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Sabina Spielrein: The Forgotten Psychoanalyst
February 16, 2012 Insight by Melissa McSweeney
When people hear the name Sabina Spielrein, they immediately think of psychoanalyst Carl Jungs alleged patient-
turned-lover (that is, if one even recognizes her name at all). Its a shame that the only modern associations we have
with Spielrein are of her romantic liaisons rather than her brilliant contributions to early 20th century psychoanalysis: the
study of the relation between subconscious and conscious thoughts in psychological processes. She even was the first
woman to write a psychological dissertation. In fact, there wasnt a single reliable English-translated account on
Spielreins psychological work until 1993. The image of Sabina Spielrein has been sexually objectified and academically
overlooked. The widely renowned psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, as well as the prominent
developmental psychologists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky have borrowed ideas from Spielrein to formulate some of
their most influential concepts without giving her the credit that she deserves.
Jung
Spielreins work in psychoanalysis began in 1904 at Burgholzli hospital, when she received psychoanalytic therapy for
hysteria as Carl Jungs first patient [1]. She was allowed to help Jung with some of his research and made some
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profound interpretations of the data Jung collected. After being deemed psychologically cured from her hysteria in 1905,
Spielrein went on to medical school in Zurich to pursue psychiatry. Years later, Jung oversaw her dissertation in
psychoanalysis. He went on to repeat several of Spielreins ideas in his own work, failing to cite her influence and
contribution in print. She had a profound influence on Jungs Anima archetype: the human sense of self that is central in
Jungs widely renowned theory of the collective unconscious [2].
The movie A Dangerous Method explores the dynamics and tension between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and
Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and how Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) allegedly helped fuel this tension and
contributed to their eventual break [3]. Before watching this movie, I expected to be informed about the scientific and
philosophical tension between Jung and Freud, while simultaneously learning more about Spielreins own theories.
However, I was disappointed to find that the main plot of A Dangerous Method was centered on the affair that Jung
ostensibly had with Spielrein. Director David Cronenberg framed Spielrein as a well educated, mentally unstable virgin
who seduced Jung with her talent in psychoanalysis and pulchritudinous figureonly to become severely emotionally
and physically attached to him to a psychotic degree. Though at some moments Keira Knightley presented a riveting
portrayal of Spielreins subtle brilliance, multiple scenes displaying Spielreins character in sexually submissive situations,
in revealing costumes, and in frequent psychotic states overrode her intellectual accomplishments.
Freud
Arguably the most influential psychologist of modern Western civilization, Sigmund Freud is documented to have been in
personal contact with Sabina Spielrein. In fact, as was clearly expressed in A Dangerous Method, Jungs
psychoanalytic treatment of Spielrein was the motivating factor of his initial correspondence with Freud. After the end of
her work with Jung, along with Jungs revocation of the emotional attachment between them, Spielrein sought comfort
and psychoanalytical guidance from Freud. Jung denied any romantic liaisons with Spielrein, but Spielreins accounts
and letters insisted otherwise. Freud began to distrust Jung as he suspected Jung was lying to him about his involvement
with Spielrein. (It was a big deal because Spielrein was a former patient of Jungs, and a psychiatrist having any sort of
an affair with a patient was and is very much against the fundamental rules of the practice.) This only caused further
tension in his already diverging academic relationship with Jung.
Independent of their mutual ties to Carl Jung, Spielrein and Freud shared overlapping opinions on many topics that
involved the internal psychological conflict of the conscious and subconscious. Spielrein specifically set a precedent in
her 1912 dissertation to Freuds conception of the death drive: a theory that speculates that humans subconsciously
have a natural drive to strive to both live (the eros instinct) and to wish to cease to exist (the thanatos instinct) [4].
These two forces are supposed to create an internal conflict that philosophically addresses differing cognitive states and
mental abnormalities. When Freud published the essay Beyond the Pleasure Principle that brought up the death drive
theory, he failed to give any credit to Spielrein for her influence in the subject [5].
