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In carrying out a comprehensive review of the publications of Fritz Riemann, spread over the period 1952 to 1965, one soon discovers that his neurosis-specific psychoanalytic techniques are founded on a personality theory which supports direct integration of clinical findings not only in diagnosis and prognosis, but is applicable throughout the course of treatment as well.
Thus, while this article has been prepared with the objective of providing in English for the first time a broad survey of Riemann's work, it was felt that major emphasis should be given to the personality theory and to the neurosis-specific techniques since these comprise the heart of his approach to psychotherapy and color virtually all of his writings. His personality theory appears in a slim book, Grundformen der Angst7 written with little recourse to standard personality-theory terminology but clearly founded on clinical experience. The book may therefore appear to some readers as rather atypical of personality systems found in the literature; yet, upon examination, the system stands forth as unmistakably the work of a Freudian analyst. On closer study, it emerges as a personality theory with unusual potential and may certainly be regarded as one of the most original and significant developments of modern-day psychoanalysis in Europe. As a founder and continuing senior member of Munich's psychotherapeutic training institution, the Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy, Riemann has already established a substantial core of non-orthodox psychoanalysts in Germany who employ his theories and techniques, hence the likelihood of his influence continuing and spreading in European clinical circles is quite high.
As a means of providing readers of The American Journal of Psychoanalysis additional contact with Riemann's approach, this article is being supplemented with two full-length papers of his, the first appearing concurrently in this issue under the title, “Experiences with Analyse