Otto Gross, Freudian Psychoanalyst, 1877-1920 : Literature and Ideas

Otto Gross was one of the most famous Freudian analysts of the first decade of the 20th century.

He was rejected from the movement because he wanted to adapt psychoanalysis to function as a philosophy of revolution.

He had a strong influence on other analysts and was a famous anarchist belonging to radical culture groups.

He was also the centre of sexual scandals, for employing orgiastic forms of therapy, and for giving poison to deeply depressed women patients, who used to commit suicide.

His father, Hans Gross, was famous as the man who introduced criminology in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Father and son were close collaborators in the early years, but later the father tried to get Otto confined in a mental institution, and finally had him examined by state doctors who declared him insane and incapable of managing his own affairs.