Bruno Bettelheim
Bruno Bettelheim was an influential psychologist and author known for his contributions to the understanding of emotionally disturbed children and the impact of environment on behavior. Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1903 to a secular Jewish family, Bettelheim faced significant personal challenges, including depression and the trauma of being imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. After immigrating to the United States, he became the director of the Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago, where he implemented innovative therapeutic methods to aid children with emotional difficulties.
Bettelheim published several notable works that combined his clinical insights with storytelling, including "The Uses of Enchantment," which emphasizes the importance of fairy tales in child development. His theories on autism, while now discredited, helped pave the way for early research into the condition. Despite controversies regarding his statistics and methodologies, many of his students achieved success after leaving his care. Bettelheim's legacy continues to influence discussions about childhood development and the therapeutic process, though his life ended tragically when he took his own life in 1990.
Bruno Bettelheim
- Born: August 28, 1903
- Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
- Died: March 13, 1990
- Place of death: Silver Spring, Maryland
Austrian-born educator, philosopher, and psychologist
A pioneer in the study of autism, Bettelheim was an early advocate of milieu therapy for troubled children. In addition, he argued for educational reform for the general population of students.
Areas of achievement: Education; psychology
Early Life
Bruno Bettelheim (BREW-noh BEHT-tel-him) was born in Vienna, Austria, into a family of secular Jews. His father, Anton, was a lumber merchant; his mother was Pauline Seidler. As a child, Bettelheim, who was often ill, spent much time reading. He also suffered from poor eyesight and felt insecure about his appearance. His childhood home, plagued with the effects of his father’s syphilis, was not a happy one. His older sister, Margarethe, eventually committed suicide, and Bettelheim fought a lifelong battle with depression.
During high school, Bettelheim joined a German youth group movement, which promoted educational reform. Becoming acquainted with the work of Sigmund Freud through interest in a teenage girl, Bettelheim dreamed of studying psychology in college; however, after the death of his father in 1926, he was forced to leave Vienna University in order to take over the family lumber business.
In 1930, Bettelheim married Regina (Gina) Alstadt. Though the couple was financially prosperous, the marriage was not a happy one. Teaching at a local Montessori school, Gina became acquainted with an American girl, who would come to live in the Bettelheim home for a period of seven years. Bettelheim described this girl as autistic. Both Bettelheim and his wife completed psychoanalysis while in Vienna. Bettelheim became involved with Gertrude (Trude) Weinfeld, who encouraged him to return to school. In 1938, he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy, writing a dissertation in the discipline of aesthetics. This same year, Adolf Hitler took over Austria. Although Gina immigrated to America, Bettelheim remained in Austria to take care of his mother and his sister. He was arrested by the Nazis and deported to Dachau, a concentration camp, but soon was relocated to Buchenwald. After his release in 1939, he immediately immigrated to the United States.
Upon his arrival in the United States, Bettelheim’s marriage ended. He and Gina divorced in 1941. He immediately married Weinfeld. Bettelheim accepted a teaching position at Rockford College, outside Chicago. His wife gave birth to their first child, Ruth, in 1942, and they had two more children, Naomi and Eric. Bettelheim published his first academic article in 1943, “Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations,” based on his experience in the concentration camps.
Life’s Work
In 1944, Bettelheim acquired United States citizenship. He also accepted a position at the University of Chicago as an assistant professor and director of the Orthogenic School, a residential program for emotionally disturbed children. He reorganized the school, limiting entrance to less disabled children and extending the upper age limit, thereby allowing the school the opportunity to rehabilitate its students more fully before they returned to society. He also hired young, inexperienced staff members so he could train them in his own methods, which consisted of a combination of observation of the student’s behavior and introspection on the part of the observer.
