Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 - March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American writer and child psychologist. He is widely known for his studies of autism. The refrigerator mother theory of autism, to which Bettelheim subscribed, enjoyed considerable currency and influence while he was alive, but is now largely disfavored.^[1] August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. ... 1900 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... Developmental psychology is the scientific study of age related changes in behavior across the life span. ... The term refrigerator mother was coined in the 1940s as a label for mothers of autistic children. ...

Bruno Bettelheim was also the author of "The Uses of Enchantment", published in 1976, in which he discussed The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, such as those collected and published by The Brothers Grimm. In "The Uses of Enchantment" Mr Bettelheim suggests that if children are allowed to read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way they will be able to get a greater sense of meaning and purpose in their lives than might otherwise be the case. In other words: Mr Bettelheim posits that if children are allowed to read about the trials, tribulations, successes and failures encountered by the heroes of fairy tales, this will better prepare them for the trials, tribulations, successes and failures that they will encounter in their own lives, both as children and as adults. Wilhelm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right) from an 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann The Brothers Grimm were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German professors who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales,[1] and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in...

Background and career

Upon his father's death, Bettelheim was forced to leave university in order to care for his family lumber business. During this time Bruno and his first wife Gina took care of the autistic American who lived in their home in Vienna for the seven years. After ten years, he returned to his education, earning a degree in philosophy and producing a dissertation on the history of art. The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

In the Austrian academic culture of Bettelheim’s time one could not study the History of Art without mastering aspects of psychology. The formal study of the role of Jungian archetypes in Art, and Art as an expression of the Freudian subconscious were prerequisites for a Doctoral dissertation in the History of Art in 1938 at Vienna University.^[2] Archetype is defined as the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated. ...

Bettelheim, having discharged his obligations to his family's business, and having acquired seven years experience with the responsibility for the personal care of an autistic child in his own home, returned as a mature student in his 30's to the University of Vienna from which he received a Ph.D. The University of Vienna (German: Universität Wien) in Vienna, Austria is the oldest university in the current Austro-Hungarian domain; it formally opened in 1365. ...

Bettelheim traveled across Nazi state hospitals in Germany, during the infamous Action T4 eradication program of the 1930s, the start of his research in mental patients. Bettelheim resumed his studies to become an accredited psychiatrist when he returned to Austria under the intense anti-Semitism of Nazi-era Germany. This poster reads: 60,000 Reichsmarks is what this person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community during his lifetime. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ...

By birth an Austrian Jew, Bettelheim was interned at Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps from 1938 to 1939. Records of his internment shown Bettelheim was hired as the camp doctor to overview camp prisoners' mental health. Bettelheims closest friend in Buchenwald was Ernst Federn. His release from internment was purchased, as remained possible prior to the commencement of hostilities in World War II. The main entrance just after the liberation Memorial at the camp, 1997. ... Slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp (Elie Wiesel is second row, seventh from left). ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

He arrived in Australia in 1939 and later to the United States in 1943, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1944. Bettelheim eventually became a professor of psychology, teaching at the University of Chicago from 1944 until his retirement in 1973. He was trained in philosophy (Ph.D. in Aesthetics) and was analyzed by the Viennese psychoanalyst Richard Sterba. Naturalization is the process whereby a person becomes a national of a nation, or a citizen of a country, other than the one of his birth. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The University of Chicago is an elite private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ...

The most significant part of Bettelheim's professional life was spent serving as director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago, a home for emotionally disturbed children. He wrote books on both normal and abnormal child psychology and was respected by many during his lifetime. His book The Uses of Enchantment recast fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology. It was awarded the U.S. Critic's Choice Prize for criticism in 1976 & the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought in 1977. Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School is a residential treatment center and school for socio-emotionally disordered children and adolescents. ... The University of Chicago is an elite private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ... Developmental psychology is the scientific study of age related changes in behavior across the life span. ... A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ...

Bettelheim suffered from depression at the end of his life, and in 1990 committed suicide. Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or sometimes unipolar when compared with bipolar disorder, which is sometimes called manic depression) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily... MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... It has been suggested that Suicide method be merged into this article or section. ...

Controversies

Theoretical controversy

Bettelheim's most significant theory claimed that unemotional and cold mothering was the cause of childhood autism. This theory is now repudiated. [2] [3] The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... Autism is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. ...

