THE PSYCHOANALYST Sabina Spielrein

A woman with brown hair smiles at the camera in a black and white photo — Sabina Spielrein

Sabina Spielrein was one of the first female psychoanalysts, “invented” child psychology, and innovated some of the most famous concepts now attributed to Jung and Freud.So why don’t we know her name? Learn how an accident of translation (and some sexism and antisemitism on the side) erased this powerhouse from our bookshelves and our classrooms — and why it’s more than time to bring her back!

Olivia interviews Angela Sells, author of Sabina Spielrein: The Woman and the Myth.

Dr Sells has generously shared her Timeline of Events in Spielrein’s life with our readers.

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Sabina Spielrein ca 1930s
photo by permission of Angela Sells

Sabina Spielrein
photo by permission of Angela Sells

Spielrein Family, 1896
Sabina is front left
photo by permission of Angela Sells

A group of adults in turn of the century European dress sit around a table, seemingly in discussion. — Spielrein Family 1909: Eva, Sabina, Nikolai, Emil, Isaak, and Jan
Rostov-on-Don
photo by permission of Angela Sells

Sabina Spielrein with her mother and sister. Sabina is standing, left.
photo by permission of Angela Sells

A round stone table monument with a flame at the center is ringed with greenery and flowers in front of a statue of larger-than-life human figures — Memorial at the Zmievskaya Ravine, where Sabina Spielrein, her family, and over 27,000 Jews were murdered by SS death squads in August 1942.
photo by permission of Rost Galis

Carl Jung
photo from Ortsmuseum Zollikon
public domain

Sigmund_Freud
Photo by Max Halberstadt
public domain

A woman looks off camera to the left, smiling

Angela Sells, PhD, is a women’s studies professor at Sierra College and Meridian University in Northern California. She is the co-founder of the Open Book Press, Chair of Goddess Studies for the American Academy of Religion’s Western Region, and a book reviewer for the Journal of Popular Culture. Her book, Sabina Spielrein: The Woman and the Myth, was published by the State University of New York Press in 2017.

THE PSYCHOANALYST Sabina Spielrein

Music featured in this episode included

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