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To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World: The Life of Frieda Fromm-Reichmann
A fascinating and dramatic account of a controversial figure in twentieth-century psychiatry.
In this “dazzling and provocative”* biography, Gail Hornstein brings back to life the maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World tells the extraordinary life story of the German-Jewish refugee analyst who accomplished what Freud and almost everyone else thought she successfully treated schizophrenics and other seriously disturbed mental patients with intensive psychotherapy, rather than medication, lobotomy, or shock treatment. Written with unprecedented access to a rich archive of clinical materials and newly discovered records and documents from across Europe and the United States, Hornstein’s meticulous and “delightfully lucid”** biography definitively reclaims the life of Fromm-Reichmann. The therapist at the core of Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is also the analyst who had an affair with, and later married, her patient Erich Fromm. A pioneer in her field, she made history as the pivotal figure of the unique and legendary mental hospital, Chestnut Lodge.
“A lively, well-written account of a charismatic leader in an important period of psychiatry’s history.”
—Psychology Today
“At a time when little pills are seen as a quick fix for almost everything, this book is well worth taking time to read and contemplate.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer
* Publishers Weekly ** Kirkus Reviews
In this “dazzling and provocative”* biography, Gail Hornstein brings back to life the maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World tells the extraordinary life story of the German-Jewish refugee analyst who accomplished what Freud and almost everyone else thought she successfully treated schizophrenics and other seriously disturbed mental patients with intensive psychotherapy, rather than medication, lobotomy, or shock treatment. Written with unprecedented access to a rich archive of clinical materials and newly discovered records and documents from across Europe and the United States, Hornstein’s meticulous and “delightfully lucid”** biography definitively reclaims the life of Fromm-Reichmann. The therapist at the core of Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is also the analyst who had an affair with, and later married, her patient Erich Fromm. A pioneer in her field, she made history as the pivotal figure of the unique and legendary mental hospital, Chestnut Lodge.
“A lively, well-written account of a charismatic leader in an important period of psychiatry’s history.”
—Psychology Today
“At a time when little pills are seen as a quick fix for almost everything, this book is well worth taking time to read and contemplate.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer
* Publishers Weekly ** Kirkus Reviews
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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291 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 12, 2008
I've bought this twice, lent it out twice, and will probably need to buy it again if I ever want to own it. I love this one. It's even better that it was written by an MHC professor. :) B
January 15, 2022
"If our work tends to increase our decency in human relationships, it is of greatest importance at the present time...in counteracting the consequences of human indecency which this country is fighting." -Frieda Fromm-Reichmann on psychotherapy, 1943
I thought this book was terrific.
A movingly written depiction of Frieda Fromm-Riechmann's life and approach to psychotherapy for schizophrenia, the book offers a lot to admire about Fromm-Reichmann. Throughout her life she was driven by the conviction that all people can be reached, that the most profound forms of madness and suffering can be understood, and that relationships can heal. Hornstein convincingly portrays Frieda as someone who entered her profession unwilling to accept the received wisdom in the field that people diagnosed with schizophrenia were beyond hope. Her lifelong efforts to innovate and improve the quality of her profession were informed through collaboration, diplomacy, an openness to lifelong learning and a willingness to credit her teachers. I find her strategy a worthwhile model for those of us who continue to try to advance this type of work.
Rarely have I read something that resonated so much with how I have aspired to approach my career as a psychotherapist. It also sheds light on many of the personal, social, and professional forces that make it so easy to fall short of these aspirations.
There are also interesting explorations of the mid century psychoanalysis community and the book works well as a companion to I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, offering much more history and context on Fromm-Reichmann's most famous patient, the author Joanne Greenberg.
Highly recommend, especially for mental health professionals or people personally affected by schizophrenia.
I thought this book was terrific.
