History of Psychotherapy in the Czech Lands

Author(s): Jiří Motl,Anna Vaněčková,Matyáš Müller,David Studenovský / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2015

The article covers the history of psychotherapy in the present-day Czech Republic, focusing mainly on the era of the Communist dictatorship which lasted from 1948 to 1989. However, we also investigate how psychotherapy developed before Communism and how the period of totalitarianism is reflected in the present state of psychotherapy in the Czech Republic. Apart from psychotherapy in the narrow sense, we will mention related fields such as psychohygiene, philosophy, religion, development of psychology as a scientific discipline, mental health care, consultancy, etc. In the first part, we describe the history of psychotherapy in Czechoslovakia, which we will divide into five periods: 1. before the Communist putsch in 1948; 2. from the Communist putsch to the late 1950s (severe dictatorship); 3. the 1960s (liberalisation of the regime and a development of civic society); 4. from 1968 to 1989 (a period of the so-called normalisation when the regime strengthens again in the 1970s and weakens in the 1980s); 5. the period after the so-called Velvet Revolution (1989). In the second part, we will briefly address two specifically Czech therapeutic approaches (Mr. and Mrs. Knobloch’s integrated psychotherapy and the SUR training program).

CZY POLSKA PSYCHOLOGIA MA SWOJĄ HISTORIĘ? RÓŻNE OBLICZA HISTORII PSYCHOLOGII

Author(s): Włodzisław Zeidler / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The reason for the question in the title is that during the First World War, Poland was not an independent country so there was no official Polish psychology contribution in the war effort. Nevertheless, psychology was allowed to be developed at two universities (Cracow and Lvov) as an academic discipline. On the other hand, in the areas under Russian jurisdiction the development of psychology started as a practical discipline (organization of psychologists – Polish Psychological Society, care for children with special needs – Szyc, Grzegorzewska). In the areas that would soon become Polish again, as early as at the beginning of the 20th century, psychology was being developed in Polish language and it served exclusively peaceful purposes (education, manufacturing) for the future independent state. That means, that as opposed to other “European psychologies” before and after the First World War, Polish psychology did exist and was developed strictly for peaceful purposes.

O PSYCHOLOGICZNEJ I WOJENNEJ MISJI TWÓRCY SZKOŁY LWOWSKO-WARSZAWSKIEJ

Author(s): Teresa Rzepa / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

The double mission, ideally fulfilled by Kazimierz Twardowski, the founder of the Lvov-Warsaw School, is discussed in the article. Twardowski fulfilling his psychological mission all his life while the war mission lasted three years (1914–1917), when he was carrying out the role of the president (rector) of the Lvov University. A short biography of Kazimierz Twardowski precedes the descriptions of those missions.

STEFAN BŁACHOWSKI WŚRÓD ZAWIERUCHY WIELKIEJ WOJNY

Author(s): Ryszard Stachowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

This paper traces the life and the beginnings of the scientific career of Stefan Błachowski (1889–1962), a key figure in the history of Polish psychology, during the darkest days of the Great War. It outlines how and why the road to pursue his doctorate under the supervision of Georg Müller at Göttingen University was beset by many hurdles. The article also demonstrates how Błachowski’s academic path was twice interrupted by military service and why his main work Nastawienia i spostrzeżenia (Sets and Perceptions), despite the fact that it came into being in all the vicissitudes of war, made a contribution of lasting value.

POGLĄDY WILHELMA WUNDTA NA TEMAT I WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ

Author(s): Włodzisław Zeidler / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2016

Wilhelm Wundt was one of those scientists and intellectualists, who had their own opinions on WWI even when it was just beginning. In the article the author wants to answer two questions. First, the answer the question concerning peculiarity of Wundt’s stance. Second, answer the question of inner consistency of his opinions i.e. his outlooks on war and his earlier and original viewpoints on philosophy and psychology (i.e. ethics or Volkerpsychologie). Unlike in previous studies, Wilhelm Wundt’s stance on war is characterized based on his three works: Über den wahrhaften Krieg (1914), Die Nationen und ihre Philosophie (1915) and Zur Lage (1916, the answer for „Polnische Blätter”). The inclusion of the third work, which for many decades was ignored by psychology historians (in Poland and in the other countries alike), is what makes this study distinct.

