Rudolf Allers (13 January 1883, Vienna, Austria-Hungary – 18 December 1963, Washington, US) was an Austrian-American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

and academic.

Life and career

Rudolf Allers was born in Vienna on January 13, 1883. He was the son of a doctor, Mark Allers(1837–1894, originally of Jewish extraction) and Augusta Grailich (1858–1916, daughter of Wilhelm Josef Grailich and Carolina Augusta von Ettingshausen). In 1908, he married Carola Meitner (a sister of

Lise Meitner Elise Lise Meitner ( ; ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish nuclear physicist who was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission. After completing her doctoral research in 1906, Meitner became the second woman ...

). Allers was the only

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to join the first group of the founder of psychoanalysis

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 psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

. Together with

Alfred Adler Alfred Adler ( ; ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, a ...

, he later distanced himself from

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

as understood by Freud and his followers. He was later detached from the group of Adler in 1927. He taught at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

(1919). Allers was master of

Viktor Frankl Viktor Emil Frankl (; 26 March 1905 – 2 September 1997) was an Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and The Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, who founded logotherapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's mean ...

in 1925–1930, mentor of

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (; 12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. With Joseph Ratzinger and Henri de Lubac, he founded the th ...

and friend of Saint

Edith Stein Edith Stein (; ; in religion Teresa Benedicta of the Cross; 12 October 1891 – 9 August 1942) was a German philosopher who converted to Catholic Church, Catholicism and became a Discalced Carmelites, Discalced Carmelite nun. Edith Stein was mu ...

. Both von Balthasar and Stein lived for several months in Allers' home in Vienna in 1931. He studied the preventive method of St. John Bosco and his

pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

applications, and at the invitation of Father

Agostino Gemelli Agostino Gemelli OFM (18 January 1878 – 15 July 1959) was an Italian Capuchin friar, physician and psychologist, who was also the founder and first rector of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) ...

, was in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to study the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas at the Catholic University of Milan and graduated in Philosophy in 1934. With the annexation of Austria to the Third Reich, Allers emigrated to the United States, where he taught at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

in Washington D.C. (1938–1948), then as professor of philosophy at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

from 1948 until his death in 1963. Allers died in 1963 and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

in 1958.

Books

* ''Work and Play. Collected Papers on the Philosophy of Psychology (1938–1963)''. Edited by Alexander Batthyány, Jorge Olaechea Catter, Andrew Tallon. Marquette University Press, 2009. * ''Self Improvement''. Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1939. Republished by Kessinger Publishing, New York, 2010. * ''The Improvement of the Self''. Cluny Media LLC, 2019. Republication of Self Improvement published by Benziger Brothers in 1939. * ''What’s Wrong With Freud? A Critical Study of Freudian Psychoanalysis''. Roman Catholic Books, US, 1941. * ''The Successful Error: A Critique of Freudian Psychoanalysis''. Sheed & Ward Inc, 1940. Republished by Cluny Media LLC, 2019. * ''Forming Character in Adolescents''. 1940, Reprinted by Roman Catholic Books in 2006. * ''Sex Psychology''. Published by Roman Catholic Books. * ''Über Schadelschusse: Probleme der Klinik und der Fursorge''. * In Louis Jugnet: ''Un psychiatre-philosophe, Rudolf Allers ou l’Anti-Freud'', Paris, Cèdre, 1950. ''Rudolf Allers o el Anti-Freud'', Madrid, Speiro, 1974. Republished in 2002 and 2021.

External links

* Birth record: https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien/09-votivkirche/01-02/?pg=6 * https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/c5227692-16d0-43f4-aedc-618c097f6fe8 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1n2txnx.14 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.31025345 * In Spanish: http://es.catholic.net/op/articulos/9115/cat/432/rudolf-allers-psicologo-catolico.html#modal * In Italian: http://psicologiacattolicesimo.blogspot.com/2014/04/la-conoscenza-intellettiva-dei.html#more

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allers, Rudolf Austrian psychiatrists 1883 births 1963 deaths 19th-century Australian medical doctors Austrian Roman Catholics Academic staff of the University of Vienna Catholic University of America faculty Georgetown University faculty Presidents of the Metaphysical Society of America