A movingly written depiction of Frieda Fromm-Riechmann's life and approach to psychotherapy for schizophrenia, the book offers a lot to admire about Fromm-Reichmann. Throughout her life she was driven by the conviction that all people can be reached, that the most profound forms of madness and suffering can be understood, and that relationships can heal. Hornstein convincingly portrays Frieda as someone who entered her profession unwilling to accept the received wisdom in the field that people diagnosed with schizophrenia were beyond hope. Her lifelong efforts to innovate and improve the quality of her profession were informed through collaboration, diplomacy, an openness to lifelong learning and a willingness to credit her teachers. I find her strategy a worthwhile model for those of us who continue to try to advance this type of work.
Rarely have I read something that resonated so much with how I have aspired to approach my career as a psychotherapist. It also sheds light on many of the personal, social, and professional forces that make it so easy to fall short of these aspirations.
There are also interesting explorations of the mid century psychoanalysis community and the book works well as a companion to I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, offering much more history and context on Fromm-Reichmann's most famous patient, the author Joanne Greenberg.
Highly recommend, especially for mental health professionals or people personally affected by schizophrenia.
October 5, 2022
Beautifully and compellingly written, but never convinced me of It’s central thesis, or even came close. I read it for research and can’t imagine any other useful application.
August 5, 2015
A well written and researched biography. Not my normal choice of reading (and I wouldn't have come across this book if not for it being assigned to me), but Hornstein has a great command of the English language which makes for an engaging read.
August 17, 2021
Me tarde mucho en leerlo porque estaba muy ocupada porque el libro es para leerse rápido
Es la interesante historia de la vida de Frida y el trabajo con pacientes en instituciones psiquiátricas desde el psicoanálisis
Vemos cómo se van construyendo los hospitales , como van cambiando los procedimientos , como surgen procedimientos como electroshocks y cirugías cerebrales y cómo se discute la utilización del psicoanálisis y la apuesta por la esperanza
Es la interesante historia de la vida de Frida y el trabajo con pacientes en instituciones psiquiátricas desde el psicoanálisis
Vemos cómo se van construyendo los hospitales , como van cambiando los procedimientos , como surgen procedimientos como electroshocks y cirugías cerebrales y cómo se discute la utilización del psicoanálisis y la apuesta por la esperanza
July 22, 2020
The light of hope that with love and commitment we can all be redeemed.
Did you know that schizophrenia can be best treated without meds?
Did you know that schizophrenia can be best treated without meds?
December 26, 2022
I am fascinated by the biography I just finished.
First, as a teenager, I read “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” the “novel” about a 16-year-old schizophrenic girl and the years she spends in an asylum. It’s largely about her therapy with “Dr. Fried.”
That book was published as fiction, with a pseudonym (Hannah Green) for the author. Many people who read it suspected that it was at least based on truth.
It was, indeed. Only thinly fictionalized, it’s the account of Joanne Greenberg’s cure from psychosis—using psychotherapy only. No lobotomy, no insulin shock, no electroshock therapy. Not even any medications.
From rereading that book recently, I got interested in her real-life psychotherapist, Frieda Fromm-Reichman, MD., who died in 1957. The biography I just finished is about her.
It’s called “To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World,” by Gail A. Hornstein. What a story it tells, certainly about Frieda’s life, the role of orthodox Judaism in her life and career, her escape as a German Jew from Europe a few years before WWII, and her treatment of various patients.
But, perhaps even more interesting, is what it reveals about psychiatry and psychotherapy.
I’ve had problems with depression and anxiety all my life. I’ve seen psychiatrists and many other therapists.
It never occurred to me that psychiatry, especially with seriously psychotic patients, almost always fails. Greenberg’s cure was nearly unprecedented in the 1940s and still is today. Psychiatry is the only medical specialty with such a dismal track record, in the face of serious illness.
The book says that most psychiatrists use only drug therapy, with some talk sessions and perhaps electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to improve their patients. The truth is that psychiatry as a field has never believed that they could cure psychosis, and most psychiatrists never try. Even Freud said it was impossible. Most psychiatrists go into private practice, where they treat what the book calls “the worried well.”