Bettelheim was convinced that autism had no organic basis but that it was, instead, mainly influenced by the upbringing of mothers who did not want their children to live, either consciously or unconsciously, which in turn caused them to restrain contact with them and fail to establish an emotional connection. Absent fathers were also blamed. A complex and detailed explanation in psychoanalytical and psychological terms, derived from the qualitative investigation of clinical cases can be found in one of his most famous books, The Empty Fortress. Autism is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. ...

Treatments based on his autism theories to help children, some reporting rates of cure around 85%, were questioned.

Other Freudian analysts, as well as scientists and medics, followed Bettelheim's lead. They often confused and over-simplified. This led to some blaming the mother for the child's autism, a theory which Bettelheim was against. This is not understood by many of his detractors, who criticise a facile version of his work. Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ...

Personal controversy

Beyond Bettelheim's psychological theories, controversy has existed regarding his history and personality. After Bettelheim's suicide in 1990, his detractors claimed that Bettelheim had a dark side. He was known for exploding in screaming anger at students. Three ex-patients questioned his work, characterizing him as a cruel tyrant.[4].

Plagiarism and academic credential controversy

Scholars contend that Bettelheim plagiarized others' work and falsified his credentials.[5] [6].

In particular, much of his celebrated psychoanalytical treatise on fairy tales, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales is alleged to have been plagiarized.[7]

A movie appearance

Bruno Bettelheim accepted Woody Allen's invitation to appear as himself in the film Zelig (1983). Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg on December 1, 1935) is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. ... Zelig is a 1983 movie written and directed by Woody Allen. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

Major works

• 1943 "Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations", Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 38: 417-452.
• 1950 Love Is Not Enough: The Treatment of Emotionally Disturbed Children, Free Press, Glencoe, Ill.
• 1954 Symbolic Wounds; Puberty Rites and the Envious Male, Free Press, Glencoe, Ill.
• 1955 Truants From Life; The Rehabilitation of Emotionally Disturbed Children, Free Press, Glencoe, Ill.
• 1959 "Joey: A 'Mechanical Boy'", Scientific American, 200, March 1959: 117-126. (About a boy who believes himself to be a robot.)
• 1960 The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age, The Free Press, Glencoe, Ill.
• 1962 Dialogues with Mothers, The Free Press, Glencoe, Ill.
• 1967 The Empty Fortress: Infantile autism and the birth of the self, The Free Press, New York
• 1969 The Children of the Dream, Macmillan, London & New York (About the raising of children in kibbutz.)
• 1974 A Home for the Heart, Knopf, New York. (About Bettelheim's Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago for schizophrenic and autistic children.)
• 1976 The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, Knopf, New York
• 1979 Surviving and Other Essays, Knopf, New York (Includes the essay "The Ignored Lesson of Anne Frank".)
• 1982 On Learning to Read: The Child's Fascination with Meaning (with Karen Zelan), Knopf, New York
• 1982 "Freud and Man's Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory" Publisher: Vintage; Vintage edition, 1983, ISBN 0-394-71036-3

Freud and Man's Soul, Knopf, New York 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Kibbutz Dan, near Qiryat Shemona, in the Upper Galilee, 1990s A kibbutz (Hebrew: ; plural: kibbutzim: קיבוצים; gathering or together) is an Israeli collective intentional community. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Annelies Marie Anne Frank ( ) (June 12, 1929 – early March, 1945) was a European Jewish girl (born in Germany, stateless since 1941, but she claimed to be Dutch as she grew up in the Netherlands) who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ...

• 1987 A Good Enough Parent: A book on Child-Rearing, Knopf, New York
• 1990 Freud's Vienna and Other Essays, Knopf, New York
• 1994 Bettelheim, Bruno & Ekstein, Rudolf (1994): Grenzgänge zwischen den Kulturen. Das letzte Gespräch zwischen Bruno Bettelheim und Rudolf Ekstein. In: Kaufhold, Roland (ed.) (1994): Annäherung an Bruno Bettelheim. Mainz (Grünewald): 49–60.

