The intellectual property of women as it relates to the role of Sabina Spielrein in the lives and works of 20 th century male psychologists

The research and publications of Carl Jung (1875 to 1961), Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939), Jean Piaget (1896 to 1980), Lev Vygotsky (1896 to 1934), and Alexander Luria (1902 to 1977) are well known in psychology and education. But who inspired some of the ideas, theories, and research of these noted scientists of the 20 century? The answer is Sabina Spielrein. Spielrein knew these men intimately. She was the first patient of Carl Jung at Burgholzli Hospital, a member of Freud’s inner circle of psychoanalysts in Vienna, the psychoanalyst of Jean Piaget, and the mentor and teacher of Vygotsky and Luria. This article describes the influence Sabina Spielrein had on the lives and works of these five men. After answering the question, “who was Sabina Spielrein?” this article explores how Spielrein inspired and influenced some of the theories of Jung, Freud, Piaget, Vygotsky and Luria as well as helped set the agenda for their research. The article concludes with suggestions for how we can honor and include other women whose works have been marginalized as well as how to work for gender equity, particularly in the area of intellectual property.


INTRODUCTION
Students in a beginning course in general or developmental psychology have probably been introduced to the lives and works of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria.However, the same students are unlikely to have ever heard of Sabina Spielrein (Aldridge, 2009).The purpose of this article is to explain the role that Spielrein played in the lives and professional works of these five famous men of the 20 th century.The extent of her role in each of these men's lives may never be known.Still, there is little doubt that she inspired each of them (Etkind, 1997).It remains a mystery as to whether she acted as a muse, or if some of her ideas and works were actually copied orstolen from these dead white men (Aldridge and Christensen, 2013).The article begins with a description of who Sabina Spielrein was.It continues with an exploration of her contributions to the lives and works of five noted psychologists of the 1900s.Finally, the article concludes with a consideration of the intellectual property of women today as they navigate the patriarchal system of research and publication.Suggestions are made for how professionals can incorporate the research of women scholars into their work and how to support gender equity.
E-mail: jta@uab.eduAuthor agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License

Who was Sabina Spielrein (1885 to1942)?
Sabina Naftulovna Spielrein was born on 7 November, 1885 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia into a wealthy family.Both Sabina's parents were doctors.Her father was an entomologist, and her mother was a dentist (Carotenuto, 1982)."She had three younger brothers: Isaac, Jan and Emile.All of the Spielrein children received formidable education in Europe and became professors during the Soviet period" (Etkind, 1997, p. 132).Isaac was a leading industrial psychologist in Russia until he was arrested in the political upheaval of 1935 (Etkind, 1997).
In 1904 Sabina was admitted for hysteria to the Burgholzli Hospital near Zurich, Switzerland, where she became the first patient of Carl Jung.She later attended medical school in Zurich, becoming a physician and later one of the first women psychoanalysts.She was admitted to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1911 and worked with Sigmund Freud as part of his inner circle (Kerr, 1993).Somewhere around 1912 Spielrein married Pavel Scheftel who was also a doctor from her hometown of Rostov.Later they had their first child a daughter named Ranata.
From 1920 to 1923 Spielrein worked at the Rousseau Institute in Geneva where she was Jean Piaget's psychoanalyst and also studied child language (Etkind, 1997).Her husband, Scheftel soon returned to Russia in 1920 where he had a common law marriage with another woman.Together they produced a daughter named Nina.In 1923, Spielrein returned to Russia and lived in Moscow for approximately one year.There she became a mentor to both Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria.All three of them became members of the Russian Psychoanalytic Society (Carotenuto, 1982).
Little is known about Sabina's life after her return to Russia.In 1923, she worked for the State Psychoanalytic Institute and assisted in overseeing the work of the Russian Psychoanalytic Society (Carotenuto, 1982).One source reports that Spielrein actually had "three jobs from September 1923 on: as a researcher at the State Psychoanalytic Institute, as a doctor and pedologist in a village called Third International, and as chair of the child psychology division at the First Moscow University" (Etkind, 1997, p. 171).
A year after returning to Russia, Sabina moved back to Rostov-on-the-Don and was reunited with her husband.There Sabina Spielrein and Pavel Sheftel had a second daughter, named Eva.During the 1930s the Scheftels lived in a three room dwelling."In 1937, Pavel Scheftel died of a heart attack" (Etkind, 1997, p. 176).Sadly, in August of 1942, Sabina, Ranata, and Eva were executed along with many other Jews at a synagogue in Rostov (Kerr, 1993).
While these are the details of Spielrein's personal life, she also intimately knew and worked closely with Jung, Freud, Piaget, Vygotsky and Luria during her lifetime.This article is primarily concerned with how she influenced their lives, and how she specifically awakened and perhaps even directed the research paths and many of the writings of these five prominent scientists.

