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An American analyst in Vienna during the Anschluss , 1936–1938
Author(s) -
Langer Walter C.,
Gifford Sanford
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(197801)14:1<37::aid-jhbs2300140107>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - nazism , orthodoxy , psychoanalytic theory , relation (database) , psychology , psychoanalysis , sociology , political science , law , history , politics , archaeology , database , computer science
Two letters of Dr. Walter C. Langer give an animated, informal picture of (1) his experiences as a young American psychologist in training at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute during its last years before the Nazi occupation, (2) the clandestine activities of Dr. Langer and other foreign students in helping Austrian friends and colleagues to escape after the Anschluss in March 1938, and (3) his recollections of earlier years as a clinical psychologist, child analyst, and director of a residential school for disturbed boys. Dr. Langer's experiences are presented and discussed in relation to an important early phase in the development of American psychoanalysis, when full training could only be obtained in European institutes. His position as an analyst, a nonphysician, on returning to this country, where the American tradition of “medical orthodoxy” prevailed, prompts some reflections on the past and present status of lay analysis.