Encyclopedia, Difference between revisions of "Bruno Bettelheim" - New World

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'''Bruno Bettelheim''' (born August 28, 1903 – died March 13, 1990) was an [[Austria|Austrian]]-born [[United States|American]] [[developmental psychology|developmental psychologist]], widely known for his studies with [[autism|autistic]] and emotionally disturbed children. His "refrigerator mother" theory of [[autism]], now largely disfavored, enjoyed considerable attention and influence while Bettelheim was alive. His [[milieu therapy]] is still widely used in the treatment of emotionally disturbed children.   
+
'''Bruno Bettelheim''' (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an [[Austria|Austrian]]-born [[United States|American]] [[developmental psychology|developmental psychologist]], widely known for his studies with [[autism|autistic]] and emotionally disturbed children. His "refrigerator mother" theory of autism, now largely disfavored, enjoyed considerable attention and influence while Bettelheim was alive. His "milieu therapy" is still widely used in the treatment of emotionally disturbed children.   
  
 
==Life==
 
==Life==
  
'''Bruno Bettelheim''' was born in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]], the son of a wood merchant from the middle class [[Jew|Jewish]] family. He entered the University of Vienna, but in order to take care for his family business, was forced to leave the university when his father became ill. He was twenty three when his father died of [[syphilis]], a shameful experience that marked Bettelheim’s entire life. He married in 1930 to a schoolteacher who was a disciple of [[Anna Freud]].  
+
'''Bruno Bettelheim''' was born in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]], the son of a wood merchant from a middle class [[Jew|Jewish]] family. He entered the [[University of Vienna]], but in order to take care of his family business, he was forced to leave the university when his father became ill. He was twenty-three when his father died of [[syphilis]], a shameful experience that marked Bettelheim’s entire life. In 1930, he married a schoolteacher who was a disciple of [[Anna Freud]].  
  
During 1930s Bruno and his wife Gina took care of an [[autism|autistic]] child who lived in their home in Vienna for seven years. After ten years, Bettelheim returned to his education, earning a Ph.D. in [[philosophy]] in 1938. He was among the last Jews awarded a doctorate degree before [[Nazi]]s annexed Austria in 1938. His dissertation, on the [[history of art]], was entitled ''The Problem of Beauty in Nature and Modern Esthetics''.  
+
During the 1930s Bruno and his wife Gina took care of an [[autism|autistic]] child who lived in their home in Vienna for seven years. After ten years, Bettelheim returned to his education, earning a Ph.D. in [[philosophy]] in 1938. He was among the last Jews awarded a doctorate degree before the [[Nazism|Nazi]]s annexed Austria in 1938. His dissertation, on the history of [[art]], was entitled ''The Problem of Beauty in Nature and Modern Esthetics''.  
  
In the late 1930s Bettelheim traveled across Nazi state hospitals in [[Germany]] during the infamous [[T-4 euthanasia program]], the start of his research in mental patients. He became an accredited [[psychiatrist]] and returned to Austria.  
+
In the late 1930s, Bettelheim traveled across Nazi state [[hospital]]s in [[Germany]] during the infamous "T-4" [[euthanasia]] program, the start of his research in mental patients. He became an accredited [[psychiatry|psychiatrist]] and returned to Austria.  
  
Being a Jew, Bettelheim was arrested in 1939 by [[Gestapo]] and put into a [[concentration camp]]. He spent ten and a half months, first in [[Dachau]] and then in [[Buchenwald]]. Records of his internment show Bettelheim was hired as the camp doctor to overview camp prisoners' mental health. His release from internment was purchased, and remained possible prior to the commencement of hostilities in [[World War II]].   
+
Being a Jew, Bettelheim was arrested in 1939 by [[Gestapo]] and put into a [[concentration camp]]. He spent ten and a half months, first in [[Dachau]] and then in [[Buchenwald]]. Records of his internment show Bettelheim was hired as the camp doctor to overview camp prisoners' [[mental health]]. His release from internment was purchased, which was possible prior to the commencement of hostilities in [[World War II]].   
  
