author
Karl Abraham
1877–1925
A key figure in the first generation of psychoanalysis, this German doctor helped shape early thinking about infant development, dreams, and mood disorders. He was also one of Sigmund Freud’s closest collaborators and an important force in building the psychoanalytic movement in Berlin.
1 Audiobook
Psycho-Analysis and the War Neuroses
by Sándor Ferenczi, Karl Abraham, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, Ernst Simmel
About the author
Born in Bremen on May 3, 1877, Karl Abraham studied medicine in Germany and later worked at the Burghölzli hospital in Zürich, where he encountered the ideas that led him into psychoanalysis. He became an early supporter of Sigmund Freud and went on to play a major role in establishing psychoanalysis in Germany.
Abraham founded the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society in 1910 and served as president of the International Psychoanalytical Association during two periods, from 1914 to 1918 and again in 1925. His writings explored infant sexuality, character development, dreams, and manic-depressive illness, and his ideas influenced later analysts including Melanie Klein.
He died in Berlin on December 25, 1925. Though his life was relatively short, his clinical work and theoretical writing left a lasting mark on the history of psychoanalysis.