August Aichhorn
Encyclopedia
August Aichhorn was an Austrian educator and psychoanalyst who was a native of Vienna
. He was initially an elementary school teacher in Vienna, and in 1918, following World War I
was responsible for setting up educational centers for problem youth in Lower Austria
. His success in this endeavor led him to be encouraged by Anna Freud
(1895–1982) to enrol in psychoanalytic
training at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1922. Soon afterwards, Aichhorn set up a child guidance service for the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
. During World War II he was a training analyst for psychiatrists in Vienna, and following the war Aichhorn took legal maneuvers to reopen the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, which was later renamed the "August Aichhorn Gesellschaft".
August Aichhorn is considered a founder of psychoanalytic education. He is remembered for his work with juvenile delinquent and disadvantaged youth. He believed that imposed discipline and suppression which were practiced in traditional reformatories yielded few positive results. Aichhorn was known for his intuitive
talents in dealing with the antisocial nature of troubled adolescents, and his unorthodox approach in handling their aggressive tendencies. Aichhorn was an advocate of the idea that there was a distinction between manifest and latent delinquency, and believed that arrested development in youth was a precursor to antisocial behavior. He also believed that this situation was caused by disturbances in early child-parent relationships.
Aichhorn's best known written work was his 1925 Verwahrloste Jungend (Wayward Youth), which is still regarded as a relevant resource. Also, the "August Aichhorn Center for Adolescent Residential Care" in New York
is named after him.
Contributions: Ernest Jones
, Kurt R. Eissler, Paul Federn
, Heinrich Meng, Oskar Pfister
, Laureta Benda, Joseph. B. Cramer, Kata F. Levy, Margaret S. Mahler, Ernst Simmel, Editha Sterba, S.A. Szurek, John M. Dorsey
, Willi Hoffer, Hyman S. Lipman, C.P. Oberndorf, Melitta Schmideberg, Anna Freud, Kate Friedländer, Margaret E. Fries, Adelaide M Johnson, Jeanne Lampl-de Groot, Fritz Wittels, M. Woolf, Paul Bergman, Dorothy T. Burlingham, Ruth S. Eissler, Martin Grotjahn, Fritz Redl, Gregory Zilboorg, Edith Jacobson, Paul Reiwald, Hans Zulliger, Dorothy Archibald, G. Bose, Edward Glover, Nelly H.C. Tibout.
German
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He was initially an elementary school teacher in Vienna, and in 1918, following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was responsible for setting up educational centers for problem youth in Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
. His success in this endeavor led him to be encouraged by Anna Freud
Anna Freud
Anna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis...
(1895–1982) to enrol in psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
training at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1922. Soon afterwards, Aichhorn set up a child guidance service for the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
Vienna Psychoanalytic Society
The Vienna Psychoanalytic Society was formerly known as the Wednesday Psychological Society. They commenced their meetings in Freud’s apartment in 1902...
. During World War II he was a training analyst for psychiatrists in Vienna, and following the war Aichhorn took legal maneuvers to reopen the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, which was later renamed the "August Aichhorn Gesellschaft".
August Aichhorn is considered a founder of psychoanalytic education. He is remembered for his work with juvenile delinquent and disadvantaged youth. He believed that imposed discipline and suppression which were practiced in traditional reformatories yielded few positive results. Aichhorn was known for his intuitive
Intuition (knowledge)
Intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without inference or the use of reason. "The word 'intuition' comes from the Latin word 'intueri', which is often roughly translated as meaning 'to look inside'’ or 'to contemplate'." Intuition provides us with beliefs that we cannot necessarily justify...
talents in dealing with the antisocial nature of troubled adolescents, and his unorthodox approach in handling their aggressive tendencies. Aichhorn was an advocate of the idea that there was a distinction between manifest and latent delinquency, and believed that arrested development in youth was a precursor to antisocial behavior. He also believed that this situation was caused by disturbances in early child-parent relationships.
Aichhorn's best known written work was his 1925 Verwahrloste Jungend (Wayward Youth), which is still regarded as a relevant resource. Also, the "August Aichhorn Center for Adolescent Residential Care" in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
is named after him.
Writings
- Verwahrloste Jugend: Die Psychoanalyse in d. Fürsorgeerziehung ; 10 Vorträge zur ersten Einführung (preface by Sigmund FreudSigmund FreudSigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
), Wien : Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, 1925, last edition: 11th ed. Bern: Huber, 2005, ISBN 3456842600 - engl. Wayward Youth, New York: Viking Press, 1935, also: Northwestern University Press, Reprint 1984 (also translated into French and Spanish) - Erziehungsberatung und Erziehungshilfe: 12 Vorträge über psychoanalytische Pädagogik. Aus d. Nachlass August Aichhorns, Bern : Huber, 1959, Paperback Edition: Reinbek (near Hamburg) : Rowohlt, 1972
- Psychoanalyse und Erziehungsberatung, Frankfurt (am Main) : Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1974
Secondary Literature
English- Kurt R. Eissler (ed.): Searchlights on Delinquency. New Psychoanalytic Studies. Dedicated to Professor August Aichhorn, on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, July 27, 1948. New York.
