Andrea Huppke is psychoanalyst, group analyst, supervisor, and training analyst in Berlin, Germany. She has written several publications in the field of the history of psychoanalysis, most of them published in Luzifer-Amor: Journal for the History of Psychoanalysis. She wrote her dissertation about the first twenty years of the IFPS; it was published in German in 2021.
‘I am pleased to see this well-researched volume on the history of the IFPS, which has played a significant role in my psychoanalytic career. A society of equals, it has always been open to diversity of culture and theoretical outlook. Its spirit is palpable in the organisation’s celebration (not just acceptance) of difference. In many ways, it reflects the influence of Erich Fromm, one of the founders of both the IFPS and the William Alanson White Institute. IFPS exemplifies mutual respect. Its history deserves the caring attention it gets in this fine book.’ -- Sandra Buechler, PhD, training and supervising analyst, William Alanson White Institute, New York ‘Over sixty years ago, the IFPS was founded to welcome those whose practice diverged from mainstream Freudian psychoanalysis. Today, the survival of psychoanalysis is at stake, as it becomes more and more isolated in the academic scientific world. What the pioneering fathers of IFPS considered essential at that time to overcome isolation still applies today: openness for dialogue with other sciences, far-reaching self-determination in questions of training and therapeutic setting, and an intensive and respectful exchange of ideas and experiences among each other. Andrea Huppke’s book on the history of the IFPS records how these paths were realised. She invites us to learn from history and apply it to the present.’ -- Dr Rainer Funk, literary executor of Erich Fromm and psychoanalyst in Tübingen, Germany ‘I am very happy to see that Andrea Huppke has written a definitive history of the International Federation of Psychoanalytic Societies. It illustrates how the politics of theoretical wars have undermined the real goal of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy: to heal people who suffering. Freud’s last words in Studies in Hysteria were: “much will be gained if we succeed in transforming hysterical misery into common unhappiness. With mental life restored to health you will be better armed against that unhappiness”. I fully endorse Andrea Huppke’s book.’ -- Henry Lothane, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York