How Sabina Spielrein Influenced the Lives and Works of 20 th Century Male Psychologists
Spielrein was Jung's first patient at Burgholzli Hospital near Zurich, a member of Freud's inner circle of psychoanalysts in Vienna, Piaget's psychoanalyst and colleague in Geneva, and Vygotsky and Luria's mentor and teacher in Moscow.This next section questions the extent that Sabina influenced each of these scientists of the 1900s.

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 to1961)
The personal relationship between Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein is well documented through the letters between them, Spielrein's diaries, and Jung's letters to and from Freud (Carotenuto, 1982;Etkind, 1997;Kerr, 1993;McGuire, 1974).But how did Spielrein shape and influence Jung's ideas, theories and writings?There are at least four areas and possibly many more in which Spielrein contributed to Jung's work.These include 1) his discovery of the anima, 2) the power of the unconscious that shapes one's destiny, 3) the nature of eros, and 4) the ideas and precepts Jung proposed in his book Psychology of the Unconscious.She also contributed to Jung's interest in mythology and to other ideas Jung used in the concept development of analytical psychology (Etkind, 1997).
Most experts on Jung believe that Spielrein was his inspiration for the discovery of the anima.According to Jung, the anima is "the inner feminine side of man" (Sharp, 1991, p. 18).But how did Jung realize this?One answer is through his relationship with Sabina Spielrein.In a letter to Sabina, Jung wrote, "The love of S. for J. made the latter aware of something he had previously only vaguely suspected, that is, of a power in the unconscious that shapes one's destiny, a power which later led him to things of the greatest importance" (Carotenuto, 1982, p. 190).Later Jung called that power the anima.Jung found that the anima is projected onto an external woman if he is not fully conscious or aware of his anima.As Jung's first patient, Sabina became Jung's projected anima, of which he was not aware at the time.She did much to inspire many of Jung's ideas, especially as Jung began to realize the relationship between a man's inner woman and women from the outside who influence and awaken his life forces (Carotenuto, 1982).
While working with Spielrein, Jung began to realize the power of the unconscious as it shapes one's destiny (Kerr, 1993).Jung realized the salience of bringing unconscious contents into consciousness through his intense and embarrassing experience with Spielrein.As the son of a protestant minister and the wife of one of the wealthiest Swiss women of the times, Jung was caught off guard by Sabina and the unconscious contents that came to light during their relationship.Jung's conscious view of himself was severely shaken by the unconscious that shapes one's destiny.His encounter with his own shadow was activated.Jung's ideas about the shadow began to take shape as his encounter with Spielrein deepened (Kerr, 1993).
As the power of the unconscious began to rise into the conscious activities of Jung and Spielrein, the influence of eros was also unleashed.Jung began to realize that eros has a dark as well as bright side (Carotenuto, 1982)."Acquiantance with Sabina helped Jung to discover completely new spaces in his own eros, a realm that he sincerely believed was confined to his happy marriage.His ethical principles seemed so contradictory to his inner reality that, at the peak of his crisis, he was horrified even by a trivial invitation to give a lecture on ethics" (Etkind, 1997, p. 156).The encounter with Sabina and dark eros assisted Jung into his study of mythology and eventually his personal understanding of the collective unconscious (Kerr, 1993).
According to Etkind (1997), Jung's Psychology of the Unconscious was synergistic between Jung and Sabina Spielrein and was written based on what he learned from his work with her.How much did Sabina influence the development of Psychology of the Unconscious?In 1912, Spielrein published an article entitled, "Die Destruktion als Ursache des Werdens" which was printed almost simultaneously with Jung's Psychology of the Unconscious."Later, Jung indicated that Spielrein's ideas were linked to one of the chapters in his book, one in which he discussed the double meaning of maternal symbolism" (Etkind, 1997, p. 152).We also know that "the crisis in his relationship with Sabina did indeed bring Jung to the insights that he articulated for the first time in his Psychology of the Unconscious-thoughts that he would rework many times" (Etkind, 1997, p, 157).
In summary, Sabina Spielrein may have influenced Carl Jung and his theory of analytical psychology in at least the following ways:

