Freud, Jung And What Went Wrong

NPR | By NPR Staff

Published December 3, 2011 at 4:58 PM EST

Facebook
LinkedIn
Email

<strong>A Woman Of Some Importance:</strong> Sabine Spielrein, one of Karl Jung's celebrated patients, later became a psychiatrist herself — and, as screenwriter Christopher Hampton tells NPR's Rachel Martin, an influence on both Jung and Sigmund Freud. Keira Knightley plays Spielrein in the new film <em>A Dangerous Method.</em> — **A Woman Of Some Importance:** Sabine Spielrein, one of Karl Jung's celebrated patients, later became a psychiatrist herself — and, as screenwriter Christopher Hampton tells NPR's Rachel Martin, an influence on both Jung and Sigmund Freud. Keira Knightley plays Spielrein in the new film *A Dangerous Method.*

Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud are known as the fathers of psychoanalysis, but they focused on different things. Freud's attention was on the sexual underpinnings of — well, almost everything — and Jung was known for his mystical bent and dream theories.

For years, the two were close friends and collaborators but they had a falling out that ultimately ended their relationship. Turns out, there was a woman involved. Her name was Sabina Spielren.

The stories of all three are woven together in a new film, A Dangerous Method.

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin that Spielrein, a young girl from Russia, first met Carl Jung in Zurich on the eve of World War I.