Ola Raknes - From Psychology of Religion To Psychoanalysis

From Psychology of Religion To Psychoanalysis

From his work with the psychology of religion, Raknes had come to the conclusion that he needed some method for investigating the subconscious if he was to go further in understanding human behaviour. That time, at the end of the 1920s, no such method existed except for psychoanalysis. In 1928, for that reason, Ola Raknes finished up his school work and moved to Berlin and began studying at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute with a grant from the Nansen fund. From this point he was lost to philology with the exception of finishing his French-Norwegian dictionary, which had contributed to make it possible for him to go to Berlin. While he attended apprentice analysis in Berlin with Karen Horney (who was later known as a "neo-Freudian"), he got convinced that psychoanalytic therapy was a vocation well suited to his abilities and interests. After having delivered a lecture to the Berlin chapter on "Viewpoints on psychoanalytical psychology of religion"C in 1929, he was selected as member of the International Psychoanalytical Association. In the lecture Ola Raknes clearly stated his opposition to Freud's theories on religion. Raknes experienced progression in his new field of activity, and despite strong opposition from large parts of the medical profession, he was in the process of making a name for himself.