Rank, Otto

orig. Otto Rosenfeld

(born April 22, 1884, Vienna, Austria—died Oct. 31, 1939, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Austrian psychologist. A protégé of Sigmund Freud, Rank's early books, including (1907) and (1909), extended psychoanalytic theory to explain the significance of myths. He edited the (1912–24). The publication of (1924), which was seen to undermine the principles of psychoanalysis by arguing that the basis of anxiety neurosis is psychological trauma occurring during birth, led to his expulsion from the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society. Rank settled in New York City in 1936, and his later work focused on the will as the guiding force in personality development.

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