Psychoanalytically Oriented Counseling: The Development of a Church-State Sponsored Center in a West German City

The cooperation of church and state in the founding and financing of psychoanalytically oriented counseling centers in postwar West Germany is widely unknown. The author analyzes the historical aspects of this development within the social-economic-political context of psychoanalysis and the church. He also describes the development and functioning of such a psychoanalytically oriented counseling center in the city of Kassel. The decisive role played by the Protestant Church in the expansion of psychosocial counseling services is emphasized. A concise history of German psychoanalysis is an additional contribution of this book.