On August 17th, 1904 a 17 year old Russian girl by the name of Sabina Spielrein was admitted to the famous Burghölzhi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich,Switzerland into the care of a young fledgling psychiatrist by the name of Carl Gustav Jung. Fresh from reading about the newest methods of psychiatric treatment published by Sigmund Freud, a method later to be called psychoanalysis, Jung applied these new ideas to his treatment of Miss Spielrein’ hysteria. In two years her disturbing symptoms subsided and Jung, impressed with this new technique and wanting to impress his new mentor, Jung used the Spielrein case to impress Freud while showing him the positive results of his method.
The nine years of the relationship between Jung, Spielrein and Freud shaped all their careers and fatefully led to the breakup of Freud and Jung and left a gulf between Jung and Sabina. In January 2012 we will present a televised seminar and discussion of the film A Dangerous Method by David Cronenberg while reflecting on the works from which the film drew, Kerr’s A Most Dangerous Method, whose title is based on a statement of caution by William James when reading about Freud’s new method of psychoanalysis and the play by David Hampton, The Talking Cure.
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