Hermine Hug-Hellmuth

Hug-Hellmuth was born into a Catholic family, the second daughter of Hugo Hug Von Hugenstein, a military officer in the Austrian war ministry. He was father to an illegitimate daughter named Antonia Farmer who later went by the name Antonia Hug. Hug-Hellmuth became a teacher and taught in private and public school for several years before she returned to her studies and enrolled in University of Vienna in 1897. She studied physical sciences and in 1909, received her doctorate in physics. She quit her teaching job in 1910 and became a patient of Isidor Sadger Viennese Analyst, who influenced her interest in psychoanalysis. Hug-Hellmuth published her first piece on psychoanalysis in the Zentralblatt fur Psyoanalyse in 1911 entitled "The Analysis of a Dream of 5-Year-Old Boy". In 1921, she became the director of the Educational Counselling Centre associated with the Psychoanalytic. Her name was not recorded much in official documents and was instead mentioned in English schools that were designed to "cure the children" through games. Hug-Hellmuth’s study was about the polyporphically perverse child. She contributed ideas alongside Sigmund Freud in the research of child psychoanalysis. In the English schools, she devised ‘games’ involving drawing and writing. The games were designed to understand the unconscious minds of children. Her intention was to apply the results of the studies in adults when possible. == Late life and career ==

Later on in her professional career, she did a research project called “From the life of the soul of the child. The time of the game” in 1913. The research project made her a pioneer in the field of psychoanalysis. The project was done to help assess the subconscious of children. Her project first started with observations on the children. The observation gave Hermine Hug-Hellmuth many ideas to work with. She would then mark the behaviors as either “sadism”, “autosadism”, “autoeroticism”, “masochism” or “exhibitionism”. Many of Hug-Hellmuth’s papers included observations of Rolf, such as his early development, behavior, and dreams. He became an important research subject for Hug-Hellmuth, emerging as the major personality in her first book, Aus Dem Seelenleben des Kindes (On the Spiritual and Mental Life of the Child), published in 1913. She concluded in the book that Rolf’s actions were based on abnormal sexual motives and tendencies. This request is often cited as a reason for the lack of credit Hug-Hellmuth receives for her contributions in child psychoanalysis and lack of acknowledgement on the influence her work had on other contributors to the field. == Contributions to psychoanalysis ==

The Vienna Psychoanalytic Society The Vienna Psychoanalytic Society was initially named the Wednesday Evening Psychological Meetings before being re-branded in 1906, was started by Sigmund Freud in 1902 as a small informal gathering of minds in his practices’ waiting room. Hermine Hug-Hellmuth was first recorded attending the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society on October 8, 1913 and remained an attendee until her death in 1924. In a letter written in 1915 and later published as a preface to the book, Sigmund Freud expressed strong support for the publication of A Young Girl’s Diary, describing it as an unusually detailed and informative account of adolescent psychological development. Although the book caused a scandal as many people thought to be its contents as fabricated, A Young Girl’s Diary was generally acknowledged as an interesting prospect of developing sexuality within a youthful adolescent. Melanie Klein Klein was also influenced by Hug-Hellmuth’s contribution to the field regarding child psychoanalysis. Like Anna Freud, Klein started publishing her first important works in 1927, while also unacknowledging Hug-Hellmuth’s input in the field. One of the only times Klein acknowledged Hug-Hellmuth was to criticize her technique on child play experimentation as it lacked fixed-rules within the session - a concept that Hug-Hellmuth believed to be beneficial. Essentially, it can be seen in Melanie Klein’s work regarding her contributions to child’s transference and play technique that there is a depiction of impactful evidence by Hug-Hellmuth’s significance in the psychoanalytical stream. Jean Bergès and Gabriel Balbo Other Psychoanalysts have seen to have an impact by the contributions to the field of child psychoanalysis by Hug-Hellmuth. French Analysts Jean Bergès and Gabriel Balbo have highlighted her works regarding the participation of parents and transference in their book Psychoanalysis and the Child. Bergè and Balbo had recognized Hug-Hellmuth’s approach to this concept as her own and ultimately added on to the theory in fine detail. == Diary scandal ==

