Karl Abraham

author

Karl Abraham

1877–1925

An early pioneer of psychoanalysis, this Berlin-based psychiatrist helped shape how later thinkers understood dreams, sexuality, and the emotional life of children. He was also one of Sigmund Freud’s closest collaborators and an important teacher to the next generation of analysts.

0 Audiobooks

About the author

Born in Bremen in 1877, Karl Abraham trained as a physician and psychiatrist before becoming one of the key early figures in psychoanalysis. After working at the Burghölzli clinic in Zürich under Eugen Bleuler, he came into contact with Sigmund Freud and became one of Freud’s most trusted colleagues.

He later settled in Berlin, where he helped build the psychoanalytic movement in Germany and founded the Berlin Psychoanalytic Society. His clinical writing explored dreams, depression, manic states, character development, and infantile sexuality, and his ideas influenced later major analysts including Melanie Klein.

Abraham died in 1925 at the age of 48, but his work remained important in the history of psychoanalysis. He is remembered both for his own theories and for helping establish psychoanalysis as an organized field in Europe.