Sigmund Freud (1856 to1939)
As with Carl Jung, the personal relationship between Aldridge 61 Sigmund Freud and Sabina Spielrein is well documented through the letters between them, Spielrein's diaries, and Freud's letters to and from Jung (Carotenuto, 1982;Etkind, 1997;Kerr, 1993).But with regard to Freud's theories and writings, what did Sabina Spielrein contribute?There are three salient topics that Spielrein had a major impact on Freud's ideas?These include 1) Freud's definition of transference and countertransference (Kerr, 1993), 2) his interpretation of the death instinct (Cooper-White, 2013;Etkind, 1997), and his views concerning hysteria (Aldridge, 2009).
Freud discovered transference, and particularly countertransference in his correspondence with Jung about Sabina Spielrein (McGuire, 1974).In the early days of psychoanalysis the notion that the "patient" would fall in love with the doctor (transference) and the idea that the psychoanalyst, in turn, could have strong, erotic feelings for the patient was not yet known.Freud and Jung simulataneously noticed this because of Spielrein's relationship with Jung during their patient/doctor relationship (Carotenuto, 1982).So, Spielrein was a major influence in the development and understanding of transference and countertransference (Cooper-White, 2013).
In 1911, Sabina wrote a paper entitled, "Destruction as the Reason for Becoming" which she presented to the Vienna Psychoanalytic society in November of that year.Many consider this to be one of Spielrein's most noted works (Carotenuto, 1982;Etkind, 1997;Kerr, 1993).In this paper, Spielrein argued that "every act of creation implies a process of destruction.The instinct of selfreproduction contains two components: the life instinct and the death instinct" (Etkind, 1997, p. 151).Contrary to Freud's idea that the sex drive and life instinct were the predominant human force, Spielrein suggested something in addition to the sex drive ( Cooper-White, 2013).Spielrein proposed the death instinct or the human drive toward annihilation and destruction (Etkind, 1997).At first, Freud did not accept this at all, but later changed his mind and developed the death instinct into his theories.Specifically, "Freud incorporated this very idea-that Eros and Thanatos are two equally powerful forces in human nature-into the foundation of the final edifice of his doctrine" (Etkind, 1997, p. 150).Freud (1922) also used Spielrein's work on the death instinct into his book, Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
Since Spielrein was Jung's first patient, Jung sought a treatment plan.In consultation with Bleuler, the Director at Burgholzli, he chose Freud's method of working with hysteria (Kerr, 1993).Freud had written a book with Breuer entitled Studies in Hysteria (Freud and Breuer, 2004) but had not explicitly delineated the treatment for it in the book.When Freud found out that Jung was attempting to use this book for treatment, Freud became concerned.Freud wrote, "I am now and then astonished to hear that in this or that department of a hospital a young assistant has received an order from his chief to undertake a 'psychoanalysis' of a hysterical patient" (Kerr, 1993, p. 88).Freud quickly began to rethink his work on hysteria based on the actual clinical case of Sabina Spielrein.Years later, after Spielrein became a psychoanalyst, she also questioned Freud's methods of dealing with hysteria and had her own ideas about its nature and treatment (Aldridge, 2009).
In summary, Spielrein may have influenced the nature of Freud's theories and practices in the following areas: 1. His definition and beliefs about transference and countertransference.

