Ludwig Frank (medic, 1863)

Ludwig Frank , also Louis Frank (born June 24, 1863 in Memmelsdorf in Lower Franconia , † 1935 in Zurich ) was a Swiss doctor and psychiatrist. He was head of the asylum in Münsterlingen, Thurgau, and later a doctor for nervous and mental disorders in Zurich. He mentions Prof. August Forel , Zurich, as his teacher , to whom he dedicates his book “Affect Disorders”.

Life

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ludwig Frank propagated a psychocathartic model of psychotherapy, as formulated by Josef Breuer in the Studies on Hysteria (1895) and exemplified using the example of his treatment by Bertha Pappenheim (pseudonym: "Anna O.") : In hypnosis, patients are encouraged to let associations and memories arise about the origin of their respective symptoms. His treatment model implicitly includes an attentive interest from the therapeutic side in the context, an empathic empathy with the emotional needs of those affected in the situation of the trauma. Speaking out the details in the presence of this sensitive, resonant witness leads to the relief of those affected and to a disappearance of the symptoms. Frank describes a wealth of vivid, convincing examples.

Modern variant of the approach

Despite the convincing case studies, Breuer and Frank's approach met with little response. Only recently has Mervin Smucker adopted a similar approach in trauma treatment using the IRRT (Imagery Rescripting & Reprocessing Therapy) method, which has reported surprisingly rapid successes in some cases. The method sees itself as cognitive behavior therapy . Smucker encourages those affected to imagine the situation of the traumatization in a relaxed state as vividly as possible, with as many emotional qualities as possible. Then the clients - in the situation that is emotionally connected with the greatest tension - are supposed to imagine that they are entering the scenario with their respective "today's self". They should, following their spontaneous impulses, interact imaginatively with the other participants - on behalf of the respective "I at that time" - until the situation is well resolved for the "I at that time" (rescripting & reprocessing). At the end there is the consolation of the "I then" through the "I today".

Publications

• 1910: Psychanalysis [sic!] , Its significance for the conception and treatment of psychoneurotic states. (Lecture given at the Assembly of Swiss Psychiatrists in Zurich on November 21, 1909.) Verlag von Ernst Reinhardt, Munich 1910.
• 1913: affect disorders. Studies of their etiology and therapy. Julius Springer Verlag, Berlin 1913
• 1920: Spiritual life and education. Grethlein & Co. GmbH, Zurich and Leipzig 1920.
• 1922: Soul life and jurisdiction. Grethlein & Co. GmbH, Zurich and Leipzig 1922.
• 1927: The psychocathartic treatment of nervous disorders (psychoneuroses - thymopathies) for doctors and students. Georg Thieme Verlag, Leipzig 1927.

literature

• Albrecht Hirschmüller: Physiology and psychoanalysis in the life and work of Josef Breuer. Yearbook of Psychoanalysis, Supplement No. 4. Verlag Hans Huber, Bern 1978.