Freud And His Followers (Da Capo Series in Science) [Paperback]

Paul Roazen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Da Capo Series in Science | Publication Date: March 22, 1992

Paul Roazen's study of Sigmund Freud and his complex relationships with the men and women who formed his circle is widely recognized as the best portrait of Freud and his world, and it focuses as much on the human dramas involved as on the ideas the participants developed. Here, around the master, are the disciples Alfred Adler, Wilhelm Stekel, Carl Jung, and Otto Rank, who broke away to found their own movements; the loyalists such as Karl Abraham and Sandor Ferenczi; the great woman therapists, including Helene Deutsch, Melanie Klein, and Anna Freud; as well as such younger students as Wilhelm Reich, Erik Erikson, and Erich Fromm. Roazen draws on several hundred interviews with more than 70 people who knew Freud, as well as the unreleased papers of his authorized biographer, Ernest Jones.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306804727
• ISBN-13: 978-0306804724
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #905,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Freud, Sigmund

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gold mine of information..., April 25, 2010

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This review is from: Freud And His Followers (Da Capo Series in Science) (Paperback)

This book is a treasure trove of information about Freud and his early followers. Roazen (who had already published two previous works on Freud) interviewed 110 of Freud's former patients, colleagues and family members in order to obtain an inside perspective on Freud. These interviews, combined with a thorough knowledge of Freud's writings, lend an unusual candor to Roazen's account. As a consequence, Roazen's book was not only highly insightful, it was often quite literally jaw dropping. (After taking more than 15 pages of notes from my borrowed copy, I realized I was simply going to have to purchase this book--a decision I have not regretted, as I refer to it almost daily.)

Freud had a strong pull on the members of his coterie. He could rightly be called a charismatic figure, even a cult leader. (Critics of his own time, and ours, have compared psychoanalysis to a "cult"--and with good reason). Freud's personality was so powerful that to this day his detractors are met with the full force of religious outrage. During Freud's lifetime, those who left his circle could only do so through "excommunication" or death (suicide). How did this man manage to sway so many otherwise intelligent people, and so completely?

Although Roazen holds the view that Freud was a genius, the portrait he paints, often unwittingly, is that of a man who sought total control over his followers. According to those who knew him best, Freud demanded "all or nothing" from his friends, colleagues, and even his family. When his fiancée, Martha Bernays, made living arrangements to accommodate her mother, Freud wrote, "If that is so, you are my enemy...You have only an Either-Or." This "either-or" attitude permeated all of Freud's relationships. When he mentored young psychoanalysts, they were his "sons" until they showed some independence of thought. Then they rapidly became his enemies, apostates for whom he retained a lasting hatred. Not surprisingly, his followers took up Freud's behavior with relish, ejecting, excommunicating and putting on public "trial" those colleagues who dared question the absolute truth of Freud's findings. They became zealots, not scientists.

Of course, it was Freud, not his followers, who started the myth that psychoanalysis was a science. In spite of the fact that he himself never followed the methods that he so convincingly described, Freud's thoughts, writings, and psychoanalytic utterances rapidly became dogma. "Do as I say, not as I do," was the operating principle behind Freud's teachings. His "discoveries" were no more scientific, as the majority of them were derived from Freud's "self-analysis." (Even at the time, psychiatrists questioned the validity of Freud's so-called discoveries, declaring them to be nothing more than the speculations of an over-active imagination.) It was only through the single-minded efforts of Freud, the fanatical devotion of his followers, and the publicity provided by Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays (who was one of the most influential men in the United States, and the father of PR) that psychoanalysis survived at all.

Not only did it survive, it flourished, becoming a virtual fad for the rich and famous. Among those whom Freud and his disciples analyzed were Gustav Mahler, Marilyn Monroe and Anais Nin, who, like many former patients, eventually became an analyst herself. At the height of their popularity analysts consorted, both literally and figuratively, with the literati of Europe, becoming an integral part of the "zeitgeist" of the early 20th century. They also consorted with each other. It was not unusual for analysts to have affairs with their patients (who, in turn, became analysts). In fact, Freud put his seal on approval on several such relationships. (What better way to recruit a follower than sex?) Initially, I found it surprising that Freud would have interfered so blatantly in the private lives of his patients, but this was a man who referred to psychoanalysis as his "Empire" and compared himself to Napoleon. Acting in the best interests of his patients was clearly not a priority.

If you want to understand Freud as a man, this book is essential reading. Nothing will give you a clearer picture of who Freud was, and who his followers were. The irony is that Roazen, himself a Freudian, although not a psychologist, painted such a devastating picture of a man he so admired. (Of course, one does have to read between the lines. Much of Roazen's commentary reflects an almost touching credulity. It requires someone of extraordinary gullibility to be taken in by Freud's "memories" of his sexual, emotional and religious life at the ripe old age of two.) But in the end, we have Roazen's commitment to good scholarship to thank for this fascinating study. Unlike Freud, Roazen did not skew his data in order to validate his presuppositions.