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Sándor Ferenczi and the Origins of Humanistic Psychology
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Sándor Ferenczi and the Origins of Humanistic Psychology
by Dassie Hoffman
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Fall 2003, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 59-86

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ABSTRACT
This article discusses Sándor Ferenczi's contributions to the evolution of psychoanalytic theories, and how these ideas were passed through the generations. Ferenczi introduced such concepts as greater activity by the psychotherapist, the need for emotional connection between the therapist and client, the significance of the interpersonal aspects of the therapeutic experience, and the place of empathy within the therapeutic milieu. The second generation reviewed here is the Neo-Freudian, including Andras Angyal, Izette deForest, Erich Fromm, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Karen Horney, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Clara Thompson. The next generation reviewed is that of the foremost humanistic psychologists, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Carl Rogers, and James Bugental.

INTRODUCTION
This paper focuses on Sándor Ferenczi's impact upon the ideas of four co-founders of humanistic psychology. The essay is divided into three sections; the first reviews the origins of psychoanalysis, and the importance of Sándor Ferenczi's ideas to this process; the second section examines how Ferenczi's ideas influenced the neo-Freudians, and how this next generation employed his theories; the final section of this essay explores the ways in which the co-founders of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Carl Rogers, and James Bugental were influenced directly and indirectly by Ferenczi.

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