Dorothy Trimble Tiffany was born in New York City. She married a New York City surgeon, Robert Burlingham, in 1914; however the couple separated in 1921 on account of Robert's
bipolar disorder. Burlingham was also now raising four children, one of whom, a son, had developed a skin disorder, which was diagnosed to be
psychosomatic. This was also the time that the new field of
psychoanalysis was becoming better known in both Europe and the United States. Holding out hope for a psychoanalytic cure for her son, Burlingham moved to Vienna with her four children in 1925. She soon began a
lay analysis with
Theodore Reik, before she moved to start an analysis with Sigmund Freud. She also met
Anna Freud, who was already an analyst, and who took in all the Burlingham children as her patients. Soon, the Burlingham boy's skin disorder disappeared. This cure led Burlingham to become a
lay analyst herself and, in preparation, to complete an analysis with
Sigmund Freud, even though by now she had become personally close to Anna Freud. Her children's analyses and her own lasted the rest of their days. ==Work==