I am one of the “worried well.”
In the book, US psychiatrists were perhaps initially impressed by Frieda's success with Greenberg and others. Frieda was a very popular speaker at psychiatric conferences, and she published books and many articles in professional journals—to great acclaim. She also held important positions on various boards and was instrumental in psychiatry education in the US.
But ultimately, US psychiatrists were so intimidated by her success, and the light that it cast on them, her writings have now largely vanished from the field of psychiatry. Very few psychiatrists have ever written of success in treating psychosis.
The book is downright fascinating. And it is exceptionally well researched. Nearly every sentence has a source at the end of the book.
This is the only biography ever written about Fromm-Reichmann. Many other biographers took up the challenge, especially much closer to her death in 1957, but none of them succeeded. Hornstein did a first-rate job.
First, as a teenager, I read “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” the “novel” about a 16-year-old schizophrenic girl and the years she spends in an asylum. It’s largely about her therapy with “Dr. Fried.”
That book was published as fiction, with a pseudonym (Hannah Green) for the author. Many people who read it suspected that it was at least based on truth.
It was, indeed. Only thinly fictionalized, it’s the account of Joanne Greenberg’s cure from psychosis—using psychotherapy only. No lobotomy, no insulin shock, no electroshock therapy. Not even any medications.
From rereading that book recently, I got interested in her real-life psychotherapist, Frieda Fromm-Reichman, MD., who died in 1957. The biography I just finished is about her.
It’s called “To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World,” by Gail A. Hornstein. What a story it tells, certainly about Frieda’s life, the role of orthodox Judaism in her life and career, her escape as a German Jew from Europe a few years before WWII, and her treatment of various patients.
But, perhaps even more interesting, is what it reveals about psychiatry and psychotherapy.
I’ve had problems with depression and anxiety all my life. I’ve seen psychiatrists and many other therapists.
It never occurred to me that psychiatry, especially with seriously psychotic patients, almost always fails. Greenberg’s cure was nearly unprecedented in the 1940s and still is today. Psychiatry is the only medical specialty with such a dismal track record, in the face of serious illness.
The book says that most psychiatrists use only drug therapy, with some talk sessions and perhaps electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to improve their patients. The truth is that psychiatry as a field has never believed that they could cure psychosis, and most psychiatrists never try. Even Freud said it was impossible. Most psychiatrists go into private practice, where they treat what the book calls “the worried well.”
I am one of the “worried well.”
In the book, US psychiatrists were perhaps initially impressed by Frieda's success with Greenberg and others. Frieda was a very popular speaker at psychiatric conferences, and she published books and many articles in professional journals—to great acclaim. She also held important positions on various boards and was instrumental in psychiatry education in the US.
But ultimately, US psychiatrists were so intimidated by her success, and the light that it cast on them, her writings have now largely vanished from the field of psychiatry. Very few psychiatrists have ever written of success in treating psychosis.
The book is downright fascinating. And it is exceptionally well researched. Nearly every sentence has a source at the end of the book.
This is the only biography ever written about Fromm-Reichmann. Many other biographers took up the challenge, especially much closer to her death in 1957, but none of them succeeded. Hornstein did a first-rate job.
August 19, 2019
Frieda Fromm-Reichman is most famous for being the real-life psychiatrist who inspired the therapist character in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, but that’s not what brought me to her life story. I haven’t read that book since I was a teenager, and it didn’t speak to me when I did anyway. I learned of Frieda from Dr. Joseph Berke’s writing, and I value his opinion highly. He cites her in his book on Freud as someone who employed Jewish values in her therapy. The title of the biography conveys precisely that. He also explained that she was successful in curing schizophrenics, working with the patients that her colleagues had given up on. Since he and his mentor R.D. Laing did the same thing a generation or so later, I knew I had to learn more about Frieda. And now that I’ve read her biography, I think she’s the greatest therapist who ever lived. The difference between her and other colleagues, she explained, was simple persistence. She didn’t believe it was fair to give up on a patient and write them off as incurable. It was the therapist’s job to keep on trying.
