Leo Rangell: The Journey of a Developed Freudian

Abstract

Leo Rangell has made countless contributions to the field of psychoanalysis. This paper presents an overview and a more detailed account of the development of his work. Rangell has advocated for the unification of psychoanalytic theory in what he calls a "total composite psychoanalytic theory." He placed unconscious intrapsychic conflicts at the center of "the human core" and elaborated on five interconnected and contiguous psychic phenomena. These included: anxiety, the "intrapsychic process," a new ego function of unconscious decision-making, the syndrome of the compromise of integrity, and the exercise of free will as an aspect of ego autonomy. Through the development of this intricate and cumulative model he has added significantly to our understanding of clinical and theoretical issues and provided us with wise counsel on complex group, organizational and political dilemmas. His work has focused on how these specific intrapsychic events lead to action as they affect and are affected by the varieties of human experience.

Book Essay on The Second Century of Psychoanalysis: Evolving Perspectives on Therapeutic Action

“…He was a great mime and joke teller, especially of Jewish jokes. A couple of years ago, Arthur Lynch and I wrote a paper presenting an overview of his work, "The Journey of a Developed Freudian" (Lynch and Richards 2010) that was published in Psychoanalytic Review. But Rangell was not at first an advocate for lay analysis; on the contrary, he embraced the view that psychoanalysis should remain part of medicine.…”