Contributions: Ernest Jones
Ernest Jones
Alfred Ernest Jones was a British neurologist and psychoanalyst, and Sigmund Freud’s official biographer. Jones was the first English-speaking practitioner of psychoanalysis and became its leading exponent in the English-speaking world where, as President of both the British Psycho-Analytical...
, Kurt R. Eissler, Paul Federn
Paul Federn
Paul Federn was an Austrian-American psychologist who was a native of Vienna. Federn is largely remembered for his theories involving ego psychology and therapeutic treatment of psychosis....
, Heinrich Meng, Oskar Pfister
Oskar Pfister
Oskar Pfister was a Swiss Lutheran minister and lay psychoanalyst who was native of Wiedikon. He studied theology, philosophy and psychology at the Universities of Zurich and Basel, and earned his degree in 1898 at the philosophical faculty...
, Laureta Benda, Joseph. B. Cramer, Kata F. Levy, Margaret S. Mahler, Ernst Simmel, Editha Sterba, S.A. Szurek, John M. Dorsey
John M. Dorsey
John Morris Dorsey was an author and professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University.Born in Clinton, Iowa, Dorsey earned his M.D. from the University of Iowa in 1925. From 1930 to 1935 he taught in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor...
, Willi Hoffer, Hyman S. Lipman, C.P. Oberndorf, Melitta Schmideberg, Anna Freud, Kate Friedländer, Margaret E. Fries, Adelaide M Johnson, Jeanne Lampl-de Groot, Fritz Wittels, M. Woolf, Paul Bergman, Dorothy T. Burlingham, Ruth S. Eissler, Martin Grotjahn, Fritz Redl, Gregory Zilboorg, Edith Jacobson, Paul Reiwald, Hans Zulliger, Dorothy Archibald, G. Bose, Edward Glover, Nelly H.C. Tibout.
- Paul Kramer: "In Memoriam August Aichhorn" in: Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 1949
- Ernst Federn: "The therapeutic personality, as illustrated by Paul Federn and August Aichhorn" in: Psychoanalytic Quarterly, Vol 36.1962
- Edith Buxbaum, "Three great Psychoanalytic Educators (Bernfeld, Aichhorn, A. Freud)" in. The Reiss Davis Clinic Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 1. Los Angeles.1966
- Georg Mohr, "August Aichhorn. Friend of the Wayward Youth" In: Alexander, F., Eisenstein, S., Grotjahn, M. (Ed.): Psychoanalytic Pioneers, New York,1966
- Paul Kramer, "Introduction" in: August Aichhorn: Delinquency and Child Guidance, New York, 1967
- JE. Schowalter: "Aichhorn revisited" in: The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. 2000;55:49-60.
German
- Thomas Aichhorn: Wer war August Aichhorn. Briefe, Dokumente, Unveröffentlichte Arbeiten. Löcker & Wögenstein, Wien 1976.
- Thomas Aichhorn (Hrsg.): Zur Geschichte der Wiener Psychoanalytischen Vereinigung. Band 1: 1938-1949. Edition Diskord, Tübingen 2003.
- Ernst Federn: „Die therapeutische Persönlichkeit, erläutert am Beispiel von Paul Federn und August Aichhorn“. In: Ders.: Ein Leben mit der Psychoanalyse. Von Wien über Buchenwald und die USA zurück nach Wien. Psychosozial-Verlag, Wien 1999, ISBN 3-932133-86-2.
- Roland Kaufhold: „Zur Geschichte und Aktualität der Psychoanalytischen Pädagogik: Fragen an Rudolf Ekstein und Ernst Federn“. In: Roland Kaufhold (Hrsg.): Pioniere der Psychoanalytischen Pädagogik: Bruno Bettelheim, Rudolf Ekstein, Ernst Federn und Siegfried Bernfeld. Psychosozial-Verl., Gießen 1993, ISBN 3-930096-23-4 (=psychosozial 53, Jg. 16, Heft 1), S. 9–19.
- Roland Kaufhold: „Spurensuche zur Geschichte der die USA emigrierten Wiener Psychoanalytischen Pädagogen“ In: Thomas Aichhorn (Hrsg.): Zur Geschichte der Wiener Psychoanalytischen Vereinigung. Band 1: 1938-1949. Edition Diskord, Tübingen 2003, S. 37-69.
- Achim Perner, "Der Beitrag August Aichhorns zur Technik der Psychoanalyse" in: Luzifer Amor - Heft 36, Zur Geschichte der psychoanalytischen Technik