Wilhelm Stekel

Of Polish origin, Wilhelm Stekel initially contacted Freud in 1902 for a short analysis. He then joined the group of Wednesday evenings when he met Alfred Adler. It is together with Adler that, following the Weimar congress, he founded, the Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse, whose direction they assumed.

Freud's correspondence needs to be read to note the extent of his poor regard for the two above, which caused him many torments. Whereas Adler had broken in a definitive way, Stekel remained much more ambivalent. Taking as a pretext the difference in opinion regarding the publication of a text by Tausk, Stekel resigned from the Vienna Association of Psychoanalysis, but refused to give up his position with Zentralblatt before the First World War ended its publication.

Stekel thereafter tried to join Freud again but the latter did not want to resume the old differences.

Stekel practiced a method of short analysis implying a more active participation on the part of the therapist. He is not really known to have had any disciples.

Copyright René DesGroseillers
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