Psychiatry, psychology and leftist politics in 20th century Argentina: the intellectual history of Gregorio Bermann

Abstract

This work presents the scientific and political itinerary of Dr. Gregorio Bermann (1894-1971). His intellectual history is inscribed in some of the main events of the XX century in Argentina, as the 1918’ Reforma Universitaria, when he critics the positivism from the end of the previous century, and the fall of the peronism in 1955. It is also articulated under the influence of the Cuban Revolution being an important component of the formation of the “new left.” In both moments the relationship between intellectuals and politics around the task of transforming the society takes places through different modulations of the engagement intellectuel with the popular sectors. At the same time both moments include a debate around science, especially psychology and psychiatry, disciplines in which he will introduce psychoanalysis and will have Bermann as one of the mentors. These questions cross the definitions of a psychiatrist that is at the same time a leftist intellectual, and Bermann goes breaking up successively with diverse teachers in the scientific land and in the political field.

Key words: intellectual history, psychiatry, psychoanalysis, health mental, new left.