Ruth Mack Brunswick

Ruth Jane Mack Brunswick, born Ruth Jane Mack, was an American psychiatrist. Mack was initially a student and later a close confidant of and collaborator with Sigmund Freud and was responsible for much of the fleshing out of Freudian theory. Dr. Brunswick was charming, intelligent, feminine, and vivacious. Her generosity drove her to help many of her friends to leave Austria once the Nazis invaded it. She also had to leave Vienna to save her own life. Dr. Brunswick pioneered the psychoanalytic treatment of psychoses, and the study of emotional development between young children and their mothers, and the importance of this relationship in creating mental illness.