George Makari

Dr. George Jack Makari is a historian, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst. He serves as Director of The Institute for the History of Psychiatry [http://www.cornellpsychiatry.org/history/about/] and the Oskar Diethelm Library [http://www.cornellpsychiatry.org/history/osk_die_lib/] at Weill Cornell Medical College, where he is also an Associate Professor. [ [http://www.cornellphysicians.com/gmakari/ Weill Cornell Physicians ] ] A graduate of Brown University and Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Makari is best known for his work on transference theory, [Makari, George J. “A History of Freud's First Concept of Transference," "International Review of Psychoanalysis", 19:415-432, 1992; Makari, George J. and Robert Michels, “Transference and Counter-transference," "Current Opinions in Psychiatry", 6:358-361, 1993; Makari, George J., “In the Eye of the Beholder: Helmholtz, Post-Kantian Perception and Freud's 1900 Theory of Transference," "Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association", 42:549-580, 1994; Makari, George J., “Dora's Masturbation, Sexology and the Maturation of Sigmund Freud's Theory of Transference, 1897-1905," "Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association", 45: 1061-1096, 1998] seduction theory, [Makari, George J., “Towards Defining the Freudian Unconscious: Seduction, Sexology and the Negative of Perversion (1896-1905),” "History of Psychiatry" 8: 459-486, 1997; Makari, George J., “Between Seduction and Libido: Sigmund Freud’s Masturbation Hypotheses and the Realignment of his Etiologic Thinking (1897-1905),” "Bulletin of the History of Medicine", 72: 627-694, 1998; Makari, George J., “The Seductions of History: Sexual Trauma in Freud’s Theory and Historiography,” "International Journal of Psychoanalysis", 79:857-870, 1998] and the history of psychoanalytic communities. [See "Entretien avec George Makari: vers une nouvelle histoire de la psychanalyse," "Psychiatrie, science humain, neuroscience", 6:1 (2008) pp. 5-8.] Dr. Makari's work has been widely reviewed and is very well known among historians of psychoanalysis, particularly his most sustained treatment of Freudian psychoanalytic communities: "Revolution in Mind, The Creation of Psychoanalysis". [Makari, George, J., "Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis" (New York: HarperCollins, 2008).]

In "Revolution in Mind", Makari argues that the creation of psychoanalysis (as both a body of ideas and a movement) can be best understood by focusing on the way psychoanalytics and psychoanalytic communities were created, broken apart, and then rebuilt in the period before World War II. Specifically, Makari declares that early psychoanalytic theory emerged from Sigmund Freud's engagements with French psychopathology, biophysics, psychophysics, and sexology. Accordingly, he writes, Freudian theory was essentially a synthesis, one which quickly drew interest from Freud's contemporaries, many of whom coalesced around him and in the process developed the first psychoanalytic community. [ [http://www.readexpress.com/read_freeride/2008/02/george_makaris_book_proves_that.php Express Night Out | Arts & Events | Figuring Out Freud: George Makari ] ] However, this community proved fragile.

According to "Revolution in Mind", the period that followed the Nuremberg Congress of 1910 saw a series of schisms, both theoretical and interpersonal, which shattered the Freudian movement and forced early analysts to rethink their work and professional networks. According to Makari, this 'rethinking' resulted in the creation of a variety of new psychoanalytic communities that were more independent of Freud, both conceptually and geographically. According to "Revolution in Mind", these communities placed less emphasis on Freud's personal authority and theories, and instead sought to bind their members with a commitment to shared technique, increased empiricism, and a process of professionalization. Eventually, the book argues, the rise of fascism led to the destruction of most European psychoanalytic communities, sparking battles for control in the two major psychoanalytic centers that remained: London and New York. [For reviews of this book, critical and laudatory, see New York Times, 1/20/08; New York Sun, 1/16/08; Discover Magazine, 3/5/08; The Atlantic Monthly, 5/08; The Guardian, 3/1/08; The Financial Times, 3/29/08; The Australian, 3/29/08; The Australian Book Review, 4/2/08; Literary Review, 4/08; Amer. Journal of Psychotherapy, Winter 2008.]