Francis Clark-Lowes
Wilhelm Stekel was one of the first adherents of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic movement. It was he who set up the so-called Psychological Wednesday Society, and in the activities of that organisation and its successor, the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society, he arguably played the most prominent part of any member up until the time of his resignation in November 1912. Together with Adler he established the monthly journal, the Zentralblatt fï¿½r Psychoanalyse, which for one year was the organ of the International Psychoanalytical Association. When Adler resigned he became sole editor. Freud acknowledged Stekel's originality, particularly in the area of symbolism. Despite all of this, historians of the psychoanalytic movement have tended to marginalise or even ignore completely Stekel's contribution. This is particularly surprising since many of Stekel's innovations in theory and technique have a distinctly modern ring to them. Moreover, Stekel played a very important part in the popularisation of psychoanalysis, particularly through his journalistic work. This study sets out to reassess Stekel's significance in the early history of the psychoanalytic movement, that is up until the outbreak of the First World War. In addition, a preliminary evaluation of his importance in the history of psychotherapy in general is attempted, and for this purpose the period following 1914 up to the present is also considered. 'A genuinely "standard work".' Professor Hans-Volker Werthmann, retired professor of psychoanalysis at the University of Frankfurt. 'Really excellent! And very thorough.' Dr Bernd Nitzschke, author, psychologist and psychoanalyst.
Psychology,Psychoanalysis
Freud's Apostle - Wilhelm Stekel and the Early History of Psychoanalysis