Johannes Heinrich Schultz
Encyclopedia
Johannes Heinrich Schultz (June 20, 1884 - September 19, 1970) was a German
psychiatrist
and an independent psychotherapist. Schultz became world famous for the development of a system of self-hypnosis
called autogenic training
.
, Göttingen
(where he met Karl Jaspers
) and Breslau. He earned his doctorate
from Göttingen in 1907. After receiving his medical license
in 1908, he practiced at the polyclinic at the Medical University Clinic at Göttingen until 1911. Afterwards he worked at the Paul-Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt
, at the insane asylum at Chemnitz
and finally at the Psychiatric University Clinic at Jena
under Otto Binswanger
, where he earned his habilitation
in 1915.
During the First World War, he served as director of a sanitorium in Belgium
. In 1919 he became a professor of Psychiatry and Neuropathology at Jena. In 1920 he became Chief Doctor and scientific leader at Dr. Heinrich Lahmann
's sanatorium Weisser Hirsch in Dresden
. In 1924, he established himself as a psychiatrist in Berlin
.
From 1925-26 he was a member of the founding committee for the first General Doctors' Congress for Psychotherapy, board member of the General Medical Society for Psychotherapy (established in 1927). From 1928 he advised the organization's newsletter, and after 1930 he co-edited (with Arthur Kronfeld
and Rudolf Allers) the journal, now named the Zentralblatt für Psychotherapie. In 1933 he became a board member of the renamed German Medical Society for Psychotherapy under Matthias Heinrich Göring and from 1936 under this vice-director a board member of the German Institute for Psychological Resarch and Psychotherapy (Deutsches Institut für psychologische Forschung und Psychotherapie) as well as director of the polyclinic.
From 1933 Schultz wrote a relationship guidebook. There he propagated the "extermination" of handicapped
people ("Action T4
") and persecution of homosexual men was part of his activity at the Göring Institute. Schultz believed that homosexuality was hereditary and curable. On the one hand the institute tried to cure homosexuals, while on the other Schultz led a commission that compelled those suspected of having intercourse with prostitutes to declare that they were homosexuals. The "guilty" were transported to concentration camps.
In 1956, he became editor of the journal Psychotherapie, and in 1959 founder of the German Society for Medical Hypnosis (Deutschen Gesellschaft für ärztliche Hypnose).
His most famous achievement was the development of autogenic training
, that was based on the hypnosis research and self-experimentation. It was first publicly put forward in 1926 as "autogenic organ exercises," and received its current name in 1928. The program uses daily practice sessions of visualization
s that are designed to help the practitioner achieve deep relaxation
.
Critical article by Maja Langsdorff in the Stuttgarter Zeitung
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
and an independent psychotherapist. Schultz became world famous for the development of a system of self-hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
called autogenic training
Autogenic training
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz and first published in 1932. The technique involves the daily practice of sessions that last around 15 minutes, usually in the morning, at lunch time, and in the evening. During each session,...
.
Life
He studied medicine in LausanneLausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
(where he met Karl Jaspers
Karl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...
) and Breslau. He earned his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from Göttingen in 1907. After receiving his medical license
Medical license
In most countries, only persons with a medical license bestowed either by a specified government-approved professional association or a government agency are authorized to practice medicine. Licenses are not granted automatically to all people with medical degrees...
in 1908, he practiced at the polyclinic at the Medical University Clinic at Göttingen until 1911. Afterwards he worked at the Paul-Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, at the insane asylum at Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
and finally at the Psychiatric University Clinic at Jena
Jena
Jena is a university city in central Germany on the river Saale. It has a population of approx. 103,000 and is the second largest city in the federal state of Thuringia, after Erfurt.-History:Jena was first mentioned in an 1182 document...
under Otto Binswanger
Otto Binswanger
Otto Ludwig Binswanger was a Swiss psychiatrist and neurologist who came from a famous family of physicians; his father was founder of the Kreuzlingen Sanatorium, and he was uncle to Ludwig Binswanger who was a major figure in the existential psychology movement...
, where he earned his habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
in 1915.
During the First World War, he served as director of a sanitorium in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. In 1919 he became a professor of Psychiatry and Neuropathology at Jena. In 1920 he became Chief Doctor and scientific leader at Dr. Heinrich Lahmann
Heinrich Lahmann
Johann Heinrich Lahmann was a German physician who was a pioneer of naturopathic medicine. He was a native of Bremen, Germany....
's sanatorium Weisser Hirsch in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. In 1924, he established himself as a psychiatrist in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
From 1925-26 he was a member of the founding committee for the first General Doctors' Congress for Psychotherapy, board member of the General Medical Society for Psychotherapy (established in 1927). From 1928 he advised the organization's newsletter, and after 1930 he co-edited (with Arthur Kronfeld
Arthur Kronfeld
Arthur Kronfeld was a German Psychiatrist.-1933 - 1941: Suppression and exile :...
and Rudolf Allers) the journal, now named the Zentralblatt für Psychotherapie. In 1933 he became a board member of the renamed German Medical Society for Psychotherapy under Matthias Heinrich Göring and from 1936 under this vice-director a board member of the German Institute for Psychological Resarch and Psychotherapy (Deutsches Institut für psychologische Forschung und Psychotherapie) as well as director of the polyclinic.
