Karl Abraham in New York: The Contributions of Bertram D. Lewin

Abstract

Bertram D. Lewin (1896-1971), a leading member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, trained at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute in the late 1920s. Lewin's thinking was deeply influenced by Karl Abraham, whose delineation of the oral stage of libidinal development provided the theoretical foundation for Lewin's highly original psychoanalytic papers on mania, sleep and dreams. These contributions and his articulation of the oral triad -- the wish to eat, the wish to be eaten and the wish to sleep -- are reviewed and the stimulating influence his thinking exercised on his analytic colleagues is noted.