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Ludwig Binswanger

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Ludwig Binswanger
BornApril 13, 1881
Kreuzlingen
DiedFeb 5, 1966 ( 84 years old)
Kreuzlingen
NationalitySwiss
Scientific career
Fieldspsychiatry

Ludwig Binswanger (April 13, 1881 – February 5, 1966) was a Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of existential psychology. His grandfather (also named Ludwig Binswanger) was founder of the "Bellevue Sanatorium" in Kreuzlingen, and his uncle Otto Binswanger was a professor of psychiatry at the University of Jena.

He is considered the most distinguished of the phenomenological psychologists, and the most influential in making its concepts known in Europe and the States.[1]

Life and career

In 1907 Binswanger received his medical degree from the University of Zurich and as a young man worked and studied with some of the greatest psychiatrists of the era, such as Carl Jung, Eugen Bleuler and Sigmund Freud. He visited Freud (who had cited his uncle Otto's work on Neurasthenia)[2] in 1907 alongside Jung, noting approvingly his host's "distaste for all formality and etiquette, his personal charm, his simplicity, casual openness and goodness".[3] The two men became lifelong friends, Freud finding Binswanger's 1912 illness "particularly painful", and Binswanger offering Freud a refuge in Switzerland in 1938.[4]

Binswanger became a member of the early 'Freud Group' Jung led in Switzerland;[5] but nevertheless wrestled throughout his life over the place of psychoanalysis in his thinking[6] - his 1921 article on 'Psychoanalysis and clinical Psychiatry'[7] being only one landmark of that lifelong struggle.[8]

Binswanger was further influenced by existential philosophy, particularly after WWI,[9] through the works of Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Buber, eventually evolving his own distinctive brand of existential-phenomenological psychology.

From 1911 to 1956, Binswanger was medical director of the santatorium in Kreuzlingen.

Thinking and influence

Binswanger is considered dasdsadasdasdsadasdas scfthe first physician to combine psychotherapy with existential/phenomenological ideas, a concept he expounds in his 1942 book; Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins (Basic Forms and the Realization of Human "Being-in-the-World"). In this work he explains existential analysis as an empirical science that involves an anthropological approach to the individual essential character of being human.[10]

Binswanger saw Husserl's concept of lifeworld as a key to understanding the subjective experiences of his patients, considering that "in the mental diseases we face modifications of the fundamental structure and of the structural links of being-in-the-world".[11] For Binswanger, mental illness involved the remaking of a world - including alterations in the lived experience of time, space, bodysense and social relationships.[12] Where for example the psychoanalyst might only see "an overly strong 'pre-oedipal' tie to the mother", Binswanger would point out that "such overly strong filial tie is only possible on the premise of a world-design exclusively based on connectedness, cohesiveness, continuity".[13]

Binswanger's Dream and Existence - which was translated from German into French by Michel Foucault who added a substantial essay-introduction - highlighted in similar fashion the necessity of "steeping oneself in the manifest content of the dream - which, since Freud's epoch-making postulate concerning the reconstruction of latent thoughts, has in modern times receded all to[o] far into the background".[14] Eugène Minkowski had earlier introduced Binswanger's ideas into France, influencing thereby among others the early work of Jacques Lacan.[15]

In his study of existentialism, his most famous subject was Ellen West, a deeply troubled patient whose case-study was translated into English for the 1958 volume Existence.[16] Binswanger ascribed "schizophrenia" to her, and her case is included in his book "Schizophrenie". But few contemporary psychiatrists would accept this diagnosis. "Anorexia nervosa" is also misplaced. She felt an extreme urge for weight loss. But since she was extraordinarily fat this was hardly a pathological aim.

Through his adoption from Buber of the importance of the concept of dialogue, Binswanger can also be seen as an ancestor to intersubjective approaches to therapy.[17] Binswanger emphasised the importance of mutual recognition, as opposed to the counterdependency of destructive narcissism, as described by Herbert Rosenfeld for example.[18]

Criticism

R. D. Laing criticised Binswanger's phenomenology of space for insufficiently realising the extent to which one's sense of space is structured by others.[19]

Fritz Perls criticised his existential therapy for leaning too heavily upon psychoanalysis.[20]

Selected written works

  • 1922 : Einführung in die Probleme der allgemeinen Psychologie (Introduction to the Problems of General Psychology), Berlin
  • 1928 : Wandlungen in der Auffassung und Deutung des Traumes (Transformations in the View and Interpretation of the Dream), Berlin
  • 1930 : Traum und Existenz (Dream and Existence)
  • 1933 : Über Ideenflucht (On "Idea Escape"), Zurich
  • 1942 : Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins (Basic Forms and Realization of Human Existence), Zurich (3rd édition, Munich/Bâle, 1962)
  • 1946 : Über Sprache und Denken (On Language and Thinking), Bâle
  • 1949 : Henrik Ibsen und das Problem der Selbstrealisation in der Kunst (Henrik Ibsen and the Problem of Self Realization in Art), Heidelberg
  • 1956 : Erinnerungen an Sigmund Freud (Memories of Sigmund Freud), Berne
  • 1956 : Drei Formen missglückten Daseins: Verstiegenheit, Verschrobenheit, Manieriertheit (Three Forms of Failed Existence), Tübingen
  • 1957 : Schizophrenie (Schizophrenia), Pfullingen
  • 1957 : Der Mensch in der Psychiatrie (Humans in Psychiatry), Pfullingen
  • 1960 : Melancholie und Manie: Phänomenologische Studien (Melancholy and Mania. Phenomenological Studies), Pfullingen

