Theodor Reik And Non-medical Psychoanalysis
Theodor Reik left a mark for before and after in psychoanalysis. He also wrote remarkable books in which he manifested his reflections. His work paved the way for lay people to use psychoanalysis just like doctors.
He made many strong contributions to psychoanalytic theory. He plunged into the world of The Uncanny , one of Freud’s most remarkable books, with passion. Furthermore, he worked with the term “criminal offender” to explain how some individuals break the law with the unconscious goal of being punished.
Theodor Reik wrote more than 100 texts, including essays and books. Some of his most famous works are The Compulsion to Confess , The Unknown Murderer and Masochism in Modern Man . Unfortunately, it was for him, as with many others, that his fame came after his death.
Theodor Reik and the early years
Like most psychoanalysts at the time, Theodor Reik came from a Jewish family with an Austrian background. Reik was born in Vienna on May 12, 1888. During his childhood, he witnessed many quarrels between his father and grandfather. One was a free thinker, while the other was an almost fanatical religious man.
Reik’s mother was emotionally unstable. She suffered from severe depression, which left deep traces in the future psychoanalyst’s childhood. In addition, his father died when he was 18 years old. Therefore, Reik had to start working so that he could support and provide for his family. This whole situation led to an acute crisis marked by guilt and self-pity.
Despite his many limitations, he managed to obtain a philosophical doctorate in psychology from the University of Vienna in 1912. He based his dissertation on Gustave Flaubert’s The Temtation of St. Anthony. Some time later he met Sigmund Freud and established a long-standing bond with him.
Theodor Reik: Freud’s spiritual son
Freud refused to be Reik’s psychoanalyst. Instead, he decided to refer him to the psychoanalyst Karl Abraham, who also had a close relationship with Freud. It was Freud himself who paid for Reik’s psychoanalysis. And not only that, but he took Theodor Reik under his wing and sent him a monthly “salary” to help him cover various expenses. Reik began practicing as a psychoanalyst shortly after this. But since he was not a doctor, he was banned from doing psychoanalysis.
Reik became Freud’s protégé and they often collaborated in their work. They had such a close relationship that the circles they walked in Vienna began to call him “little Freud”. Reik dressed just like Freud, cut his beard like he did, talked like him, and even smoked the same cigars as him. Because of this, Freud recognized Theodor Reiks’ “father’s wish”, so he began calling him his spiritual son.
Non-medical psychoanalysis
In 1925 a famous trial against Theodor Reik took place. He was banned from practicing psychoanalysis because he did not have a medical license. This case sparked a major controversy in the psychoanalytic movement. Virtually all American psychoanalysts were against the idea of letting lay people practice psychoanalysis, while European psychoanalysts were in favor .
This controversy led Sigmund Freud to publish a work in which he reflected on whether lay people could practice psychoanalysis. Reik also decided to settle in Berlin, convinced that he could practice psychoanalysis there. However, he was forced to emigrate to the Netherlands in 1934, when the Nazis came to power in Germany. Later, in 1938, he emigrated on to the United States.
American psychoanalysts never accepted Theodor Reik as one of their own. This led him to develop his “third ear” theory. According to this theory, psychoanalysts basically work with their intuition, which is the axis of their countertransference work.
In addition, Reik established one of the first psychoanalytic training centers for psychologists, the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, which is still one of the largest and most well-known psychoanalytic training institutes in New York. Reik died of heart disease on December 31, 1969, in New York.