After his release, Bettelheim moved to [[Australia]] in 1939 and later to the [[United States]] in 1943, becoming a [[naturalized citizen]] in 1944. He lost everything however, and even his wife left him. He earned money by teaching [[art history]], German [[literature]], and [[psychology]]. He published his experiences from the concentration camps in his 1943 ''Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations''.   
+
After his release, Bettelheim moved to [[Australia]] in 1939 and later to the [[United States]] in 1943, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1944. He lost everything however, and even his wife left him. He earned money by teaching [[art history]], German [[literature]], and [[psychology]]. He published his experiences from the concentration camps in his 1943 ''Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations''.   
  
He eventually became a professor of psychology, teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] from 1944 until his retirement in 1973. He remarried in 1941 to Gertrude Weinfeld, with whom he had two daughters and one son.
+
He eventually became a professor of psychology, teaching at the [[University of Chicago]] from 1944 until his retirement in 1973. He remarried in 1941 to Gertrude Weinfeld, with whom he had two daughters and one son.
  
The most significant part of Bettelheim's professional life was spent serving as director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the [[University of Chicago]], a home for emotionally disturbed children. He wrote books on both normal and abnormal [[child psychology]] and was respected by many during his lifetime. His work at the Orthogenic School became world famous, and his [[milieu therapy]] widely used. His book ''The Uses of Enchantment'' recast [[fairy tale]]s in terms of [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] psychology. It was awarded the U.S. Critic's Choice Prize for criticism in 1976 & the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought in 1977.
+
The most significant part of Bettelheim's professional life was spent serving as director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the [[University of Chicago]], a home for emotionally disturbed children. He wrote books on both normal and abnormal [[child psychology]] and was respected by many during his lifetime. His work at the Orthogenic School became world famous, and his [[therapy]], called "milieu therapy," widely used. His book ''The Uses of Enchantment'' recast [[fairy tale]]s in terms of [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] psychology. It was awarded the U.S. Critic's Choice Prize for criticism in 1976 and the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought in 1977.
  
Bettelheim suffered from [[depression]] at the end of his life, especially after the death of his wife in 1984. In 1990 he committed [[suicide]], on the same night when fifty-two years earlier, Nazis had entered Austria. He died in Silver Spring, Maryland.
+
Bettelheim suffered from [[depression (psychology)|depression]] at the end of his life, especially after the death of his wife in 1984. In 1987 he suffered a stroke. In 1990 he committed [[suicide]], on the same night when fifty-two years earlier, the Nazis had entered Austria. He died in Silver Spring, Maryland.
  
 
==Work==
 
==Work==
  
Bettelheim’s work must be analyzed in the context of the time he lived in. He was a witness of great social changes, from the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and [[World War I]], to the [[National Socialism]] and [[World War II]. He was greatly influenced by the [[psychoanalysis]] of [[Sigmund Freud]], and studied the work of his followers, including [[Carl Jung|Carl G. Jung]] and [[Anna Freud]]. Bettelheim chose [[psychoanalysis]] as the main paradigm in his studies, but was also interested in the effect of social systems on individuals.   
+
Bruno Bettelheim’s work must be analyzed in the context of the time he lived in. He was a witness of great [[social change]], from the [[Bolshevik Revolution]] and [[World War I]], to [[Nazism]] and [[World War II]. He was greatly influenced by the [[psychoanalysis]] of [[Sigmund Freud]], and studied the work of his followers, including [[Carl Jung]] and [[Anna Freud]]. Bettelheim chose [[psychoanalysis]] as the main paradigm in his studies, but was also interested in the effect of social systems on individuals.   
  
