The Personality Cult in Psychoanalysis*

The concept of cult of the personality refers to the irrational attachment of a number of people to one person whom they idealize in some way and follow. Two results usually ensue: anything that person says, writes, or does becomes truth, not to be questioned, and those who disagree become dissenters, rivals, outsiders, and a threat. Active rivalries and schisms then inevitably follow.

Although this form of cultism occurs in many forms of human thought and activity -religion, philosophy, politics, nationalism - it has been peculiarly notable in psychoanalysis. It has been evident starting with Freud and his disciples, through the more modern analysts like Rado, Sullivan, Fromm, and Horney, up to the most recent movements under prophets like Perls, Janov, or Ellis. In reviewing this historical development (I have been studying in depth six of the important psychoanalytic schisms during the past fifty years) it became evident that certain characteristic factors predominated in each cult. I dislike generalizing, and certainly each was different from the others. Yet for convenience sake, those factors which differentiated one from the other could be subsumed grossly into three types. These could be called the personal, the ideological, and the organizational types of cultism.

For the personal type to arise, two conditions are needed. First, a person must emerge who possesses particular personality traits that help him become a leader. These attitudes can vary. They might include charisma, genius, a need to dominate, aggressiveness, a need for power, rebelliousness, narcissistic needs, intellectual ability, creativeness, etc. Such attitudes can be neurotic, anxiety-driven, or healthy. This person usually encourages followers, pupils, or disciples, consciously or unconsciously. He often needs to be admired, to be the center. This situation is not necessarily followed by cult formation; history is replete with great leaders who made significant discoveries without developing