Jean Piaget (1896 to1980)
When Spielrein arrived in Geneva, Switzerland in 1920, her work was about to have a major impact on another famous scientist of the 1900s-that of Jean Piaget.Until 1920, 24-year-old Piaget had been studying mollusks from a scientist's viewpoint and epistemology from a philosophical perspective.That all changed about the time he met Sabina Spielrein (Etkind, 1997).Sabina Spielrein guided Jean Piaget's research and works in several ways.These include: 1) Piaget's early work in psychoanalysis and child psychology (Piaget, 1920), including his research agenda, (which was probably influenced by his psychoanalysis with Spielrein) (Etkind, 1997), 2) Piaget's research on speech and language in young children (Aldridge, 2009;Santiago-Delefosse and Delefosse, 2002), 3) Piaget's research on space, time and causality (Spielrein, 1922), and 4) His methods of conducting research (Etkind, 1997).
Piaget's first published article in psychology was concerned with child development and psychoanalysis (Piaget, 1920).It was published around the time Spielrein arrived in Geneva and became Piaget's colleague, as well as his psychoanalyst.In 1921, Piaget began psychoanalysis with Spielrein which lasted for eight months (Bringuier, 1980).During this time, the seeds of Piaget's lifelong research agenda were formed.Spielrein had a major influence on the direction Piaget's work was to take from this time onward (Aldridge and Christensen, 2013).
"Spielrein was one of the first psychoanalysts who showed an interest in child language" (Staniago- Delefosse and Delefosse, 2002, p. 723).Just before Sabina met Jean Piaget, she had presented a paper at the Sixth International Psychoanalytic Congress in The Hague.Spielrein had begun a new research agenda for herself on child language and speech.The subject of her talk was "On the Origin and Development of Speech" (Spielrein, 1920).Spielrein described two kinds of speech in this talk-autistic speech and social speech.After working closely with Spielrein, ironically Piaget unveiled his research on two types of speech-egocentric speech, which he contrasted with socialized speech (Piaget, 1923)."It is interesting to note that Spielrein returned to Russia in 1923, around the time that Piaget's research and writings moved from language to moral development.There is little doubt that Spielrein shaped Piaget's views on child language and thought" (Aldridge, 2009, p. 319).
Piaget's research agenda seemed to coincide with the topics of Spielrein's scholarly presentations and publiccations.Imagine that?For example, in one "presentation, given at the 1922 Berlin Psychoanalytic Congress and therefore chronologically coincidental with Piaget's earliest experiments, Spielrein mused about the genesis of concepts of space, time and causation in children's consciousness" (Etkind, 1997, p. 163).The similarity of Piaget's work in types of speech and later his experiments in causation, time and space were always strikingly similar to Spielrein's research presentations and publications.
"In all of this, Spielrein's ideas were remarkably close to those of young Piaget.Positing the very same problems, Spielrein and her Swiss patient began from a common point but set off in different directions" (Etkind, 1997, p. 164).The topics of Piaget's research were not the only topics that were similar to that of Spielrein's.The research methods chosen by Piaget were also remarkably corresponding to those of Spielrein.The clinical interviews and case study methods designed by Spielrein were adapted, if not directly adopted by Piaget, using a Spielrein template for conducting and recording research (Etkind, 1997).
In summary, Spielrein may have influenced the ideas and works of Piaget in the following ways: 1. His earliest works in child psychology, including his research agenda.2. His research on speech and language development in young children.

His research on space, time and causation. 4. The research methods he used .
Etkind (1997) summarizes Spielrein's contribution to Piaget very effectively.He says, "Given all this, can it be said that Spielrein's ideas dominated the thoughts of young Piaget (as might be said of the aging Freud's)?Whatever the power relations between the two, one cannot fail to recognize Spielrein's obvious contribution to the trajectory of Piaget's scholarly development, a contribution both emotional and intellectual" (p.165).

