Theodor Reik

Theodor Reik (born May 12, 1888 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; died December 31, 1969 in New York City ) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst .

life and work

Theodor Reik studied psychology , philosophy , literature and religious studies in Vienna under oppressive material conditions . In 1910 he made the acquaintance of Sigmund Freud and read his work The Interpretation of Dreams . Freud, who made friends with the young student, supported his training as a psychoanalyst for several years with a monthly sum of money. In 1912 Reik's doctoral thesis Flaubert and his 'Temptation of Saint Antonius' appeared , the first literary-critical study on a psychoanalytical basis .

During the First World War, Theodor Reik was drafted as a cavalry officer from January 1915 to October 1918. He later reported briefly on his experiences in "The Search Within."

Memorial plaque for Theodor Reik in Reichenhaller Strasse 1 in Berlin, from the series Mit Freud in Berlin

Reik worked as secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Association until 1928 . He then worked at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute until, as a Jew, he was forced to emigrate due to the National Socialist takeover: Reik fled to the Netherlands in 1933 (member of the “Vereeniging van Psychoanalytici in Nederland”), and in 1938 he emigrated to the USA .

In contrast to most psychoanalysts of his time, Reik was not a trained medical doctor, which brought him into conflict with the law of the time that only allowed doctors to practice medical professions . In 1925 he was charged with violating the so-called quackery law because he practiced psychoanalytic therapies without any medical training. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, took this as an opportunity to publish The Question of Lay Analysis (1926), in which he took a clear position for a sound psychotherapeutic training and at the same time for the admission of other professional fields to psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. The climate in American psychoanalysis, which opposed Freud's wishes on this point and denied non-medical practitioners permission to train and practice psychoanalysis, made it difficult for Reik to do psychoanalytical work there. The New York Psychoanalytic Association denied him full membership. In 1948 Reik founded the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis , a separate psychoanalytic association that was also open to non-medical practitioners. Attached to it was a clinic that bore his name. The new association also publishes its own journal ( The Psychoanalytic Review ).

Reik left behind a comprehensive body of literature, of which the psychology of religion, next to the psychology of crime and art psychology, are the most important. His works “The Own God and the Foreign God” such as “Compulsory Confession and the Need for Punishment” from the mid-1920s are still fundamental in their analytical brilliance, as is the extensive study “From suffering joys” as a groundbreaking work on the sad Masochism applies. In contrast to current theories, masochism appears there ultimately as passive sadism . Monographs and work diaries are also part of Reik's work. Reik worked as a psychoanalyst in his own practice until his death.

In 1961 the psychoanalyst Arno Gruen received his doctorate under Reik. Since the 1970s, Reik's writings have been made accessible again in German.

Since May 29, 2005, a plaque from the Mit Freud series in Berlin has been commemorating him and his life and work.

Publications (selection)

• Richard Beer-Hofmann . 1912.
• Flaubert and his temptation of St. Anthony . 1912.
• Arthur Schnitzler as a psychologist . 1913, new edition: Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1993.
• The puberty rites of the savages: about some similarities in the soul life of the savages and the neurotics , Freiburg [Breisgau]: Ahriman-Verl., 2006. ISBN 978-3-89484-604-6 . First published as a series in the magazine 'Imago' (Vol IV, 1915/16)

• Problems of the psychology of religion Part I: The ritual . 1919. With an introduction by Sigmund Freud . International Psychological Publishing House.

• The work of Richard Beer-Hoffmann . Löwit, Vienna, Berlin 1919.

• On collective forgetting , International Journal of Psychoanalysis, VI. Vintage, 1920

