Ludwig Binswanger (April 13, 1881 – February 5, 1966) was a Swiss psychiatrist and pioneer in the field of existential psychology. His grandfather (also named Ludwig Binswanger) was founder of the "Bellevue Sanatorium" in Kreuzlingen, and his uncle Otto Binswanger was a professor of psychiatry at the University of Jena.

In 1907 Binswanger received his medical degree from the University of Zurich and as a young man worked and studied with some of the greatest psychologists of the era, such as Carl Jung, Eugen Bleuler and Sigmund Freud. Although he had fundamental differences with Freud regarding psychiatric theory, Binswanger and Freud remained friends until the latter's death in 1939.

From 1911 to 1956, Binswanger was medical director of the santatorium in Kreuzlingen. He was influenced by existential philosophy and the works of Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, and Martin Buber. Binswanger is considered the first physician to combine psychotherapy with existential ideas, a concept he expounds in his 1942 book; Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins (Basic Forms and the Realization of Human "Being-in-the-World"). In this work he explains existential analysis as an empirical science that involves an anthropological approach to the individual essential character of being human.^[1] In his study of existentialism, his most famous subject was Ellen West, a deeply troubled anorexia nervosa patient.

Binswanger's Dream and Existence was translated from German into French by Michel Foucault, who added a substantial essay-introduction.

Selected written works

• 1922 : Einführung in die Probleme der allgemeinen Psychologie (Introduction to the Problems of General Psychology), Berlin
• 1928 : Wandlungen in der Auffassung und Deutung des Traumes (Transformations in the View and Interpretation of the Dream), Berlin
• 1930 : Traum und Existenz (Dream and Existence)
• 1933 : Über Ideenflucht (On "Idea Escape"), Zurich
• 1942 : Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins (Basic Forms and Realization of Human Existence), Zurich (3rd édition, Munich/Bâle, 1962)
• 1946 : Über Sprache und Denken (On Language and Thinking), Bâle
• 1949 : Henrik Ibsen und das Problem der Selbstrealisation in der Kunst (Henrik Ibsen and the Problem of Self Realization in Art), Heidelberg
• 1956 : Erinnerungen an Sigmund Freud (Memories of Sigmund Freud), Berne
• 1956 : Drei Formen missglückten Daseins: Verstiegenheit, Verschrobenheit, Manieriertheit (Three Forms of Failed Existence), Tübingen
• 1957 : Schizophrenie (Schizophrenia), Pfullingen
• 1957 : Der Mensch in der Psychiatrie (Humans in Psychiatry), Pfullingen
• 1960 : Melancholie und Manie: Phänomenologische Studien (Melancholy and Mania. Phenomenological Studies), Pfullingen

References

• List of written works copied from the French Wikipedia.
• Bühler, Karl-Ernst (2004), "Existential analysis and psychoanalysis: specific differences and personal relationship between Ludwig Binswanger and Sigmund Freud.", American journal of psychotherapy 58 (1): 34–50, PMID 15106398 
• Reppen, Joseph (2003), "Ludwig Binswanger and Sigmund Freud: portrait of a friendship.", Psychoanalytic review 90 (3): 281–91, 2003 Jun, doi:10.1521/prev.90.3.281.23619, PMID 14621641 
• Wittern, Ursula; Hirschmüller, Albrecht (2002), "[Drug therapy of psychiatric patients in the middle of the 19th century: the drug armamentarium of Ludwig Binswanger sen. in his "Asyl Bellevue" ]", Gesnerus 59 (3-4): 198–223, PMID 12587404 
• Hoffman, Klaus (2002), "[Historical essays on Ludwig Binswanger and psychoanalysis]", Luzifer-Amor : Zeitschrift zur Geschichte der Psychoanalyse 15 (29): 1–189, PMID 12164205 
• Ghaemi, S N (2001), "Rediscovering existential psychotherapy: the contribution of Ludwig Binswanger.", American journal of psychotherapy 55 (1): 51–64, PMID 11291191 
• "[Sigmund Freud / Ludwig Binswanger. Correspondence]", Psyche 46 (3): 221–44, 1992, 1992 Mar, PMID 1581699 
• Pivnicki, D (1979), "Paradoxes of psychotherapy. In honor and memory of Ludwig Binswanger.", Confinia psychiatrica. Borderland of psychiatry. Grenzgebiete der Psychiatrie. Les Confins de la psychiatrie 22 (4): 197–203, PMID 394913 
• Kuhn, R (1972), "[Current importance of the work of Ludwig Binswanger]", Zeitschrift für klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie 20 (4): 311–21, PMID 4576200 
• Kuhn, R (1968), "[Ludwig Binswanger, April 13, 1881 - February 5, 1966]", Bulletin der Schweizerischen Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften: Suppl 24:99+, 1968 Nov, PMID 4883993 
• Vanderpool, J P (1968), "The existential approach to psychiatry (Ludwig Binswanger), (Victor Frankl).", Tex. Rep. Biol. Med. 26 (2): 163–71, PMID 4877375 
• Delgado, H (1967), "[Necrology. Ludwig Binswanger]", Revista de neuro-psiquiatría 30 (2): 216–7, 1967 Jun, PMID 4881552 
• Colpe, C (1967), "[A physician in a dialogue. Reminiscences of Ludwig Binswanger, died on 5 February 1966]", Der Landarzt 43 (6): 277–83, 1967 Feb 28, PMID 4873391 
• Kuhn, R (1967), "[Ludwig Binswanger (1881-1966)]", Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie, Neurochirurgie und Psychiatrie = Archives suisses de neurologie, neurochirurgie et de psychiatrie 99 (1): 113–7, PMID 5339997 
• Straus, E (1966), "[To the memory of Ludwig Binswanger 1881-1966]", Der Nervenarzt 37 (12): 529–31, 1966 Dec, PMID 4861043 
• Cargnello, D ([[]]), "[Ludwig Binswanger) 1881-1966)]", Archivio di psicologia, neurologia e psichiatria 27 (2): 106–10, PMID 5329204 
• Holt, H (1966), "Ludwig binswanger (1881-1966): a tribute.", Journal of existentialism 6 (25): 93–6, PMID 5342183 
• WYRSCH, J (1961), "[To Ludwig BINSWANGER on his 80th birthday.]", Psychiatria et neurologia 141: 229–33, 1961 Apr, PMID 13787004 
• STRAUS, E W (1951), "[On the 70th birthday of Ludwig Binswanger.]", Der Nervenarzt 22 (7): 269–70, 1951 Jul 20, PMID 14863527 
• "[To Ludwig Binswanger on his 70th birthday.]", Schweizer Archiv für Neurologie und Psychiatrie. Archives suisses de neurologie et de psychiatrie. Archivio svizzero di neurologia e psichiatria 67 (1): 1–4, 1951, PMID 14865927 

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