You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Dr. Rado, in relaxed and reminiscent moods, often spoke of his reasons for changing from a career in political science to one in medicine. Upon hearing Freud describe a new technique for the investigation of human behavior, which Freud called waking state hypnosis or free association, Rado became exhilarated over the idea that this technique could be used for investigating activity of the brain. With characteristic enthusiasm, Dr. Rado rushed to read all of Freud's writings and entered medical school with the sole purpose of using and perfecting Freud's technique. His enthusiasm stemmed from his belief that this technique for studying the mind would reveal integrated activity of the brain, the organ of the mind. Through his professional career, Dr. Rado reinforced his conviction, emphasizing it in all his introductory lectures to students of psychoanalysis. With increasing frequency in his later years, he expressed the belief, shared with Freud, that the principal and enduring contribution of psychoanalysis would be the direction it provided for meaningful studies in brain physiology. In his paper written in 1949, Dr. Rado (1956 a) quoted Freud:
“We must bear in mind that some day all our provisional formulations
* Presented at Tribute to Sandor Rado Symposium, 18th Annual Meeting, American Academy of Psychoanalysis.
Page 19in psychology (psychologische Vorläufigkeiten) will have to be based on an organic foundation. It will then probably be seen that it is special chemical substances and processes which achieve the effects of sexuality and the perpetuation of individual life in the life of the species.”
When I began my psychoanalytic training under Dr. Rado, I was engaged in neurophysiologic research designed to demonstrate central physiologic mechanisms that might be involved in emotional expression. The logic of Dr. Rado's conceptualization of behavior was very appealing to me, and this mutual interest formed the basis for our close scientific and personal relationship, spa