Wilhelm Stekel's Dialogue with Sigmund Freud: The Case for Brief Therapy and the Symbolism of Dreams

Abstract

Responding to recent publications by Clark-Lowes, and by Bos and Groenendijk, this article suggests that a systematic biography of Wilhelm Stekel, acknowledging his pioneering contributions to dream interpretation and brief psychotherapy, is long overdue. His interactions with Freud should be seen as an implicit dialogue, rather than a confrontation. Among the factors that have affected Stekel's reputation is an unresolved contradiction between the optimism of his writings about public health and the pessimism of his clinical findings. At the heart of his work lies the tension between Eros and Thanatos, which he explored so imaginatively in Die Sprache des Traumes (The Language of Dreams).