 
===Concentration camps and the “milieu therapy”===
 
===Concentration camps and the “milieu therapy”===
One of the first works Bettelheim published was his ''Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations'', in which he analyzed inmates’ behavior in [[concentration camp]]s. Bettelheim spent more than ten months in Nazi camps, in which he used the time to study the effects of the extreme environment on the fellow prisoners, the prison guards, and himself. In the article, Bettelheim used psychoanalytic principles, especially Anna Freud's concept of “identification with the aggressor”, to explain why many Jews took on the values of the aggressor in order to survive. He saw many Jews falling prey to the “[[victim’s guilt]]” - the feeling that they “deserved such destiny” - and called it the “ghetto mentality”. In 1945, General [[Eisenhower]] asked all his officers in [[Europe]] to read the article, as the remedy for the shock of witnessing the concentration camp survivors.  
+
One of the first works Bettelheim published was his ''Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations'', in which he analyzed inmates’ behavior in [[concentration camp]]s. Bettelheim spent more than ten months in Nazi camps, in which he used the time to study the effects of the extreme environment on the fellow prisoners, the prison guards, and himself. In the article, Bettelheim used [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] principles, especially [[Anna Freud]]'s concept of “identification with the aggressor,to explain why many Jews took on the values of the aggressor in order to survive. He saw many Jews falling prey to “victim’s guilt”—the feeling that they “deserved such destiny”—and called it the “ghetto mentality”. In 1945, General [[Eisenhower]] asked all his officers in [[Europe]] to read the article, as a remedy for the shock of witnessing the concentration camp survivors.  
  
In 1960 Bettelheim published his ''The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age'', in which he explained his theory of the relationship between the external environment and mental disorder. He drew inspiration for the theory from his experience in the concentration camps, where he witnessed normal people going insane, under the influence of dehumanizing environment. Bettelheim concluded that environment greatly influences one’s sanity, and thus assumed that the process could be reversed – i.e. that positive environment could act as a remedy for mental disorder.  
+
In 1960, Bettelheim published ''The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age'', in which he explained his theory of the relationship between the external environment and [[mental disorder]]. He drew inspiration for the theory from his experience in the concentration camps, where he witnessed normal people going insane, under the influence of the dehumanizing environment. Bettelheim concluded that the environment greatly influences one’s sanity, and thus assumed that the process could be reversed—that a positive environment could act as a remedy for mental disorder.  
  
Bettelheim developed his [[milieu therapy]] at the [[University of Chicago]]'s Orthogenic School. There he created a therapeutic environment that supported the needs of severely disturbed children. The rooms were clean and orderly, and the children were free to move from place to place. The staff was instructed to unconditionally accept all children’s behavior.   
+
Bettelheim developed his "milieu therapy" at the [[University of Chicago]]'s Orthogenic School. There he created a therapeutic environment that supported the needs of severely disturbed children. The rooms were clean and orderly, and the children were free to move from place to place. The staff was instructed to unconditionally accept all children’s behavior.   
  
In his ''The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age'' (1960) Bettelheim was rather critical of the modern society. He compared his experiences from the concentration camps his attempts to preserve a sense of autonomy, integrity, and personal freedom with life in the modern, mass society. The mass society, like that of [[United States]] or Western Europe, is dehumanizing and depersonalizing, and forces people to behave in a certain way. People have to struggle to maintain sanity, much like inmates in the camps.
+
In his ''The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age'' (1960) Bettelheim was rather critical of modern society. He compared his experiences from the concentration camps—his attempts to preserve a sense of autonomy, integrity, and personal freedom—with life in modern, mass society. He viewed mass society, like that of [[United States]] or Western Europe, as dehumanizing and depersonalizing, forcing people to behave in a certain way. People have to struggle to maintain sanity, much like inmates in the camps.
  
 
===”Refrigerator mother theory”===
 
===”Refrigerator mother theory”===
In a 1943 paper, [[Leo Kanner]] first proposed the idea of “refrigerator mother”, recognizing the association between the lack of parental warmth and attachment and autistic disorder. In 1949, he attributed autism to a “genuine lack of maternal warmth”. Bettelheim took over Kanner’s idea and developed it into his famous theory. He claimed that unemotional and cold mothering was the very cause of childhood [[autism]].  
+
The idea of the “refrigerator mother,recognizing the association between the lack of parental warmth and attachment and [[autism|autistic]] disorder, had been proposed by Leo Kanner in 1943, and further developed to attribute autism to a “genuine lack of maternal warmth.Bettelheim took over Kanner’s idea and developed it into his famous theory. He claimed that unemotional and cold mothering was the very cause of childhood [[autism]].  
  
