Georg Groddeck facts for kids
Georg Walther Groddeck (13 October 1866 – 10 June 1934) was a physician and writer regarded as a pioneer of psychosomatic medicine.
Contents
Early life
Groddeck was born in Bad Kösen to a Lutheran family. His works before World War I wholly accepted eugenics and Völkisch movement ideology.
Association with Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis
In his introduction to the 1949 English version of Groddeck's Das Buch vom Es (1923), Lawrence Durrell comments that Groddeck is often mistaken for an orthodox disciple of Sigmund Freud. He goes on to say "Groddeck was the only analyst whose views had some effect on Freud", and "while he accepts and employs much of the heavy equipment of the master, he is separated forever from Freud by an entirely different conception of the constitution and functioning of the human psyche."
Freud mentions Groddeck in The Ego and the Id, crediting him with giving a name to what Freud had already given a local habitation, to wit, the Id.
Now I think we shall gain a great deal by following the suggestion of a writer who, from personal motives, vainly asserts that he has nothing to do with the rigours of pure science. I am speaking of Georg Groddeck, who is never tired of insisting that what we call our ego behaves essentially passively in life, and that, as he expresses it, we are "lived" by unknown and uncontrollable forces. We have all had impressions of the same kind, even though they may not have overwhelmed us to the exclusion of all others, and we need feel no hesitation in finding a place for Groddeck's discovery in the structure of science. I propose to take it into account by calling the entity which starts out from the system Pcpt. and begins by being Pcs. the "ego", and by following Groddeck in calling the other part of the mind, into which this entity extends and which behaves as though it were Ucs., the "id". (Freud 1927/1961, 13).
Groddeck eventually had acrimonious disagreement with Freud about the definition and limitations of the It/Id/das Es. Groddeck regarded the ego as an extension or a mask for the id, whereas Freud regarded them as separate constructs.
In contrast to Freud, Groddeck was primarily engaged with the treatment of chronically ill patients. Groddeck is considered by many as a founder of psychosomatic medicine – his reservations against strict science and orthodox medicine made him an outsider among psychoanalysts till today.
Groddeck was an important figure within the psychoanalytic movement. He attended the congress of the German psychoanalytic association in 1930. He was invited to lecture to the British Psychoanalytic Society in 1928, and invited by Felix Boehm to lecture at the Berlin Institute in 1930. Eitingon disliked Groddeck until being treated by him in 1928, after which he regarded him warmly.
Views
Psychosomatic integrative approach
Zen philosopher Alan Watts said that when people came to Groddeck for analysis, he would give them massage, and when they came to him for massage, he would give them analysis.
In contrast to Freud, Groddeck interpreted all physiological symptoms as being psychological, caused by the It/Id/das Es, and sought to interpret them through psychoanalysis.
Psychology
Groddeck believed that all feelings are ambivalent, affection is always mixed with animosity
Religiosity
Groddeck was deeply interested in Christian mysticism. He regarded psychoanalysis as identical with Jesus' teachings. Groddeck analyzed Christian symbols with psychoanalytic methods.
Alan Watts described Groddeck, saying, "He was a completely wonderful man because everybody felt calmed by him. They felt an atmosphere of implicit faith in nature and especially in your own inner nature. No matter what, there is a wisdom inside you which may seem absurd, but you have to trust it."
Later years
Toward the end of his life, many colleagues and admirers asked Groddeck to form a society that would promote his ideas. To this request, he would laugh and reply:
Disciples like their master to stay put, whereas I should think anyone a fool who wanted me to say the same thing tomorrow as I said yesterday. If you really want to be my follower, look at life for yourself and tell the world honestly what you see.
He died in Knonau, near Zurich.
See also