Piaget
Spielrein psychoanalyzed the developmental psychologist Jean Piaget in Geneva in the 1920s. Before her encounters
with Piaget, she had already established a theoretical interest in child psychology. Spielrein and Piaget formulated the
theory of symbolic thought togetherthough they eventually intellectually diverged and did not complete the theory
because of Piagets migration away from psychoanalysis and toward epistemology. The theory of symbolic thought
involved the connections and bridges between subconscious and conscious
Piaget is often fully credited with ideas that Spielrein independently posited, such as the theory that concepts such as
time, space, and causality are acquired through individual development rather than predestination, even when he cited
their ideas together. Additionally, they shared ideas about language development in children [6]. Even though Piaget
credited her in most of his work, the public and psychiatric community largely overlooked her contributions, most likely
because of her gender.
Vygotsky
Spielrein also profoundly influenced Lev Vygotsky, the developmental psychologist whose opinions are often compared
to those of Piaget (though many of their theories are in contention). After Spielrein joined the Russian Psychoanalytical
Society in 1923, Lev Vygotsky became aware of her ideas and was influenced by Spielreins work in language
development just as Piaget was. In recent speculation, historians argue Spielrein might be the missing link between
Vygotsky and Piaget, which explains the similarities between their separate, conflicting theories about childhood and
developmental psychology [6].
Its symbolically ironic that the major psychologists Spielrein influenced can be considered academic rivals. In many of
her theories, she emphasized clashing forces that cause inner conflict and personality characteristicsa prominent
element of the psychoanalytic field of psychology. The theories of Freud and Jung, and of Piaget and Vygotsky clashed
with one another, creating a conflict in the psychiatric field as Spielrein respectively catalyzed and neutralized these
academic conflicts. But the clashing of opinions remains the same.
Kitty Greene
Of course, Spielrein is not the only woman in history whose ideas
were discredited. Her story is often compared to that of Catherine Kitty Greene: the woman who invented the cotton
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gin but was never given credit. In 1792, Greene rented a room in her house in Georgia to a young Yale graduate named
Eli Whitney. According to several sources, Greene complained to Whitney about how impractical it was to raise cotton
because of how long it took to seed the cotton. She suggested that raising cotton would be more time efficient and
profitable if there was some sort of machine to seed the cotton en masse. Some speculate that she even drew a
preliminary plan for such a machine [7]. Whitney, though he had no personal knowledge of the hardships of cotton
picking given his Northeastern roots and education, was intrigued by this suggestion, and went on to create mechanical
drawings that allowed the cotton gin to become a mass-produced reality. He patented it with no mention of Greenes
contribution.
The cotton gin went on to exponentially increase American productivity and helped launch the country into the Industrial
Revolution, making Whitney rich and famous, but leaving Kitty Greene with no credit whatsoever. It was as if Whitney
took advantage of Greenes idea and claimed it as his own because he knew he could get away with it. Women had
inferior status at the turn of the 19th century when Greene posited the idea for the cotton gin, just as they had inferior
status at the turn of the 20th century when Spielrein came up with her psychoanalytic theories. Therefore, little could
have been done at the time to go against the patriarchal society and claim the credit that these women deserved.
It is important to recognize Spielreins contributions to the field of psychoanalysis, as her work is on par with the most
influential figures of her time in the field of modern psychiatry. Though her gender may have limited her significance
during her life (which was tragically cut short in 1942 when she and 27,000 other Jewish Russians were murdered by a
German S.S. death squad), our society is now more gender-inclusive. This leaves us no excuse but to learn about her
significance in the formulation of some of the most instrumental ideas in psychotherapy today.
Attribution
[1]: Another woman gets robbed?, The Free Library
[2]: Changing Minds
[3]: Netflix
[4]: Gallery of russian thinkers
[5]: Beyond the Pleasure Principle
[6]: The Free Library
[7]: Answers.com
Images
Cover Photo
Keira Knightly as Sabina in A Dangerous Method
Drawing of the cotton gin
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Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War
in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers and landless white
farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations of the wealthy in return for a share of the profits.
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