Synopses & Reviews
A fascinating and dramatic account of a controversial figure in twentieth-century psychiatry.In this “dazzling and provocative”* biography, Gail Hornstein brings back to life the maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World tells the extraordinary life story of the German-Jewish refugee analyst who accomplished what Freud and almost everyone else thought impossible: she successfully treated schizophrenics and other seriously disturbed mental patients with intensive psychotherapy, rather than medication, lobotomy, or shock treatment. Written with unprecedented access to a rich archive of clinical materials and newly discovered records and documents from across Europe and the United States, Hornsteins meticulous and “delightfully lucid”** biography definitively reclaims the life of Fromm-Reichmann. The therapist at the core of Joanne Greenbergs I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is also the analyst who had an affair with, and later married, her patient Erich Fromm. A pioneer in her field, she made history as the pivotal figure of the unique and legendary mental hospital, Chestnut Lodge.
“A lively, well-written account of a charismatic leader in an important period of psychiatrys history.”
—Psychology Today
“At a time when little pills are seen as a quick fix for almost everything, this book is well worth taking time to read and contemplate.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer
*Publishers Weekly **Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Best known to millions as the courageous therapist in Joanne Greenberg's chronicle of madness and recovery, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (1889-1957) is a fascinating and controversial figure. She is credited with accomplishing what Freud thought impossible: successfully treating psychotics and schizophrenics with intensive psychotherapy, not drugs. Numerous researchers have attempted to study her life but, the dearth of records and personal effects thwarted each attempt to penetrate the myth. Now Gail Hornstein's relentless, ten-year pursuit of every trace of Fromm-Reichmann's life has culminated in the long-awaited liberation of the actual facts and history from the fictionalized doctor in...Rose Garden.
Using these newly discovered family records and a rich archive of tape-recorded sessions with patients, Hornstein illuminates a fascinating life. Fromm-Reichmann, born into an Orthodox German Jewish family, believed that every person is worth saving. The story of her education and early psychiatric practice, her complex marriage to Erich Fromm (the celebrated author of The Art of Loving), her dramatic escape from Nazi Germany, and her intense relationships and rivalries with major psychoanalysts makes for truly compelling reading.
Synopsis
IN THIS BIOGRAPHY, GAIL Hornstein brings back to life the maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann.
About the Author
Gail HornsteinGail Hornstein is Professor of Psychology at Mount Holyoke College and was the Founding Director of the Five College Women's Studies Research Center for its first ten years.