Correspondence: Judit Mészáros, Szt. Istvan krt. 13, Budapest, 1055, Hungary. E-mail: juditmeszaros@t-online.hu

¹is a Ph.D., Training and supervising analyst, Hungarian Psychoanalytic Society. President, Sándor Ferenczi Society, Hungary. He is a general secretary of the European Psychoanalytic Federation.

²An earlier version of this paper was presented at the clinical Sándor Ferenczi Conference, August 2–6, 2006, Baden-Baden, Germany

Abstract

How is psyche related to soma? What tricks does the mind play on the body—and vice-versa? In psychoanalysis, few have probed these questions more deeply than analysts from the Budapest school. Their work began in Hungary and was carried forward in other countries, following their forced emigration. In this study, I touch upon common features of Ferenczi's and Groddeck's thinking about psychosomatics. I explore the work of Sándor Ferenczi, Lajos Lévy and Mihály Bálint among others, and the attraction between avant garde Hungarian intellectuals—mainly writers influenced by Ferenczi—and Georg Groddeck.