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (1896 to1934)
Spielrein returned to Russia in 1923, living for a short time in Moscow.About the same time, Lev Vygotsky moved to Moscow from provincial Gomel.Sabina continued her psychological work with children, focusing particularly on speech development."Vygotsky followed in Spielrein's footsteps.The differerence was that Spielrein at that time was already a scholar of worldwide repute, and Vygotsky was a precocious debutant" (Etkind, 1997, p. 173).Vygotsky would later work closely with Spielrein's brother Isaac in the International Society for Industrial Psychology (Leontiev, 1990).
In 1924, Vygotsky was virtually unknown.But suddenly he began to publish prolifically in the areas of child psychology, child language and speech development, and abnormal child development (van der Veer and Valsiner, 1991).What happened?Etkind (1997) suggests, "in view of Vygotsky's unusually high level of productivity following his presentation in Petersburg [in 1924], it seems necessary to seek another explanation for his sudden psychological 'conversion'" (p.173).As with Piaget, the answer, once again, appears to be Sabina Spielrein.Spielrein contributed to Vygotsky's work in at least three ways.These include, 1) Vygotsky's work in psychoanalysis, including the Russian Psychoanalytic Society and his contribution to Freud's theory, 2) His research in the area of child language and thought, and as with Piaget,3) The research methods Vygotsky employed.
Spielrein, Vygotsky and Luria were all members of the Russian Psychoanalytic Society.Spielrein was a lecturer at the State Psychoanalytic Institute when Vygotsky became involved in psychoanalysis.Most likely, Vygotsky attended Spielrein's lectures at the State Psychoanalytic Institute and probably perceived "her lectures as the last word in international science" (Etkind, 1997, p. 173) (Etkind, 1997, p. 174).Vygotsky's research continued to approach and research methods used by Spielrein (Santiago-Delefosse and Delefosse, 2002).
In summary, Spielrein probably had a powerful impact of Vygotsky's work in the following ways: 1. His work was at its beginning, an unknown, when he met Spielrein.

His work in psychoanalysis and his understanding of
Freud's theories.3. His research in the area of child language, speech, and thought.4. His research agenda and methods.

Alexander Luria (1902 to1977)
Less is known about the influence of Sabina Spielrein on Alexander.Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Spielrein contributed much to Luria's ideas and research at the beginning of his career (Kerr, 1993).Specifically, they were members of the Russian Psychoanalytic Society.It is also documented that Spielrein served as Luria's mentor and teacher (Kerr, 1993).He most likely attended her lectures at the State Psychoanalytic Institute.And, whether Luria admitted it or not, his understanding of Freud was partially due to Spielrein's contributions to Freud's theories.As previously mentioned, Luria, along with Vygotsky, wrote the foreward to Freud's book, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, in which Freud revised his own ideas to incorporate Spielrein's death instinct.Freud did recognize Spielrein in this work.He acknowledged, "Spielrein anticipated…a considerable portion of these speculations" (Freud, 1922, p. 55).Again, neither Luria nor Vygotsky mentioned Spielrein in their foreward to the book.Still, Spielrein may have influenced Luria's career in the following ways.Future researchers will probably discover other ways in which Spielrein influenced Luria.His work in psychoanalysis and his understanding of Freud's theories.
His general understanding of psychology through his work with Sabina at the Russian Psychoanalytic Society as well as the State Psychoanalytic Institute.
In considering Sabina Spielrein's contributions to these five famous men, it is salient to note that much more is known about her relationships with Jung and Freud.These are explicitly documented through the correspondence among Spielrein, Jung and Freud, and through Spielrein's diaries (Aldridge and Christensen, 2013;Carotenuto, 1982;Kerr, 1993).However, "a detailed analysis of the continuity between Spielrein's works and the early works of Piaget, Vygotsky, and Luria has yet to be written.For the time being, we must content ourselves with observing the striking temporal coincidence in the change of interests in young people so far apart from each other in Moscow and Geneva, after meeting this extraordinary woman" (Etkind, 1997, p. 175).
. Spielrein connected Vygotsky intimately with Freud's work to the point that Vygotsky published, jointly with Luria, his first theoretical work-the foreward to Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle.But remember, in this book Freud had revised his own theory to incorporate Spielrein's contribution of the death instinct.While Freud briefly referenced Spielrein in his book, sadly and unprofessionally neither Vygotsky nor Luria ever mentioned her name in the foreward(Etkind, 1997).A second major contribution Spielrein made to Vygotsky's research was in the area of speech and language.What is truly remarkable is that Spielrein left Geneva where she worked with Piaget and almost immediately began to work with Vygotsky in Moscow.