Ideologiekritik und Psychiatrie. Antoni Kępińskis Arbeiten zum KZ-Syndrom

Author(s): Manuel Willer / Language(s): German Issue: 28/2016

Antoni Kępiński's work on the KZ syndrome has not been so far a subject of thorough scientific research. In this paper Kępiński's work is investigated regarding two aspects of this problematic. In addition to questions concerning the patient-doctor relationship in psychiatry, the article focuses on the possible extension of the subject area of psychiatry. Kępiński's work suggests important conclusions at this point. Many psychiatric disorders, but especially the symptom complex of the KZ syndrome, are not only the result of individual experiences but also the individual values and the individual view of the patient on his suffering. This requires a high ethical competence of the physician. In addition, the example of the KZ syndrome demonstrates the effects that social formation can have on the individual psyche. Psychiatry must therefore tackle questions that extend its existing subject area.

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF FREUD’S THEORY OF MELANCHOLY

Author(s): Primož Mlačnik / Language(s): English Issue: 088/2018

In the article, the author presents an interpretation of melancholy and its discourse through the perspective of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction and “violence of writing”. In part one of the article, the ambivalent and contradictory conceptions of melancholy in the West are outlined in order to show the working of the logic of Différance that makes any unified and universal definition impossible. Sigmund Freud first introduced a universal theory of melancholy in his essay “Mourning and Melancholia” (1917), while part two of the article analyses the inherent enigmas and contradictions in Freud’s psychoanalytical distinction between mourning and melancholy in the specific socio-historical context. The binary oppositions in support of Freud’s dichotomy are also exposed. In the conclusion, the author shows how Freud’s paradoxes are deconstructed in contemporary theories in the humanities and social sciences that address various social and political discourses.

History of autism. The beginnings. Collusions or serendipity

Author(s): Loredana Al Ghazi / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

The article presents the first years of the autism and the way it was viewed since the autistic features were first observed until 75 years ago when Leo Kanner coined the term “autism”. It took 36 years to Kanner’s “infantile autism” to be formally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (APA, 1980). Fifty years after Hans Asperger published his four cases of “autistic psychopaths”, whose traits were described as early as 1938 in his postdoctoral thesis, APA introduced the Asperger syndrome in the fourth edition of DSM(1994). However, two decades before Kanner and Asperger, a Russian psychiatrist, Grunia Sukhareva, reported six cases of “schizoid psychopathy” in children and used the term autistic to describe their “tendency towards solitude and avoidance of other people” (Wolff, 1996, p. 129). We bring together three recent extensive accounts on autism history and try to establish who was the first to observe, describe, and label the autistic traits as a separate clinical picture from childhood schizophrenia.

Historia psychiatrii, czyli pole minowe

Author(s): Mira Marcinów / Language(s): Polish Issue: 784/2020

“Over-saturated” constructionist Kenneth Gergen and his offer tendered to (cultural) psychologists

Author(s): Andrzej Pankalla,Krzysztof Bakalarz ,Robert Bezdziecki / Language(s): English Issue: Special/2021

The text is focused on a non-precisely known, or at least not widespread and fully accepted among psychologists, theory of a very well known (and controversial) researcher, Kenneth Gergen. It deals with his dialogue with mainstream psychology, his version of social constructionism offered to cultural psychologists and his attitude toward language, narrative and last but not least – research method of psychology

Mihai Ralea – creator and visionary in psychology and culture

Author(s): Emil Verza / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2021

Mihai Ralea remains in the consciousness of specialists as an exceptional personality with a rich scientific contribution to the development of and the elaboration of many innovative ideas for a series of fields of culture. An unsurpassed creator and visionary, with a vast work he marked the orientation of many scientific fields and laid the foundations of modern psychology.