Bettelheim was convinced that autism had no organic basis, but that instead was mainly influenced by the upbringing of mothers who did not want their children to live, either consciously or unconsciously, which in turn caused them to restrain contact with them and fail to establish an emotional connection. Absent fathers were also blamed. A complex and detailed explanation in psychoanalytical and psychological terms, derived from the qualitative investigation of clinical cases can be found in one of his most famous books, ''The Empty Fortress'' (1967).  
+
Bettelheim was convinced that autism had no organic basis, but that instead was mainly influenced by the upbringing of mothers who did not want their children to live, either consciously or unconsciously, which in turn caused them to restrain contact with them and fail to establish an emotional connection. Absent fathers were also blamed. Bettelheim presented a complex and detailed explanation in psychoanalytical and psychological terms, derived from the qualitative investigation of clinical cases in one of his most famous books, ''The Empty Fortress'' (1967).  
  
Bettelheim believed that children with autism and schizophrenia behave much like helpless concentration camp inmates. He argued that the main reason for that was the negative parental interaction with infants during critical early stages in their psychological development. The children thus learned to blame themselves for the negative atmosphere in their families, and withdrew into fantasy world to prevent further problems.
+
Bettelheim believed that children with autism and [[schizophrenia]] behave much like helpless [[concentration camp]] inmates. He argued that the main reason was the negative parental interaction with infants during critical early stages in their [[psychological development]]. Such children learned to blame themselves for the negative atmosphere in their families, and withdrew into fantasy worlds to prevent further problems.
  
 
===Other work===
 
===Other work===
Bettelheim traveled a lot, delivering public speeches and doing field research. In his ''The Children of the Dream,'' (1969) he analyzed the life of children in [[Israel]]i [[kibbutz]]. He compared the style of child rearing in the [[United States]] with that in [[Israel]], claiming that cultural differences play a significant role in how Israeli and U.S. parents raise their children. Thus, it is meaningless to talk about “better” parenting styles in either country in general, but rather about appropriate parenting styles in particular cases.   
+
Bettelheim traveled a lot, delivering public speeches and doing field research. In ''The Children of the Dream,'' (1969) he analyzed the life of children in [[Israel]]i [[kibbutz]]im. He compared the style of child rearing in the [[United States]] with that in [[Israel]], claiming that cultural differences play a significant role in how Israeli and U.S. parents raised their children. Thus, he argued that it is meaningless to talk about “better” [[parenting]] styles in either country in general, but rather about appropriate parenting styles in particular cases.   
  
 
Bettelheim's ''The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales'' (1976) became his best selling book. In it, he analyzed the effects of [[fairy tales]] on the development of children’s psyche, and claimed that reading fantasies and fairy tales were part of a healthy child's psychological development.
 
Bettelheim's ''The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales'' (1976) became his best selling book. In it, he analyzed the effects of [[fairy tales]] on the development of children’s psyche, and claimed that reading fantasies and fairy tales were part of a healthy child's psychological development.
  
 
===Criticism===
 
===Criticism===
Other [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] analysts, as well as scientists and medics, followed Bettelheim's lead and created their own theories and methodologies often confusing and over-simplifying Bettelheim’s ideas. This led some to accuse the mother for the child's autism, and others to claim that victims are to be blamed for their own misfortune. Controversy arose surrounding Bettelheim’s work, with his defenders and critics widely debating the validity of his work.  
+
Other [[Sigmund Freud|Freudian]] analysts, as well as other practitioners, followed Bettelheim's lead and created their own theories and methodologies regarding the onset of [[autism]], often confusing and over-simplifying Bettelheim’s ideas. This led some to accuse the mother for the child's autism, and others to claim that victims are to be blamed for their own misfortune. Controversy arose surrounding Bettelheim’s work, with his defenders and critics widely debating the validity of his work.  
  