1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Critical Review of Bettelheim (Works and Person)

• Angres, Ronald: "Who, Really, Was Bruno Bettelheim?", Commentary, 90, (4), October 1990: 26-30.
• Bersihand, Geneviève : Bettelheim, R. Jauze, Champigny-sur-Marne, 1977.
• Dundes, Alan : "Bruno Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment and Abuses of Scholarship". The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 104, N0. 411. (Winter, 1991): 74-83.
• Ekstein, Rudolf (1994): Mein Freund Bruno (1903–1990). Wie ich mich an ihn erinnere. In: Kaufhold, Roland (ed.) (1994): Annäherung an Bruno Bettelheim. Mainz (Grünewald), S. 87–94.
• Eliot, Stephen: Not the Thing I Was: Thirteen Years at Bruno Bettelheim's Orthogenic School, St. Martin's Press, 2003.
• Federn, Ernst (1994): Bruno Bettelheim und das Überleben im Konzentrationslager. In: Kaufhold, Roland (ed.) (1999): Ernst Federn: Versuche zur Psychologie des Terrors. Gießen (Psychosozial-Verlag): 105–108.
• Fisher, David James: Psychoanalytische Kulturkritik und die Seele des Menschen. Essays über Bruno Bettelheim (co-editor: Roland Kaufhold), Gießen (Psychosozial-Verlag)
• Frattaroli, Elio: "Bruno Bettelheim's Unrecognized Contribution to Psychoanalytic Thought", Psychoanalytic Review, 81:379-409, 1994.
• Heisig, James W.: "Bruno Bettelheim and the Fairy Tales", Children's Literature, 6, 1977: 93-115.
• Kaufhold, Roland (ed.): Pioniere der psychoanalytischen Pädagogik: Bruno Bettelheim, Rudolf Ekstein, Ernst Federn und Siegfried Bernfeld, psychosozial Nr. 53 (1/1993)
• Kaufhold, Roland (Ed.): Annäherung an Bruno Bettelheim. Mainz, 1994 (Grünewald)
• Kaufhold, Roland (1999): „Falsche Fabeln vom Guru?“ Der “Spiegel“ und sein Märchen vom bösen Juden Bruno Bettelheim, Behindertenpädagogik, 38. Jhg., Heft 2/1999, S. 160-187.
• Kaufhold, Roland: Bettelheim, Ekstein, Federn: Impulse für die psychoanalytisch-pädagogische Bewegung. Gießen, 2001 (Psychosozial-Verlag).
• Kaufhold, Roland/Löffelholz, Michael (Ed.) (2003): “So können sie nicht leben” - Bruno Bettelheim (1903 – 1990). Zeitschrift für Politische Psychologie 1-3/2003.
• Krumenacker, Franz-Josef: Bettelheim: Grundpositionen seiner Theorie und Praxis, Reinhardt/UTB für Wissenschaft, München, 1998.
• Marcus, Paul: Autonomy in the Extreme Situation. Bruno Bettelheim, the Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mass Society, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 1999.
• Richard Pollak: The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997.
• Raines, Theron: Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim, Knopf, New York, 2002.
• Sutton, Nina: Bruno Bettelheim: The Other Side of Madness, Duckworth Press, London, 1995. (Translated from the French by David Sharp in collaboration with the author. Subsequently published with the title Bruno Bettelheim, a Life and a Legacy.)
• Zipes, Jack: "On the Use and Abuse of Folk and Fairy Tales with Children: Bruno Bettelheim's Moralistic Magic Wand", in Zipes, Jack: Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1979.
• -Author unknown-: "Accusations of Abuse Haunt the Legacy of Dr. Bruno Bettelheim", New York Times, 4 November 1990: "The Week in Review" section.

See also

• Autism
• Controversies in autism
• Psychoanalysis
• Refrigerator mother

Autism is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Psychological Association as a developmental disability that results from a disorder of the human central nervous system. ... There is considerable disagreement over the exact nature of autism, however it is generally considered to be a neurodevelopmental condition which manifests itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability, patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ... The term refrigerator mother was coined in the 1940s as a label for mothers of autistic children. ...

Notes

Dr Leo Kanner MD Leo Kanner (June 13, 1894 - April 4, 1981) was an Austrian-American physician known for his work related to autism. ...

External links

• http://www.nndb.com/people/929/000115584/
• Missing the Message: A Critique of Bettelheim's Analysis of The Jinny and the Fisherman
• Bruno Bettelheim at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.suesske.de/kaufhold-1.htm
• http://www.suesske.de/buch_fisher.htm