Biographical note

To appreciate fully the magnitude of Sabina Spielrein's struggle to overcome personal disability and become one of the first psychoanalysts, a brief survey of her life is necessary. Aldo Carotenuto has published her diary, letters, and relevant biographical material (Carotenuto 1982). Additional letters from Jung to Spielrein were published in the German edition of Carotenuto's work (1986) and for the first time in English in this issue of the Journal (see ‘The letters of C. G. Jung to Sabina Spielrein’, trans. Barbara Wharton, pp. 173-199).

Spielrein was born in Russia, Rostov-on-Don, in 1885. In August, 1904, she was admitted to the Burghölzli Hospital, the psychiatric hospital of the University of Zürich. C. G. Jung was her physician and diagnosed her disturbance as an hysterical psychosis. He described her illness at a psychiatric meeting in Amsterdam in 1907 and later published the report in ‘The Freudian theory of hysteria’ (Jung 1908). Released from the Burghölzli in June, 1905, Spielrein entered medical school at the University of Zürich and continued analysis with Jung. Strong transference-countertransference developed and, from 1908 to 1910 (11), doctor and patient became embroiled in a painful love affair. Both Jung and Spielrein wrote to Freud concerning their relationship, but Freud was unable to aid in the problem's resolution. Jung eventually broke off the relationship and Spielrein, deeply wounded, continued to work and received her medical degree in 1911. She published her medical thesis in 1911 and her first theoretical paper in 1912. In 1912, she joined Freud's psychoanalytic group in Vienna, married, and, in the following year, bore a daughter, Renate. Spielrein resided for various periods of time in several cities in Germany and Switzerland, continued to contribute articles to psychoanalytic journals, and in 1923 returned to Russia. Her experiences and activities there were described by Etkind (1994). Ljunggrien (1983) revealed that, in Rostov in