Brazilian Psychiatrists and Psychoanalysis at the Beginning of the 20th Century: A Quest for National Identity

Abstract

Despite its late institutionalization, psychoanalytic theory began to spread in Brazil in the early 20th century. One path of dissemination was through the works and lectures of the most eminent psychiatrists of those days. These important figures in the Brazilian intellectual scene made a peculiar use of the Freudian doctrine, giving it strong pedagogical and hygienic overtones. In this article, I point out the relationship between this mode of interpreting psychoanalysis and the effort made by intellectuals of the First Republic in the construction of a ‘civilizing’ project for the nation. Racial miscegenation, regarded by deterministic theories of the time as incompatible with civilization, was considered one of the main impediments to this project. According to the intellectuals of those days, the problem of miscegenation was rooted in two fundamental characteristics of the Brazilian people: primitivism and an excessive sexual drive. I argue that psychoanalytic theory, through its concept of a broad and pervasive sexuality, on the one hand, and the possibility of its sublimation, on the other, provided a way out of this aporia. In order to support my argument, I use the work of Júlio Porto-Carrero, one of the most prominent promoters of psychoanalysis in the medical milieu of the1920s and 1930s.

Germán Greve Schlegel y la recepción del psicoanálisis en Chile: la historia de un médico chileno “probablemente alemán”

“…En términos idiomáticos, se puede llegar a afirmar que el trabajo de Greve fue una de las primeras referencias en español de las ideas de Freud, en nuestro continente. Hasta hace un tiempo se lo mencionaba como la primera en Latinoamérica (Etchegoyen & Zysman, 2005), sin embargo, la evidencia muestra que ya en 1899, el doctor brasileño Juliano Moreira hacía mención a Freud en sus clases de psiquiatría en la ciudad de Bahía (Russo, 2012), evidenciado la temprana atracción que provocaban los conceptos psicoanalíticos en la región.…”

The Diversity of Sexologies in Latin America: Emergence, Development, and Diversification

“…This was not a coincidence. The 1960s and 1970s were also the decades in which psychoanalysis became established not only as a very popular therapy, but as a "worldview" (especially in Argentina and Brazil, and to a lesser degree in Mexico; Damousi & Plotkin, 2012;Russo, 2012). The success of psychoanalysis and other "humanistic psychotherapy" and "human potential" approaches is clearly linked to the modernization process and to a search for explanations in a changing world.…”

‘No memory, no desire’: Psychoanalysis in Brazil during Repressive Times

“…In this context, following the teachings of Juliano Moreira, the psychiatrist Julio Porto-Carrero collaborated in the creation of the psychoanalytic clinic of the League. Russo (2012a) explains that Porto-Carrero's application of psychoanalytic theory to educational projects was based on two main aims arising from the psychoanalytic theory of sexuality: first, to bring sex to light and remove the taboo that surrounds it, working towards a non-repressive morality; and, secondly, controlling and sublimating the sexual instincts towards more 'civilised' ends. Russo proposes that, although psychoanalytic practice first developed within the domain of hygiene projects, physicians like Porto-Carrero saw in its nonmoralistic attitude a way to humanise the psychiatric movement.…”

“…Generally, the history of psychoanalysis in Brazil up until the end of the dictatorship can be divided into three 'moments', marked by ruptures and modifications in the social function attributed to it (Russo, 2012a). Firstly, from the beginning of the 1900s until the 1930s was the moment of reception, diffusion and first attempts to apply psychoanalytic knowledge in different settings.…”

“…Lewkowicz and Flechner, 2005). Some historical accounts are now available; for example, a special issue of the journal Psychoanalysis and History (2012) included an important paper written by Russo (2012a) about Brazil that recounts in detail the early history of psychoanalysis there, attending to the social and political context of the time. Other psychoanalysts have traced some of the institutional histories and begun to formulate what is specific about the way psychoanalytic ideas and practices have developed in the region (e.g.…”