Sandor Rado ( hu, Radó Sándor; 8 January 1890,

Kisvárda Kisvárda (; german: Kleinwardein, yi, קליינווארדיין, Kleynvardeyn) is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary near the border of Slovakia and Ukraine. It is the 3rd largest tow ...

– 14 May 1972,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) was a Hungarian psychoanalyst of the second generation, who moved to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

in the 1930s. According to Peter Gay, "Budapest produced some of the most conspicuous talents in the analytic profession: in addition to Ferenczi, these included

Franz Alexander Franz Gabriel Alexander (22 January 1891 – 8 March 1964) was a Hungarian-American psychoanalyst and physician, who is considered one of the founders of psychosomatic medicine and psychoanalytic criminology. Life Franz Gabriel Alexander, in ...

, Sándor Radó." Rado is known for having coined the term "'' schizotype"'' in 1956 as an abbreviation of ''"schizophrenic

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological pr ...

"''. These writings played a foundational role in modern conceptualizations of

schizotypy In psychology, schizotypy is a theoretical concept that posits a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences, ranging from normal dissociative, imaginative states to extreme states of mind related to psychosis, especially schizophreni ...

, and the genetic etiology of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

and

psychosis Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...

Life

Rado was initially trained as a medical doctor. Later Sandor Rado met

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

in 1915 and decided to become a psychoanalyst. He was analysed first by a former analysand of Freud, E. Revesz, and then, after his move to Berlin, by

Karl Abraham Karl Abraham (; 3 May 1877 – 25 December 1925) was an influential German psychoanalyst, and a collaborator of Sigmund Freud, who called him his 'best pupil'. Life Abraham was born in Bremen, Germany. His parents were Nathan Abraham, a Jewish ...

. Among his own distinguished analysands were

Wilhelm Reich Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, most ...

and "

Heinz Hartmann Heinz Hartmann (November 4, 1894 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary – May 17, 1970 in Stony Point, New York), was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He is considered one of the founders and principal representatives of ego psychology. Life Hartmann was ...

, the most prominent among the ego psychologists." After the Bolshevist revolution in Hungary, "Rado had some influence with the new masters, and it was he who manoeuvred ..Ferenczi as the first University Professor of Psycho-analysis." Regime change then led to his move to Berlin, where, after Abraham's death,

Ernest Jones Alfred Ernest Jones (1 January 1879 – 11 February 1958) was a Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst. A lifelong friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud from their first meeting in 1908, he became his official biographer. Jones was the first En ...

suggested Radó (among others) for "replacing him on the ecretCommittee" Though this did not take place, Radó swiftly "became known as an outstanding theoretician." In the United States, he was instrumental in the relatively fraught creation of "the

Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research The Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research was founded in 1945. It is part of the Department of Psychiatry of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Training It offers training in adult and ch ...

, painfully wrested from the New York Psychoanalytic in 1944 by Sandor Rado, in a savage schism." Thereafter, "once an active member of the central governing body of psychoanalysis, Rado now lived on the fringes of the organisation."

Writings

Sandor Rado was "a lucid scholar and a concise writer in his chosen field. Among his collected papers, none is longer than twenty pages – unusual for a psychoanalyst – ..clarity."

Early writings

Radó published eleven psychoanalytic papers between 1919 and 1942. Perhaps the most important of them was the 1927 article on "The Problem of Melancholia", which "brought solutions to certain important and pertinent problems still unclarified." Otto Fenichel considered that "the paper by Rado 928unmasked the self-reproaches as an ambivalent ingratiation of (the object and ) the superego", and that "the differentiation of the 'good' (i.e., protecting) and the 'bad' (i.e., punishing) aspects of the superego was used for clarification of the aims of the depressive mechanisms." Radó also wrote seminal papers on the question of

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...

: "His concept of 'alimentary orgasm', which replaced genital supremacy in pharmocothymia, has been widely quoted." Radó saw the roots of addictive personalities in attempts to "satisfy the archaic oral longing which is sexual longing, a need for security, and a need for maintenance of self-esteem simultaneously ..their partners ..are nothing else for them but deliverers of supplies."

Adaptational psychodynamics

Radó's work "culminates in his writings on 'adaptational psychodynamics', ..a concise reformulation of what has come to be known as ego analysis." In them he presciently "criticizes the exclusive preoccupation of the therapist with the patient's past and the neglect of his present," among other matters: "on all these points Rado was way ahead of his time." However, in those late writings, "one of his colleagues fe tthat Rado has introduced unnecessary neologisms for ..traditionally sanctioned terms, for example, 'hedonic self-regulation' for 'pleasure principle,'"Alexander p. 240. thereby further contributing to his professional isolation.

References

External links