• One's own and another's god . 1923, new edition: The own and the foreign god: for psychoanalysis d. religious development, with e. Prev. Z. New edition by Alexander Mitscherlich, Frankfurt (am Main): Suhrkamp, ​​1975.
• Compulsory confession and need for punishment: Problems d. Psychoanalysis and criminology , Vienna: Internat. Psychoanalyst. Verlag, 1925, reprinted in: Psychoanalyse und Justiz , ed. by Tilmann Moser, Frankfurt (am Main): Suhrkamp, ​​1971/1974
• Dogma and obsessional idea: a psychoanalyt. Study on the development d. Religion , Vienna: International Psychoanalyst. Publisher, 1927 New edition: Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Mainz: Kohlhammer, 1973
• How to become a psychologist , Vienna: Internat. Psychoanalyst. Publisher, 1927.
• The ritual: psychoanalyst. Studies , Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, 1928.
• Pleasure and suffering in jokes: 6 psychoanalyt. Studies , Vienna: International Psychoanalyst. Publisher, 1929.
• The horror and other psychoanalytic studies , Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalyt. Publisher, 1929.
• Freud as a cultural critic , Vienna: Dr. M. Präger, 1930
• Why did Goethe leave Friederike? A psychoanalytic monograph . 1930, new edition: Tübingen: Ed. discord, 1990.
• Prayer shawl and belts of the Jews . 1931.
• The unknown murderer: from d. Act to the perpetrator , Vienna: Internationaler Psychoanalyt. Verl., 1932, new edition: The unknown murderer. Psychoanalytic Studies , Hamburg: Hoffmann and Campe Verlag 1978
• Thoughtful exhilaration . 1933.
• The surprised psychologist: about guessing u. Understanding unconscious processes , suffering: Sijthoff, 1935
• We Freud students . 1936.
• From Leiden Freuden , German original edition 1940 at Imago (London). The new edition From Suffering Joys. Masochism and Society (Hamburg: Hoffmann and Campe Verlag 1976) also contains the additions to the American edition Masochism in Modern Man (New York 1941).
• From Thirty Years with Freud . 1940, German thirty years with Sigmund Freud With previously unpublished letters from Sigmund Freud to Theodor Reik, Munich: Kindler, 1976.
• A Psychologist Looks at Love . 1944.
• Psychology of Sex Relations . 1945.
• Listening to the Third Ear. The Inner Experience of a Psychoanalyst , New York 1948, German hearing with the third ear. The inner experience of a psychoanalyst , Hamburg: Hoffmann and Campe Verlag 1976, new edition: Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main; 3rd edition klotz, Magdeburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-88074-483-7 .
• Fragment of a Great Confession . 1949.
• The Secret Self . 1952.
• The Haunting Melody . 1953.
• The Search Within . 1956.
• Of love and lust . 1957, German. Of love and lust: about d. Psychoanalysis romant. u. sexual emotions , Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1985.
• Myth and Guilt . 1957.
• Mystery on the Mountain . 1959.
• The Creation of Woman . 1960.
• Sex in Man and Woman . 1960, German man and woman: d. emotional variations d. Sexuality , Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1986
• The Temptation . 1961.
• Jewish Wit . 1962.
• The need to be loved . 1963, German The desire to be loved , Munich: Kindler, 1974
• Pagan Rites in Judaism: From sex initiation, magic, moon-cult, tattooing, mutilation and other primitive rituals to family loyalty and solidarity , New York: Farrar, Straus and Co., 1964.
• Voice from the Inaudible . 1964.
• Curiosities of the Self . 1965, German killing in thought: conscious u. unconscious death wishes in psychoanalyt. Sight , Munich: Kindler, 1981.
• The Many Faces of Sex . 1966.

literature

• Erika Freeman : Insights; conversations with Theodor Reik . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1971
• Zvi Lothane : Listening with the third ear as an instrument in Psychoanalysis: The contributions of Reik and Isakower . In: Psychoanalytic Review 1981, 68: 487-503.
• Josef Rattner : Theodor Reik . In: J. Rattner: Classics of Psychoanalysis . 2nd edition Beltz Verlag, Weinheim 1995, pp. 770–799, ISBN 3-621-27276-3 (former title: Klassiker der Tiefenpsychologie ), pp. 191–225.
• Ulrich Weinzierl : Arthur Schnitzler. Love, dream, die. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer TB, 5th edition, 1998, ISBN 3-596-13448-X , pp. 97-105
• Thomas Müller:  Reik, Theodor. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 21, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-428-11202-4 , p. 331 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Elisabeth Roudinesco and Michel Plon: Theodor Reik. In: Dictionary of Psychoanalysis . Translated from French by Christoph Eissing-Christophersen et al. Vienna: Springer, 2004, ISBN 3-211-83748-5 , pp. 853–855.
• Reik, Theodor. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 18: Phil – Samu. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. De Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2010, ISBN 978-3-598-22698-4 , pp. 207-22.
• Doris Schildknecht: Theodor Reik and his hearing with the third ear - A contribution to the theory of listening and understanding . Publishing house for depth psychology and anthropology, Bad Rappenau 2016, ISBN 978-3-9816670-9-7 .

Web links

Commons : Theodor Reik  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Theodor Reik in the catalog of the German National Library
• photo

Footnotes

1. ↑ Elke Mühlleitner: Biographical Lexicon of Psychoanalysis. The members of the Psychological Wednesday Society and the Vienna Psychoanalytical Association 1902–1938, Edition Diskord Tübingen 1992, pp. 260–263.
2. ↑ Theodor Reik Clinical Center for Psychotherapy (TRCC) ( Memento of the original dated November 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . See also English Wikipedia 
3. ↑ The Psychoanalytic Review (English)
4. ↑ Memorial plaque for Theodor Reik in Berlin
5. ↑ ( reading sample) Note: the subtitle ("about some similarities in the soul life of savages and neurotics") is identical to that of Freud's work Totem and Tabu .
6. ↑ Full text at archive.org
7. ↑ Note: Fritz Erik Hoevels writes in his editor's foreword (see page viii ): "Title ... proves that at least one more volume of similar treatises by Reik was planned. Unfortunately, due to Hitler's successes, that was not to come . "