Beyond Bettelheim's psychological theories, controversy has also surrounding his history and personality. After Bettelheim's suicide in 1990, his detractors claimed that Bettelheim had a dark side. He was known for exploding in screaming anger at students. Three ex-patients questioned his work, characterizing him as a “cruel tyrant” [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=3709&var_recherche=In+the+Case+of+Bruno+Bettelheim]. Critics also claim that he spanked his patients despite publicly rejecting spanking as "brutal". His defenders, however, claimed that despite externally looking cruel, such method actually worked. On the other side, his treatments, some reporting rates of cure around 85%, were also questioned, as the results being allegedly forged.  
+
Beyond Bettelheim's psychological theories, controversy has also arisen surrounding his history and [[personality]]. After Bettelheim's [[suicide]] in 1990, his detractors claimed that he had a dark side. He was known for exploding in screaming anger at students. Three ex-patients questioned his work, characterizing him as a “cruel tyrant” (Finn 1997). Critics have also claimed that he spanked his patients despite publicly rejecting spanking as "brutal." His defenders, however, claimed that despite externally looking cruel, such methods actually worked. On the other hand, his treatments, some reporting rates of cure around 85 percent, were also questioned, with critics stating that his patients were not actually suffering from autism (Finn 1997).  
  
Critics also contend that Bettelheim plagiarized others' work and falsified his credentials [http://controlmastery.org/docs/Bettelheim.pdf]. In particular, much of his celebrated psychoanalytical treatise on fairy tales, ''The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Imprtance of Fairy Tales'' is alleged to have been plagiarized [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=3709&var_recherche=In+the+Case+of+Bruno+Bettelheim]. It is also said that he fabricated his documents to step into an academic life [http://controlmastery.org/docs/Bettelheim.pdf].
+
Critics also contend that Bettelheim [[plagiarism|plagiarized]] others' work and falsified his credentials (Goldberg 1997). In particular, much of his celebrated psychoanalytical treatise on fairy tales, ''The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Imprtance of Fairy Tales'' is alleged to have been plagiarized (Finn 1997). It is also said that he fabricated his documents to step into an academic life (Goldberg 1997).
  
 
==Legacy==
 
==Legacy==
  
Despite the controversy surrounding his life and work, and despite his theories on autism been long dismissed, Bettelheim made significant contributions to the treatment of children. The Orthogenic School where Bettelheim was director became a model for applying psychoanalytic principles in residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children. His type of milieu therapy introduced some new elements in, as well as humanized the whole treatment of troubled children. Through his lectures and books, Bettelheim stimulated numerous generations of new parents to apply principles of psychology into their child raring.
+
Despite the controversy surrounding his life and work, and despite his theories on [[autism]] having been long dismissed, Bettelheim made significant contributions to the treatment of children. The Orthogenic School where Bettelheim was director became a model for applying [[psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] principles in the residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children. His version of milieu therapy introduced some new elements, as well as generally humanizing the treatment of troubled children. Through his lectures and books, Bettelheim stimulated numerous generations of new parents to apply principles of psychology into their child rearing.
  
 
==Publications==
 
==Publications==
Line 102: Line 102:
 
* [http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/bettelheim.html Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment (1975)] – Analysis of Bettelheim’s work
 
* [http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/bettelheim.html Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment (1975)] – Analysis of Bettelheim’s work
 
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0079291/ Filmography] – Bettelheim’s page on IMDb, with several movies he appeared in  
 
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0079291/ Filmography] – Bettelheim’s page on IMDb, with several movies he appeared in  
* [http://www.focus-alternative.org/milieu.htm Milieu Therapy]] - History of the milieu therapy  
+
* [http://www.focus-alternative.org/milieu.htm Milieu Therapy] - History of the milieu therapy  
 
* [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm What is autism?] - Resources on autism
 
* [http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm What is autism?] - Resources on autism
  
 
{{Credit1|Bruno_Bettelheim|103951300|}}
 
{{Credit1|Bruno_Bettelheim|103951300|}}

Revision as of 00:10, 13 February 2007

Bruno Bettelheim (August 28, 1903 – March 13, 1990) was an Austrian-born American developmental psychologist, widely known for his studies with autistic and emotionally disturbed children. His "refrigerator mother" theory of autism, now largely disfavored, enjoyed considerable attention and influence while Bettelheim was alive. His "milieu therapy" is still widely used in the treatment of emotionally disturbed children.

