Pszichoanalitikus egyesületek és tagjaik a II. világháború előtti Magyarországon

Absztrakt

Psychoanalysis was in one a science, a healing method, and a broad cultural movement. The criteria of being
a psychoanalyst changed permanently in spatial and temporal terms alike. Who could be regarded as a
psychoanalyst? There is no one correct and uniformly accepted answer to this question. This paper investigates
the criteria of being psychoanalyst in Hungary before World War II. In this country as a part of the history of
psychoanalysis between 1927 and 1933/34 there existed two psychoanalytical societies the members of which
regarded themselves as psychoanalysts: the Hungarian Psycho-Analytical Society headed by Sándor Ferenczi,
and the Hungarian section of the Association of Independent Medical Analysts with Sandor Feldmann as its
president. This paper focuses on analysing of memberships in both societies in terms of membership
criteria, professional origin of members, and the interrelation of these societies while involving the
presentation of disputes on interpretation and use of definition „psychoanalysis” in the Hungarian press. By
exploring the life of members of the Hungarian Psycho-Analytical Society we get a picture about the transition
of psychoanalysis from an open movement into a closed, professional community through the examined
period 1913-1939.