Frieda was raised an Orthodox Jew and observed the mitzvos until she was thirty-six. She abandoned religious practice under the influence of her famous husband, Erich Fromm. The marriage didn’t last, but she never went back to Torah observance either. In any case, because there was more Judaism in the early part of the biography, I did enjoy those parts best. There’s nothing that makes me happier than learning about someone who sticks to Torah observance while being a secular intellectual, no matter the field. But her bigger professional accomplishments came in the later part of her life, as they do with so many people. She was the star attraction at the therapeutic community where she was employed, and of course, she became famous because of Rose Garden, though the pseudonym of both the author and the fictional character allowed that fame to fade. Frieda preferred it that way.
The biography is long and thorough and took me many weeks to finish, but that’s not so much because of the book as because I brought it on my trip to Israel, and travel and reading do not always mix well. But if you have any interest in therapy, I recommend this book. I’ll say it again: Frieda Fromm-Reichman was the greatest therapist who ever lived.
Frieda was raised an Orthodox Jew and observed the mitzvos until she was thirty-six. She abandoned religious practice under the influence of her famous husband, Erich Fromm. The marriage didn’t last, but she never went back to Torah observance either. In any case, because there was more Judaism in the early part of the biography, I did enjoy those parts best. There’s nothing that makes me happier than learning about someone who sticks to Torah observance while being a secular intellectual, no matter the field. But her bigger professional accomplishments came in the later part of her life, as they do with so many people. She was the star attraction at the therapeutic community where she was employed, and of course, she became famous because of Rose Garden, though the pseudonym of both the author and the fictional character allowed that fame to fade. Frieda preferred it that way.
The biography is long and thorough and took me many weeks to finish, but that’s not so much because of the book as because I brought it on my trip to Israel, and travel and reading do not always mix well. But if you have any interest in therapy, I recommend this book. I’ll say it again: Frieda Fromm-Reichman was the greatest therapist who ever lived.
November 17, 2016
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann was the psychiatrist who treated schizophrenic patient "Deborah Blau", aka Hannah Green, aka Joanne Greenberg with psychotherapy. Deborah/Hannah/Joanne was cured, and went on to write I Never Promised You a Rose Garden about her experiences, a novel that I read many times when I was young and remember fondly.
This biography is a detailed account of Fromm-Reichmann's early life, training, and immigration to the United States, where she found a professional home at Chestnut Lodge, a private mental hospital in Rockville, Maryland. There's a lot of detail about the history of Chestnut Lodge and the atmosphere there for doctors and patients. The author also discusses the debates in the psychiatric community about whether talk therapy can work for schizophrenics. Fromm-Reichmann seems to have had a special rapport with patients and some successes, but she wasn't able to train others to get the same results. There is debate about whether Deborah/Hannah/Joanne was even schizophrenic.
It was certainly well researched but really, much more about its subject and about psychiatry than I cared about.
This biography is a detailed account of Fromm-Reichmann's early life, training, and immigration to the United States, where she found a professional home at Chestnut Lodge, a private mental hospital in Rockville, Maryland. There's a lot of detail about the history of Chestnut Lodge and the atmosphere there for doctors and patients. The author also discusses the debates in the psychiatric community about whether talk therapy can work for schizophrenics. Fromm-Reichmann seems to have had a special rapport with patients and some successes, but she wasn't able to train others to get the same results. There is debate about whether Deborah/Hannah/Joanne was even schizophrenic.
It was certainly well researched but really, much more about its subject and about psychiatry than I cared about.
