Will Therapy

by Otto Rank

Analyzes the movement that takes place when a therapist recognizes and constructively uses the potential strength of a neurotic patient

Genres: Psychology

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Born in Vienna as Otto Rosenfeld, he was one of Sigmund Freud's closest colleagues for 20 years, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, an editor of the two most important analytic journals, managing director of Freud's publishing house and a creative theorist and therapist. In 1926, Otto Rank left Vienna for Paris. For the remaining 14 years of his life, Rank had a successful career as a lecturer, writer and therapist in France and the U.S..

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Psychoanalytic theory and its offshoots were very big in New York while I studied at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University during the later seventies. This was presumably assigned for a class at one of those two schools or possibly as a reading for the internship seminars at St. Lukes Medical Center. In any case, it got me to avoid reading any more of Otto Rank.

[William Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book for several reasons: First, Rank was someone my idol, Irving Yalom quoted in his writing. Second, I was using a quote of Rank's in my text, and had trouble locating the source. This book was a possibility (and indeed I got where the quote came from, though not word for word).
I was excited to read this book, but to be blatantly honest, I had a lot of trouble understanding the majority of it. It was published in 1936, translated from German. It isn't that I couldn't understand the words, I just struggled with the depth of the concepts.
I have had similar trouble reading Jung, another therapist I admire. But his writing, and now Rank's in my opinion, is too difficult for me. Both were contemporaries of Freud. And both formulated their own ideas.
Rank compares his theory (as best I understand it) to Freud's, discussing why his is more accurate throughout. I did not have an issue with this. The idea is that rather than libido driving our behavior, it is our desire to "will". He weaves in the existential fear of death, which as an existentialist I understood (and I knew Rank to be an existentialist). He also focuses on therapy being more present, and dynamic, which also aligns with existentialism. His goal throughout the book is to put forth a theory that will help therapists help "neurotics".
For me, it was just too difficult to glean much I did not already know from it.

[Jean-Michel Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book is a therapy by itself. It must be read along with his related book "Truth and Reality". I left a more comprehensive review of Rank's ideas for this other book.