer, 2002. ISBN 3-901811-09-5 (contains among other things in German translation Levy's work on mania, schizophrenic thought disorder and paranoia)
  • Gerhard Stemberger: Erwin Levy - Gestalt theoretical psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1907-1991). Phenomenal - Journal for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, 3 (1/2011), pp. 53–54 (curriculum vitae) - see also web links
  • Gerhard Stemberger: Bibliography of a gestalt theoretical psychoanalyst. Phenomenal - Journal for Gestalt Theoretical Psychotherapy, 3 (1/2011), pp. 54–59 (annotated overall bibliography with a focus on clinical writings - see also web links).
  • Bruno Waldvogel: E. Oppenheimer-Fromm and E. Levy: Two pupils of Wertheimer who tried to interest him in psychoanalysis. In: B. Waldvogel (1992), Psychoanalysis and Gestalt Psychology. Historical and theoretical points of contact . Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: fromman-Holzboog, 52–53. ISBN 3-772815-00-6
  • Uwe Wolfradt : Erwin Levy. In: Wolfradt, Billmann-Mahecha, Stock (2014): German-speaking psychologists 1933–1945: Ein Personenlexikon. Springer-Verlag, pp. 274-275. ISBN 978-3-658-01481-0
  • Karl Haller (2018): Erwin Levy. Gestalt theoretical contributions to schizophrenia research . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 978-3847108-63-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ More on this: Stemberger 2011, Erwin Levy - Gestalt Theoretical Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst ; Waldvogel 1992, E. Oppenheimer-Fromm and E. Levy: Two pupils of Wertheimer who tried to interest him in psychoanalysis ; see literature.
  2. ↑ see Max Ehrlich Association: Holland , accessed on April 9, 2015.
  3. ↑ Trapp, F. et al. (1999): Handbook of the German-speaking Exile Theater 1933-1945. Vol. 1: Persecution and exile of German-speaking theater artists, Vol. 2: Biographical lexicon of theater artists, Frithjof Trapp, Werner Mittenzwei, Henning Rischbieter, Hansjörg Schneider (ed.), Munich: Saur.
personal data
SURNAME Levy, Erwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Graudenz , Poland
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 1991
Place of death new York