Georg Groddeck

Georg Groddeck (October 13, 1866 Bad Kösen – June 10, 1934 Knonau, near Zurich) was a physician and writer.

"Who draws the conclusion, that I mentally medicate a human who has broken his leg, is very true – but I adjust the fracture and dress the wound. And then – I give him a massage, make exercises with him, give a daily bath to the leg, with water of 45 centigrade for half an hour and I take care, that he does neither gorge nor booze, and every now and then I ask him: Why did you break your leg, you yourself ?"

With such and other methods the German physician Georg Groddeck, who practiced in Baden-Baden and was the pathfinder of the psychosomatic medicine, astonished his numerous listeners and readers. His therapy connects naturopathic treatment with psychoanalytic, suggestive and hypnotic elements. His foot and arm bath, massages and dietary cuisine are still practised today, although the bold doctrine of salvation, where he mauled his patients necessarily quite authoritarian, is judged today more reserved. “To provide obedience” is the “foundation of medical art”, he mentioned.

Association with Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
In his introduction to the English version of Groddeck's The Book of the It (1923), Lawrence Durrell comments that Groddeck is often mistaken for and othodox disciple of Sigmund Freud. He goes on to say "Groddeck was the only analyst whose views had some effect on Freud", and "while he accepts and employs much of the heavy equipment of the master, he is separated forever from Freud by an entirely different conception of the constitution and functioning of the human psyche."

Sigmund Freud mentions Groddeck in The Ego and the Id, crediting him with giving a name to what Freud had already given a local habitation, to wit, the Id.

Now I think we shall gain a great deal by following the suggestion of a writer who, from personal motives, vainly asserts that he has nothing to do with the rigours of pure science. I am speaking of Georg Groddeck, who is never tired of insisting that what we call our ego behaves essentially passively in life, and that, as he expresses it, we are 'lived' by unknown and uncontrollable forces. We have all had impressions of the same kind, even though they may not have overwhelmed us to the exclusion of all others, and we need feel no hesitation in finding a place for Groddeck's discovery in the structure of science. I propose to take it into account by calling the entity which starts out from the system Pcpt. and begins by being Pcs. the 'ego', and by following Groddeck in calling the other part of the mind, into which this entity extends and which behaves as though it were Ucs., the 'id'. (Freud 1927/1961, 13).

In contrast to Freud, Groddeck was primarily engaged with the treatment of chronically ill patients. Groddeck is considered to many as a founder of psychosomatic medicine – his reservations against strict science and orthodox medicine made him an outsider among psychoanalysts till today.

In 1919 Groddeck published his first psychoanalytic novel, "Thomas Weltlein", later published in English as "The Seeker of Souls". The book is of great interest as a piece of literature, is thoroughly enjoyable, witty and deep. Probably better than any other writing it describes the author's personality and genius. After reading it Freud commended Groddeck to the Berlin Psychoanalytic Association.

In 1923 he published The Book of the It, an unusual work in which each chapter is in the form of a letter to a womanfriend addressed, rather condescendingly, as 'my dear'.

Toward the end of his life, many colleagues and admirers asked Groddeck to form a society that would promote his ideas. To this request, he would laugh and reply: "Disciples like their master to stay put, whereas I should think anyone a fool who wanted me to say the same thing tomorrow as I said yesterday. If you really want to be my follower, look at life for yourself and tell the world honestly what you see."

In a talk called "Who is it who knows there is no Ego?" the zen philosopher Alan Watts said that when people came to Groddeck for analysis, he would give them massage, and when they came to him for massage, he would give them analysis. "He was a completely wonderful man because everybody felt calmed by him. They felt an atmosphere of implicit faith in nature and especially in your own inner nature. No matter what, there is a wisdom inside you which may seem absurd, but you have to trust it." Watts mentions that Herman Kaiserling, the Lithuanian philosopher, said that nobody has ever reminded him more of Lao Tse than Groddeck.