From 1933 Schultz wrote a relationship guidebook. There he propagated the "extermination" of handicapped
Handicapped
Handicapped or handicap may refer to:*Handicapping, various methods of leveling a sport or game**Golf handicap, a sport-specific handicapping method**Go handicaps**Handicaps in shogi**Asian handicap, bookmakers technique to level odds...
people ("Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
") and persecution of homosexual men was part of his activity at the Göring Institute. Schultz believed that homosexuality was hereditary and curable. On the one hand the institute tried to cure homosexuals, while on the other Schultz led a commission that compelled those suspected of having intercourse with prostitutes to declare that they were homosexuals. The "guilty" were transported to concentration camps.
In 1956, he became editor of the journal Psychotherapie, and in 1959 founder of the German Society for Medical Hypnosis (Deutschen Gesellschaft für ärztliche Hypnose).
His most famous achievement was the development of autogenic training
Autogenic training
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Heinrich Schultz and first published in 1932. The technique involves the daily practice of sessions that last around 15 minutes, usually in the morning, at lunch time, and in the evening. During each session,...
, that was based on the hypnosis research and self-experimentation. It was first publicly put forward in 1926 as "autogenic organ exercises," and received its current name in 1928. The program uses daily practice sessions of visualization
Creative Visualization
Creative visualization refers to the practice of seeking to affect the outer world via changing one's thoughts. Creative Visualization is the basic technique underlying positive thinking and is frequently used by athletes to enhance their performance. The concept originally arose in the US with...
s that are designed to help the practitioner achieve deep relaxation
Relaxation (psychology)
In psychology, relaxation is the emotional state of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety, or fear. Relaxation is a form of mild ecstasy coming from the frontal lobe of the brain in which the backward cortex sends signals, or...
.
Writings
- (1915) "Neue Wege und Ziele der Psychotherapie" Ther. Monatshefte 29, pp. 443-450 (habilitation thesis).
- (1919) "Die seelische Krankenbehandlung (Psychotherapie)." Ein Grundriß für Fach- und Allgemeinpraxis. Jena: Fischer, seven editions. Stuttgart: Thieme, 1958.
- (1921) "Psychoanalyse und ihre Kritik." In: Adam, C. (ed.): Die Psychologie und ihre Bedeutung für die ärztliche Praxis. Eight editions. Jena: Fischer.
- (1925) "Schicksalsstunde der Psychotherapie." In: Moll, Albert (ed.): Abh. Gebiet. Psychother. med. Psychol. 1.
- (1927) "Die Einigungsbestrebungen in der Psychotherapie." In: Eliasberg, Wladimir (ed.): Bericht über den I. Allgemeinen Kongreß für Psychotherapie in Baden-Baden. 17.-19. April 1926. Halle: Carl Marhold Verlagsbuchhandlung, pp. 241-252.
- (1932) "Das Autogene Training (konzentrative Selbstentspannung)." Versuch einer klinisch-praktischen Darstellung. Leipzig: Thieme, many editions.
- (1935) "Hypnose-Technik." Praktische Anleitung zum Hypnotisieren für Ärzte. Jena: Fischer.
- (1935) Ubungsheft fur das Autogene Training (konzentrative Selbstentspannung). Leipzig: Thieme, many editions.
- (1936) "Neurose Lebensnot ärztliche Pflicht." Klinische Vorlesungen über Psychotherapie für Ärzte und Studierende. Leipzig: Thieme.
- (1940) "Geschlecht - Liebe - Ehe." Die Grundtatsachen des Liebes- und Geschlechtslebens in ihrer Bedeutung für Einzel- und Volksdasein. Munich: Reinhardt, seven editions.
- (1941) Die seelische Gesunderhaltung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Kriegsverhältnisse. E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin
- (1951) Bionome Psychotherapie. Stuttgart: Thiema.
- (1952) "Organstörungen und Perversionen im Liebesleben." Bedeutung, Entstehung, Behandlung, Verhütung. Munich: Reinhardt.
- (1952) "Psychotherapie." Leben und Werk großer Ärzte. Stuttgart: Hippokrates.
- (1955) "Grundfragen der Neurosenlehre." Aufbau und Sinn-Bild. Propädeutik einer medizinischen Psychologie. Stuttgart: Thieme.
- (1964) Lebensbilderbuch eines Nervenarztes - Jahrzehnte in Dankbarkeit. Stuttgart: Thieme, second edition 1971.
External links
Works by Schultz in the German National LibraryGerman National Library
The German National Library is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany...
Critical article by Maja Langsdorff in the Stuttgarter Zeitung
Stuttgarter Zeitung
The Stuttgarter Zeitung is a German-language daily newspaper edited in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, with a run of about 200,000 sold copies daily....
- Schultz at www.whonamedit.com