Otto Rank

Born in Vienna in 1884 as Otto Rosenfeld, he became one of Sigmund Freud’s closest collaborators and was deeply involved in the early psychoanalytic movement. He served as secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, edited major psychoanalytic journals, and wrote widely on myth, art, legend, and creativity.

Rank is especially remembered for expanding psychoanalysis beyond the study of neurosis alone. His book The Trauma of Birth became one of his most debated works, and his later thinking placed growing emphasis on will, relationships, and the individual’s struggle between connection and independence.

After his break with Freud, he continued working in Europe and later in the United States and France. Though sometimes overshadowed by larger names in the field, he has remained an important figure in the history of psychology and psychotherapy because of his original, wide-ranging ideas.