Josef Breuer
Encyclopedia
Josef Breuer was an Austria
n physician
whose works laid the foundation of psychoanalysis
.
Born in Vienna
, his father, Leopold Breuer, taught religion in Vienna's Jewish community. Breuer's mother died when he was quite young, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother and educated by his father until the age of eight. He graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium of Vienna in 1858 and then studied at the university for one year, before enrolling in the medical school of the University of Vienna
. He passed his medical exams in 1867 and went to work as assistant to the internist Johann Oppolzer
at the university.
, Breuer is perhaps best known for his work with Anna O. (the pseudonym
of Bertha Pappenheim
), a woman suffering from "paralysis of her limbs, and anaesthesias, as well as disturbances of vision and speech."
Breuer observed that her symptoms were reduced or disappeared after she described them to him. Anna O. humorously called this procedure chimney sweeping. She also coined the more serious appellation for this form of therapy, "her talking cure
," which is widely regarded as the basis of Freudian psychoanalysis
.
Ernest Jones
considered: "Freud was greatly interested in hearing of the case of Anna O, which [...] made a deep impression on him"; and in his 1909 Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Freud generously pointed out: "I was a student and working for my final examinations at the time when [...] Breuer, first (in 1880-2) made use of this procedure. [...] Never before had anyone removed a hysterical symptom by such a method."
Freud and Breuer documented their discussions of Anna O., along with other case studies, in their 1895 book, Studies on Hysteria
. These discussion of Breuer's treatment of Anna O. became "a formative basis of Freudian theory and psychoanalytic practice; especially the importance of fantasies (in extreme cases, hallucinations), hysteria
[...], and the concept and method of catharsis
which were Breuer's major contributions."
The two men became increasingly estranged at the same time, however, and from a Freudian standpoint, "while Breuer, with his intelligent and amorous patient Anna O., had unwittingly laid the groundwork for psychoanalysis, it was Freud who drew the consequences from Breuer's case.".
at the military medical school in Vienna, was the first to demonstrate the role of the vagus nerve
in the reflex nature of respiration. This was a departure from previous physiological understanding, and changed the way scientists viewed the relationship of the lungs to the nervous system. The mechanism is now known as the Hering–Breuer reflex.
Independent of each other in 1873, Breuer and the physicist and mathematician Ernst Mach
discovered how the sense of balance (i.e., the perception of the head’s imbalance) functions: that it is managed by information the brain receives from the movement of a fluid
in the semicircular canals of the inner ear
. That the sense of balance depends on the three semicircular canals was discovered in 1870 by the physiologist Friedrich Goltz
, but Goltz did not discover how the balance-sensing apparatus functions.
In 1894, Breuer was elected a Corresponding Member of the Vienna Academy of Science.
was fictionally created in the book When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom.
The 1968 TV film Prescription: Murder, which introduced the character of Columbo, begins with the murderer (Gene Barry), an arrogant psychiatrist, stumping party guests in a game of Botticelli
by choosing Josef Breuer.
In 1992, the relationship between Josef Breuer and Anna O. was fictionalized in the play "The Mystery of Anna O". Spanning 3 time periods, the play questions whether Anna O was actually Bertha Pappenheim. The play was written by Jerome Coopersmith.
He appears as a minor character in Joseph Skibell
's 2010 novel, A Curable Romantic.
He is also an important character in the first version of Jean-Paul Sartre
's The Freud Scenario, a script director John Huston
asked him to write for a film about the years in which Freud began to develop his psychoanalytical theory. The resulting film was Freud: The Secret Passion, but Sartre's script was never used.
The film follows the storyline of the book quite faithfully, although neither the book nor the movie is based entirely on reality. Although the main characters and some of the facts are true, the center piece of the novel (and of the movie), which was the therapeutic encounter of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and Austrian physician Josef Breuer, never happened.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
whose works laid the foundation of psychoanalysis
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...
.
Born in Vienna
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...
, his father, Leopold Breuer, taught religion in Vienna's Jewish community. Breuer's mother died when he was quite young, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother and educated by his father until the age of eight. He graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium of Vienna in 1858 and then studied at the university for one year, before enrolling in the medical school of the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
. He passed his medical exams in 1867 and went to work as assistant to the internist Johann Oppolzer
Johann Ritter von Oppolzer
Johann Ritter von Oppolzer was an Austrian physician born in Nové Hrady, Bohemia. He was the father of the astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer ....
at the university.
Anna O.
A close friend, mentor, and collaborator with Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Breuer is perhaps best known for his work with Anna O. (the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Bertha Pappenheim
Bertha Pappenheim
Bertha Pappenheim was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund .- Youth :...
), a woman suffering from "paralysis of her limbs, and anaesthesias, as well as disturbances of vision and speech."
Breuer observed that her symptoms were reduced or disappeared after she described them to him. Anna O. humorously called this procedure chimney sweeping. She also coined the more serious appellation for this form of therapy, "her talking cure
Talking cure
The Talking Cure was a term originally offered, along with "chimney sweep", by Dr. Josef Breuer's patient Bertha Pappenheim to describe the talking therapy that relieved her of her hysterical symptoms...