Bettelheim applied what he had learned through his experience in the concentration camps to his work at the Orthogenic School. He conceived that the suffering of the withdrawn children he observed was similar to the suffering of the victims of the Nazi work camps during World War II. He postulated that these children, like other victims in extreme situations, had lost their humanity from living in a hostile environment, one largely created by their parents, most specifically their mothers. Therefore, he thought these children should be taken out of their homes and placed in a more hospitable environment. The Orthogenic School provided full-time care in the form of milieu therapy.
In addition to his work teaching and directing the Orthogenic School, Bettelheim was a prolific writer, publishing both academic scholarship and works for a general audience. He was a popular author, known for his skill in storytelling and his lack of technical jargon. Three of his early books originated specifically from his work at the school: Love Is Not Enough (1950), Truants from Life (1955), and The Empty Fortress (1967). Dialogues with Mothers, published in 1962, originated from a weekly question-and-answer session Bettelheim held at the University of Chicago between 1948 and 1952. He also used this material for a column in Ladies’ Home Journal, a popular women’s magazine. The Children of the Dream, published in 1969, documented Bettelheim’s visit to Israel and study of child rearing in the kibbutz, a utopian agricultural collective community.
Following his retirement from the University of Chicago and the Orthogenic School in 1973, Bettelheim moved with his wife to California for the climate. He taught at Stanford University and, in his writing, turned to the needs of mainstream children. The Uses of Enchantment, which argues for the value of fairy tales in the inner development of a child, was published in 1976. Partnering with Karen Zelen for On Learning to Read, published in 1981, he similarly argued for the inclusion of meaningful reading material in the curriculum for young children.
Bettelheim returned to his interest in the Nazis, publishing The Informed Heart: Autonomy in a Mass Age in 1974 and Surviving and Other Essays in 1979. He also recalled his interest in Freud with Freud and Man’s Soul, published in 1982, and Freud’s Vienna and Other Essays, published in 1990.
Bettelheim’s wife died in 1984 after a long bout with cancer. Bettelheim suffered from poor health in his later years. After living for a short time with his eldest daughter, Ruth, and her two young children, he moved into a nursing home in Maryland. He committed suicide in 1990.
Significance
Although Bettelheim’s theories about the etiology of autism have been disproved, he was one of the first researchers to study this still somewhat mysterious condition. Although his statistical research at the Orthogenic School has been questioned, because of the lack of documentation and follow-up studies, many of his students, who entered as seemingly hopeless cases, eventually left the school to live productive lives.
The Uses of Enchantment, one of Bettelheim’s most popular books, won both a National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award. This book, along with On Learning to Read, encouraged professional educators and parents to provide children with meaningful reading materials. Similarly, he argued that engagement in meaningful activity, such as public service, would discourage college-age students from disruptive behavior.
Bibliography
Angres, Ronald. “Who Really Was Bruno Bettelheim?” Commentary 90, no. 4 (October, 1990): 26-30. Written by a former student, this short essay details some of the influences on Bettelheim’s theory of education.
Bettelheim, Bruno. “Student Revolt.” Vital Speeches of the Day 35, no. 13 (April 14, 1969): 405-410. Text of Bettelheim’s speech presented to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Special Subcommittee on Education on March 20, 1969.
Pollak, Richard. The Creation of Dr. B. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997. Written by the brother of a former patient of Bettelheim, this highly readable biography develops an unflattering portrait of this controversial figure.
Raines, Theron. Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim. New York: Knopf, 2002. This full-length biography, written by Bettelheim’s literary agent, largely portrays Bettelheim as a teacher and an educator. Based on interviews with Bettelheim and former counselors at the Orthogenic School, and material from Bettelheim’s publications.
Sutton, Nina. Bettelheim: A Life and a Legacy. Translated by David Sharp. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. A comprehensive biography of Bettelheim, this volume confronts the derogatory allegations made against this complex man immediately following his death.
Willhauck, Susan. “Identity, Morality, and Fantasy in the Works of Bruno Bettelheim: Implications for Religious Education.” Religious Education 93, no. 2 (Spring, 1998): 156-172. This highly readable scholarly article provides background on Bettelheim and applies principles of his work to religious education.