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Sabina Spielrein: From Being a Psychiatric Patient to Becoming an Analyst Herself

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The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Aims and scope

Abstract

In this paper, I evaluate Sabina Spielrein’s life and ideas from a contemporary understanding. I do this by considering the context and situation in which she lived: a journey from being a hospitalized psychiatric patient to becoming a psychoanalyst herself. From her crucial life experiences she learned that the main psychic conflicts stem from the struggle between life and death, and not from opposing ego drives and sexual desires. Spielrein’s considerable creative potentials were nurtured, as well as blocked by her inner conflicts, but also by the enormous historical conflicts of her time.

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    Francisco Balbuena

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Francisco Balbuena, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Clinical and Experimental Psychology, University of Huelva, Huelva, Spain.

Address correspondence to Prof. Francisco Balbuena, Ph.D. C/ Gólgota, nº 8; 2-D, 41007-Seville, Spain. E-mail: balbuena@uhu.es

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Balbuena, F. Sabina Spielrein: From Being a Psychiatric Patient to Becoming an Analyst Herself. Am J Psychoanal 80, 281–308 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s11231-020-09260-0

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