Some Philosophical Aspects of Elza Kučera

Author(s): Luka Boršić,Ivana Skuhala Karasman / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The focus of this work are two aspects of the philosophy of Elza Kučera (1883 — 1972). Kučera received her doctorate in philosophy from the University of Zurich in 1909, becoming the first Croatian woman born in Croatia to receive a PhD in philosophy. Her main interest was psychology, and later library science, and, apart from her PhD theses, almost all her published works are within these disciplines. However, among her handwritten and unpublished works that are preserved in the archives of the National and University Library in Zagreb a certain number of “purely” philosophical texts can be found. In order to present her philosophical approach, we analyze two particular questions she dealt with. The first is the problem of causality that she discussed in her overview of Thomas Brown’s epistemology in her dissertation entitled The Epistemology of Thomas Brown: A Historical Study (Die Erkenntnislehre von Thomas Brown: eine historische Studie, Zagreb, 1909). The second is the question of national philosophy, which she developed in a short unpublished text from 1918 or 1919. Given that Elza Kučera, as the first woman philosopher, experimental psychologist, and woman librarian in Croatia, has not received due attention to this day, we also present her biography.

Historia idei Kazimierza Jankowskiego i zespołu „Synapsis”

Author(s): Ryszard Praszkier / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2022

Artykuł jest prezentacją historii idei i praktyki doc. dr hab. n. med. Kazimierza Jankowskiego w 50-lecie utworzenia przez Niego ośrodka, znanego pod nazwą „Synapsis”. Przedstawione są kolejne zmiany i poszerzenia metod pracy z pacjentami, badanie skuteczności tych metod oraz rozwój towarzyszącej im idei. Ukazana jest droga od stosowania metod psychokorekcyjnych skoncentrowanych na jednostce do rozszerzenia na rodzinę, a następnie na środowisko. Zaprezentowany jest – nowatorski w latach 70. XX wieku – model psychoprofilaktyki środowiskowej. Równolegle dokumentowana jest przechodzeniem od pracy na oddziale zamkniętym do leczenia w trybie otwartym, a w następnym kroku – do psychiatrii środowiskowej. [This article presents the history of Prof. Kazimierz (Kaz) Jankowski M.D., Ph.D. ideas and their implementation, on the 50th anniversary of him creating the “Synapsis Center.” Subsequent modifications, expansion of therapeutic methods and projects for measuring their effectiveness, as well as their conceptual development are presented. The path from the therapy focused on the individual through one expanding the focus to the family as well, and finally –to the environment is delineated. Moreover, the comprehensive environmental prevention system of Jankowski and the “Synapsis”team which was innovative in the 1970s is shown. Simultaneously, a way from in-patient to out-patient model of therapy is documented.]

WAS JOHN B. WATSON INSPIRED BY ANNA WYCZÓŁKOWSKA AND HER STUDIES IN THE MECHANISM OF SPEECH?

Author(s): Cezary W. Domański / Language(s): English Issue: 53/2021

In 1913, an article by Anna Wyczółkowska entitled Theoretical and experimental studies in the mechanism of speech was published in the Psychological Review. It contains the results of her studies on internal speech and thought, which had been carried out by the author seven years earlier, in the psychological laboratory of the University of Chicago. John B. Watson was a participant in the study. Wyczółkowska believed that Watson was inspired by her research. Thanks to his participation, he gradually began to move away from his original interest in animal psychology, towards behaviourism. In his Behaviorist Manifesto published in the same year, Watson took, as one of the arguments for the rightness of his programme, the assumption that the thought process is really motor habits in the larynx, improvements, short cuts, changes, etc. According to Wyczółkowska, it was obviously inspired by her research. Her aforementioned article is still cited in the psychological literature today, and belongs to the canon of the most important early experimental studies in the field of research on thinking and speech processes. This text discusses the relationship between the research conducted by Wyczółkowska and some assumptions of behaviourism. Furthermore it presents the story of Wyczółkowska’s life, her scientific work, social commitment to women’s university education, and activities in the Polish American community.