February 12, 2023
This was a dense, difficult read. In the end, I felt I learned more than I wanted to learn about psychiatry and treatment of mental illness, much less than I wanted to learn about Frieda Fromm-Reichmann.
One takeaway: I think Frieda really did love being a psychiatrist. She loved believing that she could help the severely ill. And she had that dedication to helping others that doctors and nurses and teachers and social workers have, but that I do not.
Long as the book is, and hard as the author worked, I never had the feeling that I KNEW Frieda. I didn't hear her voice, I didn't hear her thoughts or opinions on topics not related to psychiatry. Even her words on psychiatry are drawn from her published papers, and have a formal tone that prevents me from getting to Frieda herself.
I did learn quite a bit about psychiatry and mental illness:
I did not realize that psychiatrists felt threatened by the talk therapies offered by psychologists and social workers, and that they, in reaction, emphasized drug therapy, because they, being MDs, could prescribe drugs when their "competitiors" could not.
I also did not realize just how failure-prone psychiatry is. Medicine in general (IMHO) talks a better game than it delivers. But the author opines that psychiatry, in its century of existence, has progressed little, if at all. I'm not in a position to critique her critique. I was horrified at the mid-century treatments she describes: lobotomies, electro-shock therapies. It seems to me that these violated the "first, do no harm" instruction in the Hippocratic Oath, but I can well imagine some steely-eyed doc reassuring the family as he lopped into someone's brain.
Because what can you do with people who are violent or self-destructive or both? The talk therapy that Frieda did worked for some but failed for many others. Do the drug therapies that are so popular today work better? Maybe. While I was reading this book I had lunch with a friend who, early in her career as a pharmacist, had worked at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington DC, a state mental hospital. What did she think of the doctors there? "As crazy as the patients," she replied.
Ouch. NOT encouraging.
There were a few places the author COULD have said more than she did.
1
--
She doesn't clearly list a cause of death. Frieda was found dead in her bathtub; many friends thought her death was a suicide. Didn't her death certificate list a cause of death? Surely the author could have at least have quoted from the certificate, for what it is worth.
2
--
She remarks that Frieda owned very little and that her estate was quickly distributed. But Frieda did own a home in Santa Fe. What happened to it?
3
--
Was Frieda, who experienced the 20th century's most vicious form of racism, utterly unaware of Rockville's own racism? The author mentions, in passing, that at one point, Frieda's secretary is a Rockville local who was a graduate of a business school, but her maid — her maid! — was a graduate of Howard University.
Frieda was OK with that? Or unaware? It is a nice illustration of how racism makes you stupid, but cries out for more context, more explanation, more analysis. Yet the author squanders this opportunity to delve into Frieda's attitude. Nor can she be bothered to comment herself.
4
--
With some exceptions (Dexter and Anne Bullard most notably) almost everyone in this "production" (the author, the subject, the subject's husband, Joanne Greenberg, many of the other patients and psychiatrists) is Jewish. Why was the cast so overwhelmingly Jewish? What percent of psychiatrists are Jewish? What percent of the patients at Chestnut Lodge was Jewish? Do Jews dominate psychiatry, the way it seems? If so, why?
5
--
The author says that others tried, but failed, to write Frieda's biography. But she doesn't explain why they failed and how she was able to succeed. And she doesn't explain what, if anything, this delay says about Frieda's character.
One takeaway: I think Frieda really did love being a psychiatrist. She loved believing that she could help the severely ill. And she had that dedication to helping others that doctors and nurses and teachers and social workers have, but that I do not.
Long as the book is, and hard as the author worked, I never had the feeling that I KNEW Frieda. I didn't hear her voice, I didn't hear her thoughts or opinions on topics not related to psychiatry. Even her words on psychiatry are drawn from her published papers, and have a formal tone that prevents me from getting to Frieda herself.
I did learn quite a bit about psychiatry and mental illness:
I did not realize that psychiatrists felt threatened by the talk therapies offered by psychologists and social workers, and that they, in reaction, emphasized drug therapy, because they, being MDs, could prescribe drugs when their "competitiors" could not.
