Ludwig Binswanger

Ludwig Binswanger, a Swiss psychiatrist, was born on April 5, 1881,

in Kreuzlingen, Thurgau, Switzerland, where he died on February 7,
1966. In Kreuzlingen he was director of clinical psychiatry at
Bellevue Sanatorium, an internationally renowned institution
founded by his grandfather. Binswanger took over responsibilities in
1910 from his father, passing them on to his own son in 1956.

He spent his school years in Constance, Germany, and studied

medicine in Lausanne, Heidelberg, and Zurich. In 1906 he obtained
the position of assistant at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich,
directed by Eugen Bleuler. In 1907 he defended his doctoral
dissertation on association tests before Carl Gustav Jung.

Binswanger devoted his life to psychiatry and the search for new
therapeutic treatments. His father had introduced a revolutionary
method for running the clinic, according to which the "doctor's family
will also assist in treating the patient." The entire institution became,
in effect, an extended family presided over by a patriarch. Ludwig
Binswanger was raised in a world where "the father's teachings
were the absolute law." He developed an interest in psychoanalysis
at the Burghölzli Clinic, where the medical staff included some of
the leading psychoanalysts of the time (Karl Abraham, Max
Eitingon, Franz Riklin, and Hermann Nunberg). Jung was the
director. In 1907 he met with Freud ("his most important human
experience") in the company of Jung. This led to other meetings
and a thirty-year friendship, as shown by their lengthy
correspondence. Although Freud had difficulties, recognized by
Freud himself, in maintaining friendships with people who did not
share his ideas, and although they had different attitudes toward
fundamental aspects of psychoanalysis and its potential uses, they
enjoyed an extended friendship. This friendship was based on an
understanding of mutual expectations: Freud hoped to break down
the wall separating official psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and
Binswanger sought to fight for the acceptance of a new theory
under Freud's paternal control.

Existential Psychology

-school of thought

-a tradition of theory, research, theory, and practice which includes the work of many men and women

-roots is from the diverse group of philosophers : Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche

Phenomenology

-careful and and complete study of phenomena

-invention of Edmund Husserl

-Phenomena: the contents of the consciousness, the things, the qualities, relationships, events,
thoughts, images, memories, fantasies, feelings, acts, and so on, which we experience.

-the attempt which allow these experiences speak to us, to reveal them to us, so we might describe
them in as unbiased a fashion as possible

Existence

- “our existences precede our essences” Jean Paul Sartre

- Existentialism is a Humanism
- As such, existence is problematic, and it is towards the development of a full
existentialist theory of what it is to be human that Sartre's work logically evolves.
In relation to what will become Being and Nothingness, Sartre's early works can be
seen as providing important preparatory material for an existential account of
being human. But the distinctiveness of Sartre's approach to understanding
human existence is ultimately guided by his ethical interest.
- “no-thing-ness”, our freedom

Dasein
-first and foremost term which many existentialist use to prefer human existence
-‘being there”
- Existence derived from Latin “ex-sistare” meaning to come step or stand out or forth
-Dasein: being different,moving beyond oneself, becoming
-openness
-nothingness
-main quality of dasein: care “being there”

Throwness
- “thrown into a universe that is not of our choosing. When we begin choosing our lives,
we begin with many choices made for us
- “the other”
-fallness
- “I-thou”
-Being-beyond-the-world

Anxiety
- Angst, anxiety are used to refer to the apprehension we feel as we move into the
uncertainty of our future
- Sometimes called as dread to emphasize the anguish and despair that may come
with the need we choose, but anxiety better convey generality of it

Guilt
-schuld refers to both guilt and debt
-regret

Death
-“the flies”
-being-towards-death

Authenticity
-authentic

Inauthenticity
-Conventionality
-bad faith
-existential neurosis

Diagnosis
- World view/ world point
- Umwelt
- mitwelt
- Eigenwelt
- Time
 - Space
- Modes: singular mode, dual mode, plural mode, anonymous mode
- Metaphor

Therapy
- Encounter
- Autonomy

Discussion

Difficulties