Sabina Spielrein: Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis

by Coline Covington (Editor)

Sabina Spielrein is perhaps best known for her love affair with her doctor, Carl Gustav Jung. She met Jung when she was admitted to Burghölzli Clinic in Zürich in 1904 as a young woman of 19, where Jung diagnosed the highly intelligent woman as hysteric. Their intense relationship gave rise to some of the most important ideas within psychoanalysis and analytical psychology today, notably the death instinct.

Sabina Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis is an invaluable collection of papers that attempt to answer why Spielrein's story and work have remained in the dark for so long. The distinguished editors draw together Jung's hospital records of his treatment of Spielrein, commentaries on her relationship with Jung, extracts from Spielrein's diary, Jung's letters to Spielrein, and short theoretical pieces from her groundbreaking paper on the development of language "The origin of the child's words Papa and Mama", to shed new light on one of the first women psychoanalysts' life and work.

Illustrated by historical documents that have never before been published in English book form, Sabina Forgotten Pioneer of Psychoanalysis encourages and facilitates further historical research into, and development of the ideas we've inherited from Sabina Spielrein's treatment, writing and relationships. This book will be of great interest to psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, psychotherapists, historians, students and all those interested in the history of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic ideas.

328 pages, Hardcover

First published August 7, 2003

About the author

Coline Covington has worked as a psychotherapist for over 20 years in London with individuals who want to change their lives. She trained as a Jungian analyst and has developed her own eclectic approach to working with people that is both in-depth and pragmatic. She offers a range of services to individual clients that cover assessments, brief consultations (2-3 sessions), short-term psychotherapy and intensive analysis. Her clients come from a variety of backgrounds including senior executives, politicians, artists, writers, film-makers, and people working in the health professions.

Born in the U.S., Coline came to England after receiving her BA from Princeton University. She went on to do graduate work at Cambridge University and at LSE where she received a doctorate in sociology. She worked for many years as a consultant to local authority agencies throughout the UK and with the Metropolitan Police in setting up programmes for young offenders. As a result of this work, Coline also has considerable experience of consultancy work with businesses and organizations in the process of change.

Coline is former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council. She is a Training Analyst and Supervisor of the Society of Analytical Psychology and the British Psychotherapy Foundation. She is also former Editor of the Journal of Analytical Psychology.

Source: http://www.coline-covington.co.uk/

Reviews

[Avalina Kreska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book allows a person to situate themselves at the Burghölzli Institute/hospital in Zürich amidst the difficulties that arose for Jung and other leading figures as Psychoanalysis took form. A much needed book about the relationship between Jung, Spielrein and Freud. I didn't realise how fluid the Psychoanalytical concepts were between the three of them and that Spielrein had such an influence (albeit somewhat forgotten) directly with the formulation of Psychoanalytic ideas. Jung and Spielrein's personal correspondence almost felt like a 'sneaky' look under the covers! The question would always be to me - is that level of intimacy always wrong between an analyst and analysand? When there are no barriers at all - does this allow another dimension of 'free association' to come forth or will it always complicate matters? What a shame that her life was cut short during the Holocaust. It was a man's world back then; even in the world of Psychiatry/Psychoanalysis - what a difference she would have made to the Psychoanalytic world had she'd been active in the 21st Century!