Wilhelm Stekel | |
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| Born | 18 March 1868 |
| Died | 25 June 1940 (aged 72) Kensington, London, England |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation(s) | Psychoanalyst Psychologist |
| Known for | Auto-erotism: A Psychiatric Study of Onanism and Neurosis |
| Spouse | Hilda Binder Stekel |
| Part of a series of articles on |
| Psychoanalysis |
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Wilhelm Stekel (German: [ˈʃteːkəl]; 18 March 1868 – 25 June 1940) was an Austrian physician and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil".[1] According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel may be accorded the honour, together with Freud, of having founded the first psycho-analytic society".[2] However, a phrase used by Freud in a letter to Stekel, "the Psychological Society founded by you", suggests that the initiative was entirely Stekel's.[3] Jones also wrote of Stekel that he was "a naturally gifted psychologist with an unusual flair for detecting repressed material". Freud and Stekel later had a falling-out, with Freud announcing in November 1912 that "Stekel is going his own way".[4] A letter from Freud to Stekel dated January 1924 indicates that the falling out was on interpersonal rather than theoretical grounds, and that at some point Freud developed a low opinion of his former associate. He wrote: "I...contradict your often repeated assertion that you were rejected by me on account of scientific differences. This sounds quite good in public but it doesn't correspond with the truth. It was exclusively your personal qualities—usually described as character and behavior—which made collaboration with you impossible for my friends and myself."[5] Stekel's works are translated and published in many languages.
- ^ Fritz Wittels, Sigmund Freud: His Personality, His Teaching, & His School (London 1924) p. 17
- ^ Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud (London 1964), p. 312
- ^ Francis Clark-Lowes, Freud's Apostle, Wilhelm Stekel and the Early History of Psychoanalysis, (Gamlingay & London, 2010), pp. 59-60. The letter is held in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress.
- ^ Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for our Time(London 1989) p. 232
- ^ Ernst L. Freud, ed.,The Letters of Sigmund Freud (New York, 1960) pp. 347-348.