Talk:Ruth Cohn

Translation, with many details added HPaul (talk) 16:34, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Personal Time Line
Biographical Data of Ruth C. Cohn

from "TZI: Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C. Cohn", herausgegeben von Cornelia Löhmer und Rüdiger Stadhardt, Verlag Klett-Cotta, 1992, pp. 447 - 450

Parents: Arthur Hirschfeld, businessman in banking in Berlin-Charlottenburg, born 1873 in Berlin, and Elisabeth Hirschfeld, née Heiden-Heimer, pianist, born 1883 in Mainz. Both from established German-Jewish business families. Marriage 1908, residence in Berlin-Charlottenburg

1909   Birth of son, Karl Ernst 1912   Birth of daughter, Ruth Charlotte 1918-1931  Attended elementary and high school (emphasis on modern foreign languages), Abitur (Matura). No anti- semitic experiences 1/4/1930  Death of father 1931-32  Studied economics and psychology at the University of Heidelberg and Berlin 3/31/1933  Flight to Zurich, Switzerland. Admitted to the University of Zurich During the following years: studied with a major in psychology, minors in pre-clinical medicine and psychia- trics; additional studies in education, theology, litera- ture, philosophy. Training as psychoanalyst at the Inter- national Association for Psychoanalysis; training analyst: Hans Behn-Eschenburg und Medard Boss (1934- 1939), control analyst: Gustav Bally. This entire period is overshadowed by the events in Germany and their con- sequences in Switzerland. 1936  Loss of German citizenship for all German Jews living in foreign countries. 1938  Brother and family emigrate to Italy and - after the Jews there are expelled - to the USA. The mother has already emigrated to the USA before the "Reichskristallnacht" (burning of the synagogues) 1938  Marriage to her partner of many years, Hans-Helmut Cohn; he is of German-Jewish heritage and a student of medicine. 1939-40  Temporary employment permit as psychologist in Littenheid Asylum, a psychiatric clinic in St. Gallen, Switzerland; her husband is a doctor there. 2/2/1940  Birth of daughter, Heidi Ursula 5/15/1940  The (false) alarm is sounded that the German army had crossed the Swiss border. 4/15/1941  Emigration to the USA 1941-42  Training in Early Childhood Progressive Education at the Bankstreet School (later College) in New York City 1941-44  Psychotherapeutic training, especially in the work of Harry Sullivan Stack at the William Alanson White Institute in New York, additional studies at the Columbia University, New York, Master's Degree (M.A.) and certification as psychologist 1944-46  Hans-Helmut Cohn becomes staff doctor at the Rockland State Hospital, New York State, a public psychiatric hospital with 7,000 patients. Ruth Cohn works in the psychological department, testing patients and doing therapy with children. After one year she takes a leave. 9/23/1944  Birth of son, Peter Ronald 1946   Divorce from Hans-Helmut Cohn. R.C. moves with both children to Englewood, New Jersey; establishes a psycho- analytical practice in New York City; in the following years primarily devoted to the raising of her children. 1950   Acquaintance with A. Gus Woltman (Psychologist) who later is her partner, with whom she lives until 1963. 1956   Death of her mother 1946-72  Private practice in psychotherapy in New York City, continuous distancing from classic psychoanalysis in the direction of experiental therapy 1948   Theodor Reik founds the NPAP (National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis) in opposition to the New York Institute for Psychoanalysis, which only admits medical doctors 1949-73  Activities in building up the NPAP, teaching member and active in training program 1948-51  Training in group therapy with pioneers, such as Asya Kadis, Sandy Flowerman, Alexander Wolf, etc. 1955  R.C. initiates a workshop with the theme "Counter- Transference," whose methodical approach establishes the basis for the development of Experiential Therapy and Theme-Centered-Interaction (TCI) 1957-73  Teaching at the Center for Psychotherapy (later Center for Mental Health) in the Department for Group Therapy 1962-73  Living and working in New York City after 1962 R.C. is active member of the American Academy of Psy- chotherapy, a meeting place for representatives of newer and classic psychotherapeutic methods, i.e., George Bach, Henry and Vivian Guze, Sidney Jourard, Fritz Perls, Ervin Polster, Carl Rogers, Virginia Satir, John Warkentin, Carl Whitaker 1965-66  Additional training in gestalt therapy with Fritz Perls 1966   Founding of the Workshop Institute for Living-Learning (WILL) New York, an institute for training, research and practice of TCI (Theme Centered Interaction) 1968  Invitation from Helmut Stolze to participate in a sympo- sium about supervision in Vienna at the International Congress for Group Psychotherapy and contact there with Anneliese and Franz Heigl-Evers, Ingeborg Bojan von Plotho, Ilse Seglow. After that regular invitations to the Psychotherapy Weeks in Lindau, to Group Therapy Con- ferences in Bonn and to the Psychotherapy Institute in London. R.C. reduces private practice in New York in order to dedicate herself to building up TCI in the USA and Europe. 1971   Psychologist of the Year Award, awarded by the New York Society for Clinical Psychology 8/27/1972  Founding of WILL-Europe in Zurich in Elisabeth Bollag's house (died 1975) 1973   Closing of private practice in the USA, guest professor at Clark University, Massachusetts 1973-74   Introduction of TCI in the Western-Palatinate-Coopera- tion- Model (WKM) in Vlotho, an organization founded by Werner Rietz and directed by Annedore Schultze for the Education of Youth, Teachers and Families, whose main emphasis is on the cooperation between parents and educational institutions 1974  Return to Europe, since then residence of Hasliberg- Goldern, Switzerland, associated with the Ecole d'Humanité, a international boarding school for children and youth, where R.C. is consultant and responsible for introducing TCI among the staff and in the curriculum. Also, training workshops in TCI and private practice in gestalt and experiential therapy, consultation and supervision. 1979  Awarded the title of honorary doctor (Dr.phil.h.c.) by the Faculty of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany 1986  Consolidation of regional and national WILL organizations into WILL-International 1992   Awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by the Federal Republic of Germany 1994   Awarded the title of honorary doctor (Dr.phil.h.c.) by the Institute for Psychology of the Faculty for Philosphy and History of the University of Bern, Switzerland 1994   Continues to live on the Hasliberg, Central Switzerland, in the summer months, otherwise with friend and WILL graduate, Helga Hermann, in Düsseldorf, Germany  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.238.15.96 (talk) 20:16, 12 February 2009 (UTC)