Freud, Jung And What Went Wrong

By NPR Staff

Published December 3, 2011 at 3:58 PM CST

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A Woman Of Some Importance: Sabine Spielrein, one of Karl Jung's celebrated patients, later became a psychiatrist herself — and, as screenwriter Christopher Hampton tells NPR's Rachel Martin, an influence on both Jung and Sigmund Freud. Keira Knightley plays Spielrein in the new film A Dangerous Method.

Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud are known as the fathers of psychoanalysis, but they focused on different things. Freud's attention was on the sexual underpinnings of — well, almost everything — and Jung was known for his mystical bent and dream theories.

For years, the two were close friends and collaborators but they had a falling out that ultimately ended their relationship. Turns out, there was a woman involved. Her name was Sabina Spielren.

The stories of all three are woven together in a new film, A Dangerous Method.

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin that Spielrein, a young girl from Russia, first met Carl Jung in Zurich on the eve of World War I.