Life

Bruno Bettelheim was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a wood merchant from a middle class Jewish family. He entered the University of Vienna, but in order to take care of his family business, he was forced to leave the university when his father became ill. He was twenty-three when his father died of syphilis, a shameful experience that marked Bettelheim’s entire life. In 1930, he married a schoolteacher who was a disciple of Anna Freud.

During the 1930s Bruno and his wife Gina took care of an autistic child who lived in their home in Vienna for seven years. After ten years, Bettelheim returned to his education, earning a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1938. He was among the last Jews awarded a doctorate degree before the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938. His dissertation, on the history of art, was entitled The Problem of Beauty in Nature and Modern Esthetics.

In the late 1930s, Bettelheim traveled across Nazi state hospitals in Germany during the infamous "T-4" euthanasia program, the start of his research in mental patients. He became an accredited psychiatrist and returned to Austria.

Being a Jew, Bettelheim was arrested in 1939 by Gestapo and put into a concentration camp. He spent ten and a half months, first in Dachau and then in Buchenwald. Records of his internment show Bettelheim was hired as the camp doctor to overview camp prisoners' mental health. His release from internment was purchased, which was possible prior to the commencement of hostilities in World War II.

After his release, Bettelheim moved to Australia in 1939 and later to the United States in 1943, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1944. He lost everything however, and even his wife left him. He earned money by teaching art history, German literature, and psychology. He published his experiences from the concentration camps in his 1943 Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations.

He eventually became a professor of psychology, teaching at the University of Chicago from 1944 until his retirement in 1973. He remarried in 1941 to Gertrude Weinfeld, with whom he had two daughters and one son.

The most significant part of Bettelheim's professional life was spent serving as director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago, a home for emotionally disturbed children. He wrote books on both normal and abnormal child psychology and was respected by many during his lifetime. His work at the Orthogenic School became world famous, and his therapy, called "milieu therapy," widely used. His book The Uses of Enchantment recast fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology. It was awarded the U.S. Critic's Choice Prize for criticism in 1976 and the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought in 1977.

Bettelheim suffered from depression at the end of his life, especially after the death of his wife in 1984. In 1987 he suffered a stroke. In 1990 he committed suicide, on the same night when fifty-two years earlier, the Nazis had entered Austria. He died in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Work

Bruno Bettelheim’s work must be analyzed in the context of the time he lived in. He was a witness of great social change, from the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I, to Nazism and [[World War II]. He was greatly influenced by the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, and studied the work of his followers, including Carl Jung and Anna Freud. Bettelheim chose psychoanalysis as the main paradigm in his studies, but was also interested in the effect of social systems on individuals.

Concentration camps and the “milieu therapy”

One of the first works Bettelheim published was his Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations, in which he analyzed inmates’ behavior in concentration camps. Bettelheim spent more than ten months in Nazi camps, in which he used the time to study the effects of the extreme environment on the fellow prisoners, the prison guards, and himself. In the article, Bettelheim used psychoanalytic principles, especially Anna Freud's concept of “identification with the aggressor,” to explain why many Jews took on the values of the aggressor in order to survive. He saw many Jews falling prey to “victim’s guilt”—the feeling that they “deserved such destiny”—and called it the “ghetto mentality”. In 1945, General Eisenhower asked all his officers in Europe to read the article, as a remedy for the shock of witnessing the concentration camp survivors.

