Otto Rank

Otto Rank (1884–1939) was an Austrian psychoanalyst and author. He studied German and classical philology at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1912 for a thesis on the Lohengrin legend. A close associate of Sigmund Freud, he served as secretary of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and co-edited the journal Imago from 1912 to 1924. In 1919, he founded and directed the International Psychoanalytic Publishing House. His major work, The Trauma of Birth and Its Importance for Psychoanalytic Therapy (1924), led to his estrangement from Freud. Rank later developed time-limited therapy and founded the casework school.