," which is widely regarded as the basis of Freudian psychoanalysis
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...
.
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...
considered: "Freud was greatly interested in hearing of the case of Anna O, which [...] made a deep impression on him"; and in his 1909 Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Freud generously pointed out: "I was a student and working for my final examinations at the time when [...] Breuer, first (in 1880-2) made use of this procedure. [...] Never before had anyone removed a hysterical symptom by such a method."
Freud and Breuer documented their discussions of Anna O., along with other case studies, in their 1895 book, Studies on Hysteria
Studies on Hysteria
Studies on Hysteria was a book published in 1895 by Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer. It contained a number of Breuer and Freud's case studies of "hysterics". It included one of their most famous cases, Breuer's Anna O. , which introduced the technique of psychoanalysis as a form of cure...
. These discussion of Breuer's treatment of Anna O. became "a formative basis of Freudian theory and psychoanalytic practice; especially the importance of fantasies (in extreme cases, hallucinations), hysteria
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
[...], and the concept and method of catharsis
Catharsis
Catharsis or katharsis is a Greek word meaning "cleansing" or "purging". It is derived from the verb καθαίρειν, kathairein, "to purify, purge," and it is related to the adjective καθαρός, katharos, "pure or clean."-Dramatic uses:...
which were Breuer's major contributions."
The two men became increasingly estranged at the same time, however, and from a Freudian standpoint, "while Breuer, with his intelligent and amorous patient Anna O., had unwittingly laid the groundwork for psychoanalysis, it was Freud who drew the consequences from Breuer's case.".
Other work
Breuer, working under Ewald HeringEwald Hering
Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering was a German physiologist who did much research into color vision and spatial perception...
at the military medical school in Vienna, was the first to demonstrate the role of the vagus nerve
Vagus nerve
The vagus nerve , also called pneumogastric nerve or cranial nerve X, is the tenth of twelve paired cranial nerves...
in the reflex nature of respiration. This was a departure from previous physiological understanding, and changed the way scientists viewed the relationship of the lungs to the nervous system. The mechanism is now known as the Hering–Breuer reflex.
Independent of each other in 1873, Breuer and the physicist and mathematician Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach
Ernst Mach was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, noted for his contributions to physics such as the Mach number and the study of shock waves...
discovered how the sense of balance (i.e., the perception of the head’s imbalance) functions: that it is managed by information the brain receives from the movement of a fluid
Endolymph
Endolymph is the fluid contained in the membranous labyrinth of the inner ear. It is also called Scarpa's fluid, after Antonio Scarpa.-Composition:...
in the semicircular canals of the inner ear
Vestibular system
The vestibular system, which contributes to balance in most mammals and to the sense of spatial orientation, is the sensory system that provides the leading contribution about movement and sense of balance. Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of...
. That the sense of balance depends on the three semicircular canals was discovered in 1870 by the physiologist Friedrich Goltz
Friedrich Goltz
Friedrich Leopold Goltz was a German physiologist and nephew of the writer Bogumil Goltz.Goltz held various university positions in Königsberg, Halle and Strasbourg, Germany...
, but Goltz did not discover how the balance-sensing apparatus functions.
In 1894, Breuer was elected a Corresponding Member of the Vienna Academy of Science.
Family
Breuer married Mathilde Altmann in 1868, and they had five children. His daughter Dora later committed suicide rather than be deported by the Nazis. Another one of his daughters, Margarete Schiff, perished in Theresienstadt on September 9, 1942. Breuer's granddaughter, Hanna Schiff, died while imprisoned by the Nazis.In fiction
A series of meetings between Josef Breuer and Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
was fictionally created in the book When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin D. Yalom.
The 1968 TV film Prescription: Murder, which introduced the character of Columbo, begins with the murderer (Gene Barry), an arrogant psychiatrist, stumping party guests in a game of Botticelli
Botticelli (game)
Botticelli is a guessing game which requires the players to have a good knowledge of biographical details of famous people. The game has several variants, but the common theme is that one person or team thinks of a famous person, reveals their initial letter, and then answers yes/no questions to...
by choosing Josef Breuer.
In 1992, the relationship between Josef Breuer and Anna O. was fictionalized in the play "The Mystery of Anna O". Spanning 3 time periods, the play questions whether Anna O was actually Bertha Pappenheim. The play was written by Jerome Coopersmith.
He appears as a minor character in Joseph Skibell
Joseph Skibell
Joseph Skibell is a novelist and essayist living in Atlanta, Georgia.Skibell is the author of three novels, which use elements of history and fantasy:* A Blessing on the Moon * The English Disease...
's 2010 novel, A Curable Romantic.
He is also an important character in the first version of Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
's The Freud Scenario, a script director John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
asked him to write for a film about the years in which Freud began to develop his psychoanalytical theory. The resulting film was Freud: The Secret Passion, but Sartre's script was never used.
