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Petratos traces the influences of Kurt Goldstein, Johannes Schultz, and especially Georg Groddeck, on Fromm-Reichmann's work, prior to her exposure to Sullivan. She assisted or collaborated with each in turn. Goldstein, a neurologist who was to become a psychiatrist, considered brain injuries from a holistic perspective, emphasizing
the organismic attempt to adapt to injury. He saw symptoms, including schizophrenic symptoms, as "answers" to environmental demands by a modified organism. Schultz, who pioneered autogenic (i.e., biofeedback) training, was one of the first psychiatrists to suggest that psychosis could be treated by psychotherapy. Fromm-Reichmann recalled that she was not satisfied with his "simplistic use of dream analysis," and shortly thereafter sought analytic training. During her training she met Groddeck, whom she ranked with Freud, Goldstein, and Sullivan as her teachers. Groddeck taught that the understanding of unconscious processes was central to the treatment of all diseases; he did not believe in a distinction between organic and mental disease. Groddeck's theme of disease as a form of symbolic self-expression pervades Fromm-Reichmann's work. Her dedication to learning from her clinical experience, without preconception, came from Groddeck's example; as did her avoidance of jargon. She was influenced by his conviction of the universality of bisexuality, and the envy each sex has of the other. Groddeck was among the first to emphasize the importance of the early relationship with the mother, which became a cornerstone of Fromm-Reichmann's thinking about schizophrenia.