In 1960, Bettelheim published The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age, in which he explained his theory of the relationship between the external environment and mental disorder. He drew inspiration for the theory from his experience in the concentration camps, where he witnessed normal people going insane, under the influence of the dehumanizing environment. Bettelheim concluded that the environment greatly influences one’s sanity, and thus assumed that the process could be reversed—that a positive environment could act as a remedy for mental disorder.

Bettelheim developed his "milieu therapy" at the University of Chicago's Orthogenic School. There he created a therapeutic environment that supported the needs of severely disturbed children. The rooms were clean and orderly, and the children were free to move from place to place. The staff was instructed to unconditionally accept all children’s behavior.

In his The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age (1960) Bettelheim was rather critical of modern society. He compared his experiences from the concentration camps—his attempts to preserve a sense of autonomy, integrity, and personal freedom—with life in modern, mass society. He viewed mass society, like that of United States or Western Europe, as dehumanizing and depersonalizing, forcing people to behave in a certain way. People have to struggle to maintain sanity, much like inmates in the camps.

”Refrigerator mother theory”

The idea of the “refrigerator mother,” recognizing the association between the lack of parental warmth and attachment and autistic disorder, had been proposed by Leo Kanner in 1943, and further developed to attribute autism to a “genuine lack of maternal warmth.” Bettelheim took over Kanner’s idea and developed it into his famous theory. He claimed that unemotional and cold mothering was the very cause of childhood autism.

Bettelheim was convinced that autism had no organic basis, but that instead was mainly influenced by the upbringing of mothers who did not want their children to live, either consciously or unconsciously, which in turn caused them to restrain contact with them and fail to establish an emotional connection. Absent fathers were also blamed. Bettelheim presented a complex and detailed explanation in psychoanalytical and psychological terms, derived from the qualitative investigation of clinical cases in one of his most famous books, The Empty Fortress (1967).

Bettelheim believed that children with autism and schizophrenia behave much like helpless concentration camp inmates. He argued that the main reason was the negative parental interaction with infants during critical early stages in their psychological development. Such children learned to blame themselves for the negative atmosphere in their families, and withdrew into fantasy worlds to prevent further problems.

Other work

Bettelheim traveled a lot, delivering public speeches and doing field research. In The Children of the Dream, (1969) he analyzed the life of children in Israeli kibbutzim. He compared the style of child rearing in the United States with that in Israel, claiming that cultural differences play a significant role in how Israeli and U.S. parents raised their children. Thus, he argued that it is meaningless to talk about “better” parenting styles in either country in general, but rather about appropriate parenting styles in particular cases.

Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (1976) became his best selling book. In it, he analyzed the effects of fairy tales on the development of children’s psyche, and claimed that reading fantasies and fairy tales were part of a healthy child's psychological development.

Criticism

Other Freudian analysts, as well as other practitioners, followed Bettelheim's lead and created their own theories and methodologies regarding the onset of autism, often confusing and over-simplifying Bettelheim’s ideas. This led some to accuse the mother for the child's autism, and others to claim that victims are to be blamed for their own misfortune. Controversy arose surrounding Bettelheim’s work, with his defenders and critics widely debating the validity of his work.

Beyond Bettelheim's psychological theories, controversy has also arisen surrounding his history and personality. After Bettelheim's suicide in 1990, his detractors claimed that he had a dark side. He was known for exploding in screaming anger at students. Three ex-patients questioned his work, characterizing him as a “cruel tyrant” (Finn 1997). Critics have also claimed that he spanked his patients despite publicly rejecting spanking as "brutal." His defenders, however, claimed that despite externally looking cruel, such methods actually worked. On the other hand, his treatments, some reporting rates of cure around 85 percent, were also questioned, with critics stating that his patients were not actually suffering from autism (Finn 1997).

Critics also contend that Bettelheim plagiarized others' work and falsified his credentials (Goldberg 1997). In particular, much of his celebrated psychoanalytical treatise on fairy tales, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Imprtance of Fairy Tales is alleged to have been plagiarized (Finn 1997). It is also said that he fabricated his documents to step into an academic life (Goldberg 1997).

