Edward S. Tauber, M.D.

ED TAUBER WROTE LUCIDLY AND MOVINGLY about the views of Erich Fromm. In a series of papers devoted to Fromm's life and work, Tauber explicated Fromm's most cherished and deeply held beliefs about the nature of man. As Tauber described it, Fromm felt that man must take responsibility for his life. He must continually strive to resolve the central problem of his existence: to "transcend separateness and relate himself to the world." Ed felt that the psychoanalyst must have a "healthy impatience" or sense of urgency about the patient's efforts to achieve a "productive orientation" to life. The therapist himself must try to be as fully "himself" as possible, continually striving to be open and genuinely responsive to the patient's self.

Tauber amplifies Fromm's views with his own rich insights. In "Erich Fromm: Clinician and Social Philosopher, " Tauber provides an early and compelling description of the perils of narcissism as a character problem. He differentiates benign from malignant aggression and describes the latter as a misguided bent, based on the existential need to feel potent and have a purpose. Tauber feels that it is essential to appreciate and accept the nature of human destructiveness in order to have a comprehensive grasp of psychotherapy.

On the subject of dreaming, Tauber comments as follows: "I see the dream as a product of human evolution serving to bring man to man … By dreaming we discover the reality of human interchange and identify ourselves through this modality … the dream forges the link of connecting man to man—which in turn partially assuages the terror of the unacknowledged sense of separateness that inheres in the evolution of the human condition" (p. 211). Here we have a concise explanation of the interpersonal significance of dreaming.

Tauber also points out the importance of bodily sensing to the human being. He traces the development of the sadomasochistic perversions to a dearth of positive affectional physical contact du