C. Rădulescu-Motru and the pursuit of a new science of the soul

Author(s): Constantin C. Lupașcu / Language(s): English Issue: 19/2023

The following study presents a concise historical overview of natural philosophy, examining the interpretations of the human psyche and their development up until the contemporary era. The presentation focuses on some of the main theories regarding the nature and functions of the mind, aiming to contrast them with one of the unfulfilled intellectual projects of the Romanian polymath C. Rădulescu-Motru. Specifically, his project aimed to establish a philosophical system addressing the intricacies of the human soul in the context of the scientific advances considered modern at the time – a system he referred to as the new science of the soul. His objective was to provide a comprehensive perspective encompassing all areas of knowledge in order to mitigate their tendency towards determinism, mechanism and biologism, which were spreading from the direction of the natural science.

Filosofie și psihologie: tangențe conceptuale și disciplinare semnalate de filosofi și psihologi români

Author(s): Titus Lates / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 19/2023

Prolegomenon to the thought style of the new history of psychology

Author(s): Andrzej Pankalla,Aleksandra Kilian / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

The present article provides an introduction to the new history of psychology within the framework of critical perspective while offering some methodological solutions for contemporary historical research in psychology. We propose a new model of research for conducting studies in the history of psychology. This approach is predominantly concerned with reconstructing crypto thought styles, acknowledging the existence of peripheral sources of knowledge about human psychological life, and revealing hidden lines of inquiry, which will be presented using a contextual approach to the history of psychology. In this analysis, psychological knowledge will be treated as a product of social activities that occur un-der specific historical conditions and define the scope of psychological research. The proposed to examine history of psychology and investigative practice in a specific context will allow for deeper insight into the world’s history of psychology and provide new methods for studying psychological schools of thought and ideas established on the periphery of mainstream psychology. Finally, we offer words of encouragement for scholars engaging in a context-specific study of psychological thought and efforts made towards grasping the reality of a local soul.

Stefan Szuman – nieznany pionier kognitywizmu. Geneza przedmiotu a cykl percepcyjny Neissera

Author(s): Dorota Kubicka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2023

Urlic Neisser (1928–2012) is widely considered to be one of the leading figures of contemporary psychology. This scholar is also thought to have come up with an original idea concerning the constructive nature of the perception process referred to as Neisser’s cycle of perception (1976; 1978). The thesis has contributed to the development of scientific psychology, but few notice that the idea ascribed to Neisser had been developed much earlier by Stefan Szu- man (1889–1972) in his concept known as the genesis of the object (1932). Comparing the two concepts makes one conclude that they are strikingly similar and that novel ideas originating on the fringes of a given field are not given enough credit.

Stefan Szuman – the Unknown Pioneer of Cognitivism. Genesis of the Object Compared to Neisser’s Cycle of Perception

Author(s): Dorota Kubicka / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

Urlic Neisser (1928–2012) is widely considered to be one of the leading figures of contemporary psychology. This scholar is also thought to have come up with an original idea concerning the constructive nature of the perception process referred to as Neisser’s cycle of perception (1976, 1978). The thesis has contributed to the development of scientific psychol- ogy, but few notice that the idea ascribed to Neisser had been developed much earlier by Stefan Szuman (1889–1972) in his concept known as the genesis of the object (1932). Comparing the two concepts makes one reach the conclusion that they are strikingly similar and that novel ideas originating on the fringes of a given field are not given enough credit.

Koncepcja logoterapii Viktora E. Frankla jako możliwość leczenia sensem

Author(s): Agnieszka Rydz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 18/2023

Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997) is the founder of the third school of Viennese psychiatry, after the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and the individual psychology of Alfred Adler. His method of psychotherapy – logotherapy – is healing through meaning. It helps to discover meaning in life. Frankl lists three basic ways to discover the meaning of existence: work, love, acceptance of fate regardless of the circumstances of life. The aim of the article The concept of logotherapy by Viktor E. Frankl as a possibility of healing with meaning is to introduce the creator of logotherapy and its assumptions.