Ralph Greenson
Encyclopedia
Dr. Ralph Greenson was a prominent American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. While working with Mrs Eunice Murray
, Greenson is famous for being Marilyn Monroe
's psychiatrist. and the basis for Leo Rosten
's 1963 novel, Captain Newman, M.D.
The book was later made into a movie starring Gregory Peck
as Greenson's character. There has been much conjecture, by investigating officers, press and the public, about Greenson's involvement in a possible cover-up concerning the circumstances of Ms. Monroe's death.
Greenson was well known for his early work on returning WWII soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. He also had other famous clients such as, Tony Curtis
, Frank Sinatra
, and Vivien Leigh
. Greenson and his wife Hildi Greenson, were the darlings of the Southern California psychoanalytic community, intellectuals and with certain notables in the Entertainment industry. They were good friends with Anna Freud
, Fawn Brodie and Margaret Mead
.
He graduated from Columbia University
in New York. In a time when Jews were not readily accepted into American medical schools, he studied medicine in Switzerland
and completed his own analysis by Wilhelm Stekel
, a student of Sigmund Freud
and again by Otto Fenichel
in Los Angeles
.
He published psychoanalytic material often dealing with analyzability, beginning of analysis, interpretations, dreams, working through, acting out, countertransference, and termination. His article "On Gambling" drew on his own 'observations on gambling in the U. S. Army from 1942 to 1946, primarily among officers'. In retrospect, 'Greenson's essay is interesting because, unlike many other analysts, he considers cultural and historical material to be relevant, while accepting the overriding importance of the Oedipal conflict'.
In working with borderline patients, he proposed a 'modified psychoanalytic approach...a basically neutral technical position of the therapist, and only a minimum deviation from such a position of neutrality as might be necessary'.
Greenson was named a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and served on the Board on Professional Standards and the Committee on Institutes in The American. He published fifty-three papers in psychoanalytic journals. "The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis," published in 1967, has been described as 'a thorough, highjly technical textbook, with an instructive treatment of the working alliance', and stands 'among the classic writings...relating to the technique of psychoanalysis'. In it 'Greenson says that it's important for the patient to distinguish between his transference relations to the analyst and his realistic perceptions of him..."the non-transference relationship"' - views criticized however by Charles Brenner
as 'what Brenner calls resistive myths - myths that analysts who are unable to tolerate analytic abstinenece have invented to justify their lapses from neutrality'.
In 2010 a film about Ralph and Hildi Greenson, titled HILDI was made by Michael Kearns and produced by Sandber Productions of Salt Lake City in connection with Spy Hop Productions.
Eunice Murray
Eunice R. Murray is notable for being Marilyn Monroe's housekeeper who was present in the actress' house at the time she died there. Eunice Murray has been accused by many tabloid authors and LAPD Sergeant Jack Clemmons of being involved in a cover-up of Monroe's death...
, Greenson is famous for being Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's psychiatrist. and the basis for Leo Rosten
Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten was born in Łódź, Russian Empire and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.-Early life:Rosten was born into a Yiddish-speaking family in what is now...
's 1963 novel, Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 film starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. It was directed by David Miller and filmed on location at Fort Huachuca, Arizona....
The book was later made into a movie starring Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
as Greenson's character. There has been much conjecture, by investigating officers, press and the public, about Greenson's involvement in a possible cover-up concerning the circumstances of Ms. Monroe's death.
Greenson was well known for his early work on returning WWII soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. He also had other famous clients such as, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, and Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
. Greenson and his wife Hildi Greenson, were the darlings of the Southern California psychoanalytic community, intellectuals and with certain notables in the Entertainment industry. They were good friends with Anna Freud
Anna Freud
Anna Freud was the sixth and last child of Sigmund and Martha Freud. Born in Vienna, she followed the path of her father and contributed to the newly born field of psychoanalysis...
, Fawn Brodie and Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
.
He graduated from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York. In a time when Jews were not readily accepted into American medical schools, he studied medicine in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and completed his own analysis by Wilhelm Stekel
Wilhelm Stekel
Wilhelm Stekel was an Austrian physician and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil." According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel may be accorded the honour, together with Freud, of having founded the first...
, a student of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and again by Otto Fenichel
Otto Fenichel
Otto Fenichel was a psychoanalyst of the so-called "second generation".Otto Fenichel started studying medicine in 1915 in Vienna. Already as a very young man, when still in school, he was attracted by the circle of psychoanalysts around Freud...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
He published psychoanalytic material often dealing with analyzability, beginning of analysis, interpretations, dreams, working through, acting out, countertransference, and termination. His article "On Gambling" drew on his own 'observations on gambling in the U. S. Army from 1942 to 1946, primarily among officers'. In retrospect, 'Greenson's essay is interesting because, unlike many other analysts, he considers cultural and historical material to be relevant, while accepting the overriding importance of the Oedipal conflict'.
In working with borderline patients, he proposed a 'modified psychoanalytic approach...a basically neutral technical position of the therapist, and only a minimum deviation from such a position of neutrality as might be necessary'.
Greenson was named a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and served on the Board on Professional Standards and the Committee on Institutes in The American. He published fifty-three papers in psychoanalytic journals. "The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis," published in 1967, has been described as 'a thorough, highjly technical textbook, with an instructive treatment of the working alliance', and stands 'among the classic writings...relating to the technique of psychoanalysis'. In it 'Greenson says that it's important for the patient to distinguish between his transference relations to the analyst and his realistic perceptions of him..."the non-transference relationship"' - views criticized however by Charles Brenner
Charles Brenner (psychiatrist)
Charles Brenner was an American psychoanalyst who served as President of the New York Psychoanalytic Society, and is perhaps best known for his contributions to drive theory, the structure of the mind, and conflict theory....
as 'what Brenner calls resistive myths - myths that analysts who are unable to tolerate analytic abstinenece have invented to justify their lapses from neutrality'.
In 2010 a film about Ralph and Hildi Greenson, titled HILDI was made by Michael Kearns and produced by Sandber Productions of Salt Lake City in connection with Spy Hop Productions.
Views on homosexuality
In 1968 Ralph Greenson offered a developmental theory for homosexuality, which focuses on the need of boys to “dis-identify” from their mother:The male child, in order to attain a healthy sense of maleness, must replace the primary object of his identification, the mother, and must identify instead with the father. I believe it is the difficulties inherent in this additional step of development, from which girls are exempt, which are responsible for certain special problems in the man’s gender identity, his sense of belonging to the male sex.…The male child’s ability to dis-identify will determine the success or failure of his later identification with his father.