Therapy

A PARTIALLY PRINTED POSTCARD Announcing a Lecture by KAREN HORNEY at the Medical Association for Analytical Psychotherapy SIGNED by its founder DR. WALTER SCHINDLER.

1931 · ref. 101458 — Berlin September 17 1931. 1931. Fine. - A partially printed 4 inch high by 5-3/4 inch wide postcard announcing a lecture by Karen Horney. Roughly translated the German text reads "Medical Association for Analytical Psychoterapy / The next meeting will take place on Wednesday the 23.9. 1931 at 9 o'clock" with the numbers penned in ink. This is followed by German text penned in ink announcing that "Mrs. Horney speaks about: Transference and the healing process" this also roughly translated from the German. Signed "Schindler". The postcard is addressed on the verso to "C.A. Clemens Benda" the authority on Downs Syndrome. Postmarked on the verso with a light blue graphite mark. Near fine. Of German-Jewish descent the British psychotherapist Dr. Walter SChindler 1896-1986 was a pioneer in group therapy. His highly influential group approach was based on a family model postulating that in a therapy group the group leader was seen as a father figure and the group itself as a mother or siblings. In the 1930's Schindler founded the "Allgemeine Arztliche Gesellschaft fur Psychotherapie" an informal interdisciplinary study group. Threatened by the Gestapo Schindler fled to Great Britain. A founding member of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute Karen Horney 1885-1952 was a German psychoanalyst who emigrated to the United States in 1932 amidst rising concerns over the rise of the Third Reich. Horney's theories questioned traditional Freudian views in regards to sexuality and she is credited with founding feminist psychology as opposed to Freud's theory of penis envy. A founding member of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in 1920 she directed the Society's training program and also saw patients for private psychoanalytic sessions. Concerns over Freud's disagreements with her and the rise of the Third Reich motivated her to accept an invitation to become Franz Alexander's assistant at the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis. Considered the authority on Down syndrome which was then referred to as "Mongolism" the recipient Dr. Clemens E. Benda 1898-1975 was recognized as an internationally known expert on "mental deficiency". Benda argued for an end to "artificial distinctions between mental defect and mental illness" and believed that "so-called mentally deficient children are often the victims of unfair and unjust discrimination". Born in Berlin where he received his medical degree Benda worked as a psychiatrist at the Binswanger Sanitarium in Switzerland. He moved to the U.S. as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School eventually teaching at both Harvard and the University of Munich. Benda was also director of research and psychiatry for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the Walter E. Fernald School and the Wrentham State School in Massachusetts. Berlin, September 17, 1931.