Bruno Bettelheim

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Lore & Background

Bruno Bettelheim was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, on August 28, 1903. When his father died, Bettelheim left his studies at the University of Vienna to look after his family's sawmill. Having discharged his obligations, he returned as a mature student in his thirties to the University of Vienna. Sources disagree about his education. His actual PhD was in art history, and he had only taken three introductory courses in psychology. He was arrested on May 28, 1938, after the Anschluss, and imprisoned in Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps for a combined total of ten and a half months before being released on April 14, 1939. Bettelheim drew on the experience of the concentration camps for some of his later work. After arriving in New York City in late 1939, Bettelheim moved to Chicago, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944, and married Gertrude ('Trudi') Weinfeld. Through the Rockefeller Foundation, Ralph Tyler hired him as a research assistant at the University of Chicago from 1939 to 1941. He later taught at Rockford College from 1942 to 1944. In 1943, he published 'Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations,' a paper highly regarded by Dwight Eisenhower among others. Through Tyler's recommendation, the University of Chicago appointed Bettelheim as a professor of psychology and director of the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School for emotionally disturbed children, positions he held from 1944 until his retirement in 1973. He set up an environment for milieu therapy and claimed considerable success in treating some of the emotionally disturbed children. Bettelheim's most famous work, The Uses of Enchantment (1976), analyzed fairy tales in terms of Freudian psychology and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and the National Book Award in the category of Contemporary Thought. However, in 1991, well-supported charges of plagiarism were brought against the book, primarily that he had copied from Julius Heuscher's A Psychiatric Study of Myths and Fairy Tales. After retiring in 1973, he taught at Stanford University. His wife died in 1984. At the end of his life, Bettelheim had depression. On March 13, 1990, widowed, in failing physical health, and experiencing the effects of a stroke, he took his own life in Maryland.

Reader's Guide

Bruno Bettelheim's significance lies in his influential yet controversial role in mid-20th-century child psychology and psychoanalysis. He was an early writer on autism and a prominent public intellectual who popularized Freudian ideas through books and media appearances, including multiple times on The Dick Cavett Show in the 70s. His work at the Orthogenic School promoted milieu therapy, emphasizing structured, caring environments for emotionally disturbed children. However, his legacy is deeply contested. After his death, investigations revealed that he misrepresented his academic credentials—his PhD was in art history, not psychology, and he had only taken three introductory courses in psychology. He also implied in several of his writings that he had written a PhD dissertation in the philosophy of education. In 1991, well-supported charges of plagiarism were brought against The Uses of Enchantment, primarily that he had copied from Julius Heuscher. Allegations of patient abuse also emerged. Bettelheim's career illustrates how institutional oversight failures and a charismatic public persona can shield unethical behavior. His theories, which grew out of those of Sigmund Freud and rejected the use of psychotropic drugs and shock therapy, were once widely accepted but have since been critically reexamined. Today, he is remembered as a figure whose contributions to child psychology are overshadowed by documented fraud and misconduct.

Did You Know?

• Bettelheim was imprisoned in Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps for a combined total of ten and a half months after the Anschluss.
• His 1943 paper 'Individual and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations' was highly regarded by Dwight Eisenhower.
• Bettelheim's PhD was in art history, and he had only taken three introductory courses in psychology.
• The Uses of Enchantment won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and the National Book Award in Contemporary Thought.
• In 1991, well-supported charges of plagiarism were brought against The Uses of Enchantment, primarily that he had copied from Julius Heuscher.