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The history of clinical psychoanalysis in Finland subdivides into two phases, the first of which consists in the work of Yrjö Kulovesi (1887-1943). He was trained in Vienna, became a member of the Viennese psychoanalytic society in 1931, and in 1936 received his certificate as a qualified training analyst. At his death, however, he left no psychoanalytic successors in Finland. The second phase commenced after the war, as interested physicians and psychologists went abroad to seek psychoanalytic training, some to Sweden, some to Switzerland. This eventually led to psychoanalytic training under domestic auspices, and to the founding of the Finnish Psychoanalytical Society. Brief English presentations of the history of Finnish psychoanalysis have been written by Moore (1978) and Roos (1992a). A fuller exposition of the early stages of psychoanalysis in Finland has been authored by Ihanus (1994).
Aira Laine, Helena Parland and Esa Roos stand as editors of a rare work that sheds light on the history of the Finnish Psychoanalytic Society and on the contributions of pioneering psychoanalysts in this country. In the words of the editors themselves: “The purpose of this book is to document how it all began, in the light of personal recollections.” The work was published to commemorate the 30th year of the FPS.
In essence, however, this book is something other and above all, something more - than a mere formal account of the history of Finnish psychoanalysis. A chapter entitled “Rakkaudesta psykoanalyyttiseen työhön” (“For love of the psychoanalytic work”), written by Juhani Ihanus, draws on Kulovesi's annotations and letters describing his time in Vienna, his meetings with Freud and, above all, his relationship with Paul Federn, who was Kulovesi's own analyst. Another chapter concerned with Yrjö