A Young Girl's Diary Hermine Hug-Helmuth published A Young Girl’s Diary in 1919 under the pseudonym Grete Lainer. Hellmuth claimed the diaries were written by a girl named Vera under the pseudonym Grete Lainer, and were intended for Grete’s best friend Hella. The book provided a detailed description of her relationships and maturing sexuality. It included the arguments she had with her older sister and the emotions she endured during her mother’s passing. Grete also explored her sexual curiosity when pulled over by a handsome police officer yet acknowledged the fear she had for intercourse. Response A Young Girl’s Diary was initially praised for its insight since it was uncommon for a book to provide detailed descriptions of an adolescent's life development through maturity. Hellmuth’s book became a scandal after many accusations that the diaries were fraudulent. A persistent doubter of Hellmuth’s work was Charlotte Buhler, a Professor of Child Psychology in Vienna who also found interest in children’s diaries. She strongly opposed psychoanalysis and criticized the book for its clear psychoanalytic perspective that propagated Freud’s ideas on sexuality in infants. Charlotte’s students persisted even after Hug-Hellmuth’s death in trying to prove that A Young Girl’s Diary was written by an adult. Despite the heavily debated controversy, she sold 10, 000 copies and produced 2 English editions, 3 French editions, and 3 German editions. Her book is one of the most cited contributions to child psychoanalysis. Hug-Hellmuth’s book is regarded within the field of psychoanalysis and was well received by the Psycho-Analytic Society of London. Sigmund Freud also supported and defended her work as legitimate, but it was not sufficient to prevent the German edition from being withdrawn. Throughout her whole life, Hug-Hellmuth never admitted to writing A Young Girl’s Diary. == Publications==

Source: • 1912 The Analysis of a Dream of a 51/2-Year-Old Boy • 1912 Contributions to the Subject "Lapses in Writing and Reading" • 1912 "A Lapse of Speech" in a Small Schoolboy • 1912 The True Nature of the Child's Psyche: The Child's Concept of Death • 1912 On Hearing Colours: An Attempt to Clarify the Phenomenon on the Basis of Psychoanalytical Methods • 1913 On Female Masturbation • 1913 The Mental Life of the Child: A Psychoanalytic Study • 1913 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche: On the First Memories of Childhood • 1913 Claire Henrika Weber: "Liddy" • 1913 Mother Love • 1913 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche • 1913 Children's Dreams • 1913 A Female Counterpart to Rank's "A Contribution to Infantile Sexuality" • 1913 Child Misdemeanours and Naughtiness • 1914 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche: God and Father • 1914 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche: Children's Letters • 1914 Child Psychology, Pedagogy • 1915 A Dream About Oneself • 1915 War Neurosis in Children • 1915 War Neurosis in Women • 1915 Some Relations Between Eroticism and Mathematics • 1915 A Case of Female Foot Fetishism, or Rather, Shoe Fetishism • 1917 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche: On Early Learning and Maturity • 1917 Mother-Son, Father-Daughter • 1919 A Young Girl's Diary • 1920 On the Technique of the Analysis of Children • 1920 Child Psychology and Education • 1920 The Technique of Child Analysis • 1921 On the True Nature of the Child's Psyche: The "Middle" Child • 1921 Psychoanalytical Findings About Women • 1921 Correspondence between reviewer of his book (A Young Girl's Diary) and H. Hug-Hellmuth • 1923 The Importance of the Family for the Fate of the Individual • 1924 The Libidinal Structure of the Family • 1924 Child Psychology and Pedagogy • 1924 New Paths to the Understanding of Youth. Psychoanalytical Lectures for Parents, Teachers, Educators, Kindergarten Teachers and Social Workers == References ==