Mutual Analysis: Ferenczi, Severn, and the Origins of Trauma Theory

Abstract

In this book, Peter L. Rudnytsky gives us a detailed account of Ferenczi’s controversial analysis of Elizabeth Severn in what may well be seen as a landmark case in the history of psychoanalysis, comparable to that of Anna O., Dora, and the Wolf Man. Written in a lively, engaging style and citing numerous sources—many of which are unpublished and some of which were inaccessible to scholars until recently—Rudnytsky presents an insightful commentary on the time in which Ferenczi’s bold experiments in psychoanalytic technique and modifications in theory put him at loggerheads with Freud, helping to alter the course of history in the process. The book is divided into three sections, titled “Conceptions,” “Contexts,” and “Consequences,” respectively. In “Conceptions,” Rudnytsky explores the lives of Elizabeth Severn and her daughter Margaret, with frequent references to Elizabeth’s book, The Discovery of the Self (published shortly after the termination of her analysis and Ferenczi’s untimely death in May 1933), and to Margaret’s unpublished letters to her mother. In “Contexts,” he examines the interactions within the small cluster of analysands who congregated around Ferenczi in Budapest, most notably Clara Thompson and Izette de Forest, who helped propagate Ferenczi’s ideas in the United States. In “Consequences,” Rudnytsky presents a detailed critique of the dispute over theory and technique which strained the personal relations between Ferenczi and Freud nearly to the breaking point and