Psicoanálisis para el movimiento de Higiene Mental español, 1920–1936

: This article analyses the process by which Freud's ideas were incorporated into the reform and scientific–social legitimation strategies of the Spanish psychiatrists linked to the Mental Hygiene movement. Taking into account medical, social and professional aspects, it investigates the existence of a circuit of debate and practice of psychoanalysis whose main objective was the modernization of psychiatry. Furthermore, it studies the role that Freud's ideas had on childhood intervention, which consolidated a field of action in which, under arguments of mental hygiene and social defense, psychiatrists, educa-tors, pedagogues met.