Sándor Ferenczi: biography of this Hungarian psychoanalyst

Ferenczi is one of the first representatives of the school of psychoanalysis, learning directly from Freud himself. Thus, he is one of the most relevant figures in the development of psychotherapy.

In this biography of Sándor Ferenczi we are going to learn more about the life and work of this author, taking a tour of the most important events in his career and discovering what was the legacy that he left both in the field of psychology and in other fields of knowledge in which stressed.

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Brief biography of Sándor Ferenczi

Sándor Ferenczi was born in the Hungarian city of Miskolc, in the year 1873. It was the eighth birth within the family, and they would complete a dozen children within the Ferenczi marriage. His father was Bernát Ferenczi and his trade consisted of publishing and selling books. It was an enriching environment for the children, who had numerous literary works at their fingertips. This is how Sándor learned about the first texts on hypnosis.

His father died while Sándor Ferenczi was practically a child, so he lost his father figure very early. Sándor would continue his studies and later enter the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna in 1890, specializing in psychiatry. Once his training was completed, he moved to Saint Roch Hospital to begin his work as a psychiatrist, around 1894.

During this stage as a psychiatrist he has contact with various groups that for various reasons are victims of a lot of suffering, especially on a psychological level.. It treats elderly patients, prostitutes and homosexuals, who were victims of legal persecution because of their sexual orientation. In fact, Sándor Ferenczi was one of the components of a committee made up of doctors from Austria and Germany to defend the homosexual community from these persecutions to which they were subjected.

Approach to psychoanalysis

Sándor Ferenczi's training as a psychiatrist was far from psychoanalysis and in fact he rejected some of the central ideas of this doctrine, such as the one related to the interpretation of dreams. The reason for this rejection was justified by the lack of a solid scientific basis to support such theories.

However, at one point he had an approach to some of the work that he had done Carl Gustav Jung, one of the maximum references of psychoanalysis. It was after carefully studying some of his publications on free association that he decided to contact this author. This first approach took place in the Burghölzi hospital, where Jung worked.

Once the relationship with Carl Jung began, Sándor Ferenczi also established contact with Sigmund Freud. The affinity between both authors is high and a good friendship is soon generated between them. It is the year 1908. Ferenczi experiences first-hand what psychoanalysis therapy entails, being Freud's patient in his office. Already accepting this trend, Sándor Ferenczi decided to join the Viennese Psychoanalytic Association.

Freud becomes a kind of father figure for Ferenczi, coming to refer to him as his beloved son. They spent a lot of time together, even during their vacation periods.

Sigmund Freud mentioned Sándor Ferenczi in an article published in 1914; In it he reflects on the differences between the scientific currents that existed between Austria and Hungary. In that same article Freud highlights the immense importance of Ferenczi as a collaborator of psychoanalysis, stating that although he is the only representative of this doctrine among Hungarian authors, his worth makes him similar to if there were a whole society promoting psychoanalysis in Hungary. Such was Freud's affection for him that He included her on his internal committee, a very select group of people known as the Committee of the Seven Rings..

Marriage and new projects

In 1919 Sándor Ferenczi married his wife. She was a woman who was older than him and already had two daughters from a previous marriage. This fact was a problem for the society of the time, but Ferenczi did not care and he decided to consolidate his love through the wedding. Of course he had to suffer criticism about it from numerous people.

Around this time, Sigmund Freud asks Sándor Ferenczi to head an ambitious project, nothing less than the creation of the International Psychoanalytic Association, taking advantage of the Nuremberg Convention, where numerous authors were to meet. Ferenczi took on this task and endeavored to make the association a meeting place where there would be freedom and the clash of megalomaniacal personalities was avoided.

In fact, there were conflicts, precisely generated by a former patient and follower of Sándor Ferenczi, named Ernest Jones. This Welsh author would change his perspective on Ferenczi so much that he would generate great controversy, criticizing the work of his former mentor and trying to change his image in the face of Freud and the psychoanalytic community in general.

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War and later years

In 1914 the First World War broke out, in which Hungary was involved as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For this reason, Sándor Ferenczi he was called up and assigned the position of chief medical officer within a battalion. These years represent the beginning of a general crisis in society, which must adapt to living in very weakened economic conditions.

At this time Sándor Ferenczi also created the Hungarian Psychoanalytic Society, to continue expanding the doctrines of this current also in his native land. He in fact he was the president of this association until he passed away. Equally, he begins to teach psychoanalysis classes at the University of Budapest, where he receives the chair for this purpose.

Sándor Ferenczi's travels to promote psychoanalysis also took him to Spain in 1928. This visit allowed him to develop an important conference where he dealt with the learning of the psychoanalysis and how this psychological current had the potential to achieve modifications in the character of people.

As an outstanding student of Freud, Sándor Ferenczi was in charge of taking his knowledge throughout Europe, being faithful to his doctrines. However, in the following years Ferenczi would experience an evolution on these ideas, which would lead him to modify some of the fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis. This turn caused his relationship with Freud and with the psychoanalytic community to cool.

In fact, some of Sándor Ferenczi's works could not be published until several years after his death, as they were subject to a veto by the rest of psychoanalytic authors, which did not allow the divergence of concepts that Ferenczi had begun to experiment in the last stage of his career.

Last years and death

Sándor Ferenczi spent his last years suffering from Bermier's disease or neuro-anemic syndrome. This ailment generated ascending myelitis, a terminal condition that gradually extinguished him until he ended his life on May 22, 1933, at the age of 59 years.

Ernest Jones, the disciple who years ago had fallen out with Ferenczi, claimed that he suffered from a psychotic disorder. However, other authors, who accompanied Sándor Ferenczi during his last days, denied the claims. of Jones and blamed them only on an attempt to discredit the author, thus attacking his work and his legacy. This attempt to destroy the reputation and the works of Sándor Ferenczi did not go further and later the rest of his work could be published.

In fact, Sándor Ferenczi's work was characterized precisely by an immense empathic capacity towards the patient and a deep feeling of love towards people. His technique was controversial compared to other authors. Ferenczi fled from dogmas and on the contrary tried to approach theoretical issues with great freedom. He also stood out for a very accurate criterion when addressing the different cases that he faced during his career.

In short, Sándor Ferenczi was an extraordinary author who expanded the thought of psychoanalysis both throughout Austria and Hungary as well as the rest of Europe, being a key figure for the diffusion of this new school of the psychology. His new ideas regarding this current of thought, embodied in his last works, led to conflicts with some authors. However, Sándor Ferenczi remained true to himself and finally all these works were able to see the light, even after his death. Thanks to this, today we can know in detail all of his contributions to psychoanalysis.

Bibliographic references:

• Aron, L.; Harris, A. (1993). The legacy of Sándor Ferenczi. Analytic Press, Inc.
• Ferenczi, S. (1995). The clinical diary of Sándor Ferenczi. Harvard University Press.
• Freud, S.; Ferenczi, S.; Brabant, E. (1993). The Correspondence of Sigmund Freud and Sándor Ferenczi: 1920-1933. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
• Haynal, A.E. (2002). Disappearing and reviving: Sándor Ferenczi in the history of psychoanalysis. Karnac Books Ltd.
• Rachman, A.W. (1997). Sándor Ferenczi: The psychotherapist of tenderness and passion. Jason Aronson.