When Nietzsche Wept
When Nietzsche Wept is an independent film released in 2007, starring Armand Assante, Ben Cross and Katheryn Winnick. The movie is based on a book of the same name by Irvin D. Yalom and was directed by Pinchas Perry.The film follows the storyline of the book quite faithfully, although neither the book nor the movie is based entirely on reality. Although the main characters and some of the facts are true, the center piece of the novel (and of the movie), which was the therapeutic encounter of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and Austrian physician Josef Breuer, never happened.
Works
- Zwei Fälle von Hydrophobie. In: Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift 18 (1868). Sp. 178 f., 210-213.
- Das Verhalten der Eigenwärme in Krankheiten. In: Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift 18 (1868). Sp. 982-985, 998-1002.
- Die Selbststeuerung der Athmung durch den Nervus vagus. In: Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, math.-naturw. Kl. 58/2 (1868), S. 909-937.
- Bemerkungen zu Senator's „Beiträge zur Lehre von der Eigenwärme und dem Fieber“. In: Arch. path. Anat., Berlin 46 (1969), S. 391 f.
- Über Bogengänge des Labyrinths. In: Allg. Wien. med. Ztg. 18 (1873), S. 598, 606.
- Über die Function der Bogengänge des Ohrlabyrinthes. In: Med. Jb., Wien 1874. S. 72-124.
- Zur Lehre vom statischen Sinne (Gleichgewichtsorgan). Vorläufige Mittheilung. In: Anz. Ges. Ärzte, Wien 1873. Nr. 9 (17. Dezember 1873), S. 31-33.
- Beiträge zur Lehre vom statischen Sinne (Gleichgewichtsorgan, Vestibularapparat des Ohrlabyrinths). Zweite Mittheilung. In: Med. Jb., Wien 1875. S. 87-156.
- Neue Versuche an den Ohrbogengängen. In: Arch. Physiol. 44 (1889), S. 135-152.
- Über die Funktion der Otolithen-Apparate. In: Arch. Physiol. 48 (1891), S. 195-306.
- Über Brommastitis. In: Wien. med. Presse 35 (1894), Sp. 1028.
- Über Bogengänge und Raumsinn. In: Arch. Physiol. 68 (1897), S. 596-648.
- Die Krisis des Darwinismus und die Teleologie. Vortrag, gehalten am 2. Mai 1902. In: Vorträge und Besprechungen. (1902), S. 43-64. Nachdruck der Ausgabe 1902: Edition diskord, Tübingen 1986.
- Über Galvanotropismus bei Fischen. In: Zbl. Physiol., Wien 16 (1902), S. 481-483.
- Studien über den Vestibularapparat. In: Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, math.-naturw. Kl. 112/3(1903), S. 315-394.
- Über den Galvanotropismus (Galvanotaxis) bei Fischen. In: Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, math.-naturw. Kl. 114/3 (1905), S. 27-56.
- Über das Gehörorgan der Vögel. In: Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, math.-naturw. Kl. 116/3 (1907), S. 249-292.
- Bemerkungen zu Dr. H. Abels Abhandlung „über Nachempfindungen im Gebiete des kinästhetischen und statischen Sinnes“. In: Zschr. Psychol. Physiol. Sinnesorg. 45 (1907), 1. Abt., S. 78-84.
- Über Ewald's Versuch mit dem pneumatischen Hammer (Bogengangsapparat). In: Zschr. Sinnesphysiol. 42 (1908), S. 373-378.
- Curriculum vitae [1923]. In: Dr. Josef Breuer 1842-1925. Wien o. J. [1927]. S. 9-24.
- Ein telepathisches Dokument. In: Umschau 28 (1924). S. 215 f.
- Josef Breuer / Rudolf Chrobak: Zur Lehre vom Wundfieber. Experimentelle Studie. In: Med. Jb., Wien 22/4 (1867). S. 3-12.
- Josef Breuer / Sigmund Freud: Über den psychischen Mechanismus hysterischer Phänomene. Vorläufige Mittheilung. In: Neurol. Zbl. 12 (1893), S. 4-10, 43-47; zugleich in: Wien. med. Blätter 16 (1893), S. 33-35, 49-51.
- Sigmund Freud / Josef Breuer: Studien über Hysterie. Franz Deuticke, Leipzig + Wien 1895. Neudruck: 6. Auflage. Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1991. ISBN 3596104467
- Josef Breuer / Alois Kreidl: Über die scheinbare Drehung des Gesichtsfeldes während der Einwirkung einer Centrifugalkraft. In: Arch. Physiol. 70 (1898), S. 494-510.
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach / Josef Breuer: Ein Briefwechsel. 1889-1916. Bergland-Verlag, Wien 1969
Literature
- Cranefield, Paul F. "Breuer, Josef." In the Dictionary of Scientific BiographyDictionary of Scientific BiographyThe Dictionary of Scientific Biography is a scholarly reference work that was published from 1970 through 1980. It is supplemented by the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography and an electronic version that includes both publications....
, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie, vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
, 1981, ISBN 0-684-80588-X - Hirschmüller, Albrecht. The Life and Work of Josef Breuer: Physiology and Psychoanalysis. New York: New York University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8147-3427-8
- Zangwill, O. L. "Breuer, Joseph." In The Oxford Companion to the Mind New York: Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1998 ISBN 0-19-860224-3