Legacy

Despite the controversy surrounding his life and work, and despite his theories on autism having been long dismissed, Bettelheim made significant contributions to the treatment of children. The Orthogenic School where Bettelheim was director became a model for applying psychoanalytic principles in the residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children. His version of milieu therapy introduced some new elements, as well as generally humanizing the treatment of troubled children. Through his lectures and books, Bettelheim stimulated numerous generations of new parents to apply principles of psychology into their child rearing.

Publications

  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1943. Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 38, 417-452.
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1950. Love Is Not Enough: The Treatment of Emotionally Disturbed Children. Avon Books. ISBN 038001405X
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1954. Symbolic Wounds: Puberty Rites and the Envious Male. Free Press. .
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1959. Joey: A 'Mechanical Boy. Scientific American, 200, 117-126.
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1964 (original published in 1955). Truants from Life: The Rehabilitation of Emotionally Disturbed Children. Free Press. ISBN 0029034507
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1967. The Empty Fortress: Infantile autism and the birth of the self. The Free Press. ISBN 0029031303
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1969. The Children of the Dream. Macmillan. ISBN 0025105906
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1974. A Home for the Heart. Knopf. ISBN 0394483774
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1976. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. Knopf. ISBN 0394497716
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1979. Surviving and Other Essays. Knopf. ISBN 039450402X
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1981. On Learning to Read: The Child's Fascination with Meaning. Knopf. ISBN 0394515927
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1983. Freud and Man's Soul: An Important Re-Interpretation of Freudian Theory. Vintage ISBN 0394710363
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1984 (original published in 1962). Dialogues with Mothers. Avon Books. ISBN 038049874X
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1985 (original published in 1960). The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age. Avon Books. ISBN 0380013029
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1987 A Good Enough Parent: A book on Child-Rearing. Vintage. ISBN 0394757769
  • Bettelheim, Bruno. 1989. Freud's Vienna and Other Essays. Knopf. ISBN 0394572092

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Angres, Ronald. 1990. "Who, Really, Was Bruno Bettelheim?". Commentary, 90(4), 26-30.
  • Answers.com. Bruno Bettelheim. Retrieved on February 3, 2007, <http://www.answers.com/topic/bruno-bettelheim>
  • Dundes, Alan. 1991. Bruno Bettelheim's Uses of Enchantment and Abuses of Scholarship. The Journal of American Folklore, 104(411), 74-83.
  • Eliot, Stephen. 2003. Not the Thing I Was: Thirteen Years at Bruno Bettelheim's Orthogenic School. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312307497
  • Finn, Molly. 1997. In the Case of Bruno Bettelheim. First Things. Retrieved on February 2, 2007, <http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=3709&var_recherche=In+the+Case+of+Bruno+Bettelheim>
  • Frattaroli, Elio. 1994. Bruno Bettelheim's Unrecognized Contribution to Psychoanalytic Thought. Psychoanalytic Review, 81, 379-409.
  • Goldberg, Helene. 1997. Bruno Bettelheim — Blaming the Victim. ControlMastery.org. Retrieved on February 3, 2007, <http://controlmastery.org/docs/Bettelheim.pdf>
  • Heisig, James W. 1977. Bruno Bettelheim and the Fairy Tales. Children's Literature, 6, 93-115.
  • Marcus, Paul. 1999. Autonomy in the Extreme Situation. Bruno Bettelheim, the Nazi Concentration Camps and the Mass Society. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275947254
  • NNDB.com. Bruno Bettelheim. Retrieved on February 3, 2007, <http://www.nndb.com/people/929/000115584/>
  • Pollak, Richard. 1997. The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684809389 :
  • Raines, Theron. 2002. Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim. Knopf. ISBN 0679401962
  • Sutton, Nina. 1995. Bruno Bettelheim: A Life and a Legacy. London: Duckworth Publishing. ISBN 0715626876
  • Zipes, Jack. 1980. On the Use and Abuse of Folk and Fairy Tales with Children: Bruno Bettelheim's Moralistic Magic Wand. In Zipes, Jack, Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tales. University of Texas Press. ISBN 029270725

External links

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