See also

3

References

  1. ^ Todd May, 'Foucault's Relation to Phenomenology', in Gary Gutting ed., The Cambridge Companion to Foucault (2007) p. 287
  2. ^ Sigmund Freud, Civilization, Society and Religion (PFL 12) p. 36
  3. ^ Quoted in Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988) p. 203
  4. ^ Gay, p. 229 and p. 789
  5. ^ Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (1961) p. 331
  6. ^ Gay, p. 242-3
  7. ^ Otto Fenichel, The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neorosis (London 1946) p. 416 and p. 598
  8. ^ Herbert Spiegelberg, Phenomenology in Psychology and Psychiatry (1972) p. 197
  9. ^ Spiegelberg, p. 198-202
  10. ^ Answers.com Ludwig Binswanger
  11. ^ Quoted by May, p. 288
  12. ^ May, p. 295
  13. ^ Quoted by May, p. 289
  14. ^ Quoted in May, p. 289
  15. ^ Elisabeth Roudinesco, Jacques Lacan (2005) p. 45
  16. ^ Eugene Taylor, The Mysteries of Personality (2009) p. 81
  17. ^ Donna M. Orange, Thinking for Clinicians (nd) p. 3
  18. ^ Brian Koehler, 'Ludwig Binswanger: Contributions to an Intersubjective Approach to Psychosis'
  19. ^ R. D. Laing, Self and Others(1969) p. 135
  20. ^ Fritz Perls, Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (1972) p. 16-17

Further Reading

  • Bühler, Karl-Ernst (2004), "Existential analysis and psychoanalysis: specific differences and personal relationship between Ludwig Binswanger and Sigmund Freud.", American journal of psychotherapy, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 34–50, PMID 15106398
  • Reppen, Joseph (2003), "Ludwig Binswanger and Sigmund Freud: portrait of a friendship.", Psychoanalytic review, vol. 90, no. 3 (published 2003 Jun), pp. 281–91, doi:10.1521/prev.90.3.281.23619, PMID 14621641 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Wittern, Ursula; Hirschmüller, Albrecht (2002), "[Drug therapy of psychiatric patients in the middle of the 19th century: the drug armamentarium of Ludwig Binswanger sen. in his "Asyl Bellevue" ]", Gesnerus, vol. 59, no. 3–4, pp. 198–223, PMID 12587404
  • Hoffman, Klaus (2002), "[Historical essays on Ludwig Binswanger and psychoanalysis]", Luzifer-Amor : Zeitschrift zur Geschichte der Psychoanalyse, vol. 15, no. 29, pp. 1–189, PMID 12164205
  • Ghaemi, S N (2001), "Rediscovering existential psychotherapy: the contribution of Ludwig Binswanger", American journal of psychotherapy, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 51–64, PMID 11291191
  • "[Sigmund Freud / Ludwig Binswanger. Correspondence]", Psyche, vol. 46, no. 3 (published 1992 Mar), pp. 221–44, 1992, PMID 1581699 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Pivnicki, D (1979), "Paradoxes of psychotherapy. In honor and memory of Ludwig Binswanger", Confinia psychiatrica. Borderland of psychiatry. Grenzgebiete der Psychiatrie. Les Confins de la psychiatrie, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 197–203, PMID 394913
  • Kuhn, R (1972), "[Current importance of the work of Ludwig Binswanger]", Zeitschrift für klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 311–21, PMID 4576200
  • Kuhn, R (1968), "[Ludwig Binswanger, April 13, 1881 - February 5, 1966]", Bulletin der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften (published 1968 Nov), pp. Suppl 24:99+, PMID 4883993 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Vanderpool, J P (1968), "The existential approach to psychiatry (Ludwig Binswanger), (Victor Frankl)", Tex. Rep. Biol. Med., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 163–71, PMID 4877375
  • Delgado, H (1967), "[Necrology. Ludwig Binswanger]", Revista de neuro-psiquiatría, vol. 30, no. 2 (published 1967 Jun), pp. 216–7, PMID 4881552 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Colpe, C (1967), "[A physician in a dialogue. Reminiscences of Ludwig Binswanger, died on 5 February 1966]", Der Landarzt, vol. 43, no. 6 (published 1967 Feb 28), pp. 277–83, PMID 4873391 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Kuhn, R (1967), "[Ludwig Binswanger (1881-1966)]", Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie, Neurochirurgie und Psychiatrie = Archives suisses de neurologie, neurochirurgie et de psychiatrie, vol. 99, no. 1, pp. 113–7, PMID 5339997
  • Straus, E (1966), "[To the memory of Ludwig Binswanger 1881-1966]", Der Nervenarzt, vol. 37, no. 12 (published 1966 Dec), pp. 529–31, PMID 4861043 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • Cargnello, D ([[]]), "[Ludwig Binswanger) 1881-1966)]", Archivio di psicologia, neurologia e psichiatria, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 106–10, PMID 5329204 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  • Holt, H (1966), "Ludwig binswanger (1881-1966): a tribute", Journal of existentialism, vol. 6, no. 25, pp. 93–6, PMID 5342183
  • WYRSCH, J (1961), "[To Ludwig BINSWANGER on his 80th birthday.]", Psychiatria et neurologia, vol. 141 (published 1961 Apr), pp. 229–33, PMID 13787004 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • STRAUS, E W (1951), "[On the 70th birthday of Ludwig Binswanger.]", Der Nervenarzt, vol. 22, no. 7 (published 1951 Jul 20), pp. 269–70, PMID 14863527 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |publication-date= (help)
  • "[To Ludwig Binswanger on his 70th birthday.]", Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie und Psychiatrie. Archives suisses de neurologie et de psychiatrie. Archivio svizzero di neurologia e psichiatria, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 1–4, 1951, PMID 14865927

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