Sabina Spielrein was a Russian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, a respected colleague of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. As a young woman, she was Jung's first psychoanalytic patient, and, during the course of her therapy, they began an intense romantic relationship, which continued for several years. Frued himself acknowledged the importance of her work, and yet for decades she nearly vanished from the psychoanalytic landscape. Only recently have scholars begun to recognize the valuable contributions she made to psychoanalysis and analytical psychology. This profile of Spielrein explores the nature of her contributions, notably the idea of the death instinct. It also examines the intricacies of her relationships with Jung and Freud, both personal and professional, and addresses the question of why she was overlooked by the psychoanalytic establishment for so long. About the Author: Frank Marchese, PhD, teaches psychology at York University, Toronto, Canada |
