To Redeem One Person is to Redeem the World: The Life of Freida Fromm-Reichmann

By Gail A. Hornstein

A fascinating and dramatic account of a controversial figure in twentieth-century psychiatry.

In this “dazzling and provocative”* biography, Gail Hornstein brings back to life the maverick psychiatrist Frieda Fromm-Reichmann. To Redeem One Person Is to Redeem the World tells the extraordinary life story of the German-Jewish refugee analyst who accomplished what Freud and almost everyone else thought impossible: she successfully treated schizophrenics and other seriously disturbed mental patients with intensive psychotherapy, rather than medication, lobotomy, or shock treatment. Written with unprecedented access to a rich archive of clinical materials and newly discovered records and documents from across Europe and the United States, Hornstein’s meticulous and “delightfully lucid”** biography definitively reclaims the life of Fromm-Reichmann. The therapist at the core of Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is also the analyst who had an affair with, and later married, her patient Erich Fromm. A pioneer in her field, she made history as the pivotal figure of the unique and legendary mental hospital, Chestnut Lodge.

“A lively, well-written account of a charismatic leader in an important period of psychiatry’s history.”
—Psychology Today

“At a time when little pills are seen as a quick fix for almost everything, this book is well worth taking time to read and contemplate.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer


*Publishers Weekly **Kirkus Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781635421521

Reviews for To Redeem One Person is to Redeem the World

[piemouth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Frieda Fromm-Reichmann was the psychiatrist who treated schizophrenic patient "Deborah Blau", aka Hannah Green, aka Joanne Greenberg with psychotherapy. Deborah/Hannah/Joanne was cured, and went on to write I Never Promised You a Rose Garden about her experiences, a novel that I read many times when I was young and remember fondly.This biography is a detailed account of Fromm-Reichmann's early life, training, and immigration to the United States, where she found a professional home at Chestnut Lodge, a private mental hospital in Rockville, Maryland. There's a lot of detail about the history of Chestnut Lodge and the atmosphere there for doctors and patients. The author also discusses the debates in the psychiatric community about whether talk therapy can work for schizophrenics. Fromm-Reichmann seems to have had a special rapport with patients and some successes, but she wasn't able to train others to get the same results. There is debate about whether Deborah/Hannah/Joanne was even schizophrenic. It was certainly well researched but really, much more about its subject and about psychiatry than I cared about.