Ruth Jane Mack Brunswick (February 17, 1897 – January 24, 1946), born Ruth Jane Mack, was an American psychiatrist. Mack was initially a student and later a close confidant of and collaborator with

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

and was responsible for much of the fleshing out of

Freudian theory Sigmund Freud (6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology, which looks to unconscious drives to explain human behavior. Freud believed that the mind is responsible for both cons ...

. Brunswick pioneered the psychoanalytic treatment of psychoses, and the study of emotional development between young children and their mothers, and the importance of this relationship in creating mental illness. She went to

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1914 and planned on going to Harvard to receive medical education, but was denied due to her gender and graduated from

Tufts Medical School The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in downtown Boston. The '' ...

instead. Her work was noticed by Freud and she began working with him to develop psychoanalysis in

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Early life and education

Ruth Jane Mack Brunswick, born Ruth Jane Mack, was born on February 17, 1897 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and was raised in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. She was the only child of attorney

Julian Mack Julian William Mack (July 19, 1866 – September 5, 1943) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Commerce Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States Circuit Courts for the Seventh Circuit, ...

, later a federal judge, and his wife Jessie (Fox) Mack. Her parents were part American and had some German-Jewish roots. She was on bad terms with her strict father. There is little information about her relationship with her mother. She was educated irregularly but early became unusually well versed in literature, music, and the arts. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1918 under the tutelage of Elmer Ernest Southard, an eminent Harvard scholar, who initiated her interest in psychology. Rejected by

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

because of her gender, Brunswick went to Tufts Medical School, where she finally received her M. D. ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in 1922.

Marriage

In 1917, she married Dr. Herman Blumgart, who later pursued a successful career as a heart specialist. His brother Leonard had gone to Vienna for a short analysis with Sigmund Freud at the end of World War I. Ruth had completed her psychiatric residency when, at the age of twenty-five, she also went to Freud. Her marriage was already troubled; her husband saw Freud in an unsuccessful effort to salvage the marriage, but Freud evidently decided the relationship was hopeless. Ruth had fallen in love with a man five years younger than herself, and got married a second time in March 1928 to Mark Brunswick, an American composer. Ruth was still in analysis with Freud in 1924 when Mark as well began to consult Freud. According to Mark, Freud later admitted that it had been a mistake for Freud and Ruth to have discussed Mark's case in detail. This marriage also resulted in divorce.

Working with Sigmund Freud

Her most fascinating period as a psychologist took place in Vienna where she was psychoanalyzed by

. Later she became an intimate member of Freud's circle of psychoanalysts, where she played an important role as a mediator between American analysts and Freud's circle (James, et al., 1971). Dr. Ruth Brunswick had a place in Freud's life which few if any of his biographers have noted (Freeman & Strean, 1987). She became his favorite collaborator, and both were inseparable.

Anna Freud Anna Freud (3 December 1895 – 9 October 1982) was a British psychoanalyst of Austrian-Jewish descent. She was born in Vienna, the sixth and youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Martha Bernays. She followed the path of her father and contribu ...

herself expressed her discontent with (and jealousy of) Brunswick's privileged to Freud's researches. For years, rumors of their fierce rivalry flooded the psychoanalyst circles. This rivalry was exacerbated when Freud gave Brunswick access to one of his most illustrious patients, the "Wolf-man", which Anna was also expecting to have. Brunswick was charming, intelligent, feminine, and vivacious (James, et al., 1971). Her generosity drove her to help many of her friends to leave Austria once the Nazis invaded it. She herself had to leave Vienna to save her own life. Brunswick pioneered the psychoanalytic treatment of psychoses, and the study of emotional development between young children and their mothers, and the importance of this relationship in the genesis of mental illness.

Death

Brunswick was suffering from a gastrointestinal illness that led her to overuse painkillers and other drugs. By 1933, she developed a total dependency on opiates. She died in New York on January 24, 1946, as a result of falling in the bathroom while intoxicated with opiates. The ''American Journal of Psychoanalysis'' only wrote that "She had a sudden tragic death" (Freeman & Strean, 1987).

Notes

References

External links

''The Accepted Lie'' - a paper of Mack Brunswick's published in ''Psychoanalytic Quarterly'' in 1943
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunswick, Ruth Mack 1897 births 1946 deaths American atheists Freudians American psychoanalysts Analysands of Sigmund Freud American women psychiatrists American psychiatrists Tufts University School of Medicine alumni Radcliffe College alumni