I also did not realize just how failure-prone psychiatry is. Medicine in general (IMHO) talks a better game than it delivers. But the author opines that psychiatry, in its century of existence, has progressed little, if at all. I'm not in a position to critique her critique. I was horrified at the mid-century treatments she describes: lobotomies, electro-shock therapies. It seems to me that these violated the "first, do no harm" instruction in the Hippocratic Oath, but I can well imagine some steely-eyed doc reassuring the family as he lopped into someone's brain.
Because what can you do with people who are violent or self-destructive or both? The talk therapy that Frieda did worked for some but failed for many others. Do the drug therapies that are so popular today work better? Maybe. While I was reading this book I had lunch with a friend who, early in her career as a pharmacist, had worked at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington DC, a state mental hospital. What did she think of the doctors there? "As crazy as the patients," she replied.
Ouch. NOT encouraging.
There were a few places the author COULD have said more than she did.
1
--
She doesn't clearly list a cause of death. Frieda was found dead in her bathtub; many friends thought her death was a suicide. Didn't her death certificate list a cause of death? Surely the author could have at least have quoted from the certificate, for what it is worth.
2
--
She remarks that Frieda owned very little and that her estate was quickly distributed. But Frieda did own a home in Santa Fe. What happened to it?
3
--
Was Frieda, who experienced the 20th century's most vicious form of racism, utterly unaware of Rockville's own racism? The author mentions, in passing, that at one point, Frieda's secretary is a Rockville local who was a graduate of a business school, but her maid — her maid! — was a graduate of Howard University.
Frieda was OK with that? Or unaware? It is a nice illustration of how racism makes you stupid, but cries out for more context, more explanation, more analysis. Yet the author squanders this opportunity to delve into Frieda's attitude. Nor can she be bothered to comment herself.
4
--
With some exceptions (Dexter and Anne Bullard most notably) almost everyone in this "production" (the author, the subject, the subject's husband, Joanne Greenberg, many of the other patients and psychiatrists) is Jewish. Why was the cast so overwhelmingly Jewish? What percent of psychiatrists are Jewish? What percent of the patients at Chestnut Lodge was Jewish? Do Jews dominate psychiatry, the way it seems? If so, why?
5
--
The author says that others tried, but failed, to write Frieda's biography. But she doesn't explain why they failed and how she was able to succeed. And she doesn't explain what, if anything, this delay says about Frieda's character.
October 13, 2022
This was a fascinating biography that illuminated not just Fromm-Reichmann's life, but also the turbulent early history of psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy. If it feels as though Fromm-Reichmann is a bit too idealized in the first half, this is only because records of her life are scant – the second half does a brilliant job fleshing out the complexity that made her human.
This also includes details of Joanne Greenberg's experience of hospitalization and cure from schizophrenia by talk therapy, which she wrote about in her semi-autobiographical novel "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."
Really interesting book, with so many illuminating details that make the period come alive. One of my favorites was reading about the warring factions that arose in psychotherapy, with Karen Horney taking to the streets of New York singing "Go Down, Moses." There were some very colorful personalities among the analysts and doctors. The book also contains a chilling account of Germany's slide into Nazism, which caused Freida to flee to America. There are so many layers in this book.
This also includes details of Joanne Greenberg's experience of hospitalization and cure from schizophrenia by talk therapy, which she wrote about in her semi-autobiographical novel "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."
Really interesting book, with so many illuminating details that make the period come alive. One of my favorites was reading about the warring factions that arose in psychotherapy, with Karen Horney taking to the streets of New York singing "Go Down, Moses." There were some very colorful personalities among the analysts and doctors. The book also contains a chilling account of Germany's slide into Nazism, which caused Freida to flee to America. There are so many layers in this book.
June 25, 2019
Amazing!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews